Shostakovich Symphony No. 15 in A major, Opus 141

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Let's discuss Shostakovich Symphony No. 15!



I'm not an expert here, but I'm stunned!

I guess it's time to discuss this amazing Symphony, also I have a question below... I'm quite surprised No. 15 has not been discussed here too often - 5, 8, 10, maybe 1 seem to be more popular.

I admit I listened to the whole Symphony only once. I know it's worth to be listened completely, but as so often, I was listening selectively, somewhat from end to beginning: I listened to the final movement about 42 million times now. This movement almost makes me crazy, hey I really end in becoming ecstatic if it turns to the percussive ending. It's so well done. It's from another world. The sustaining note - the dark timpani, the percussions as the salt here: it's all resolved masterfully. When I listened to it for the first time, I immediately saw the ending of #4 on my inner ear - I expected the last Glockenspiel note to appear and yes!, he did it Also the long and dark double bass parts should be mentioned...

The Wikipedia article tells about twelve-tone moments. "Twelve-tone" - I don't know much about it. Currently my idea is: "If I don't understand the melody or if it's at least strange - it may be twelve-tone then".
In the last movement, maybe 4 minutes before the end, before the percussive part enters: Is the melody which is played by the violins twelve-tone?

I have the Sanderling/Berlin SO disc. It's gorgeous. I love all Sanderling/Shostakovich and I'm looking forward on listening to the 8th (which I don't know). I don't know a lot basic Shostakovich (S5,8,7,10) - happy to explore him

Timing: The last movement of the 15th is 19:41. Barshai only takes 13:56 - what a difference! To me Barshai sounds totally hastily, terrible - but I may feel this way because I'm used to Sanderling. 

What's your preference?

[vandermolen]

It is a great work and that ending is wonderful. My favourite version is the one I had on LP with Maxim Shostakovich conducting (I think) the USSR Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately I don't think that this has ever been released on CD.

[Herman]

nr 15 has always been one of my favorite DSCH works. I like the collage-like nature of this work. No long transitions, just quick jumps between different kinds of material. Another thing that I like about this symphony is its strange mix of hopeless melancholy, rage and childlike play. Whole stretches could have belonged in a children's entertainment.

I seem to remember the Sanderling recording from my parents' place. It must have been recorded quite soon after composition. Same goes for the Kondrashin recording. This afternoon I listened to Haitink's recording, which may benefit from a little more distance in time.

If you like this sound world you could also listen to DSCH's 2nd Cello Cto and to his Michelangelo Suite, the orchestrated version, as recorded by Vl Ashkenazy.

[not edward]

Great symphony. I haven't heard that Sanderling recording, but his later one with the Clevelanders is fascinating.

There's no actual 12-tone writing in the work, despite what people may claim on wikipedia. There is thematic material which uses each of the 12 tones in the chromatic scale, but it's always treated tonally.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Anyone knowing the "BPO 16.03.1999, Live in Berlin. Philharmonie CD: BPO BPH0611 (2006)" live recording with Sanderling/BPO? [source]

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

This is a fascinating symphony. It has much of the gloom and morbidity of DSCH's other late works, but with whimsical childish and fantasy elements that somehow make it even more disconcerting. Then there are the various quotations (Rossini, Wagner, the "Leningrad" Symphony) that add another element of mystification. A symphony that resists any consistent interpretation.

I have two recordings: Ormandy/Phila. (I believe the first ever), and Jansons/LPO. Both are good in different ways. Ormandy stresses the quirkiness and magical atmosphere, Jansons brings out the unsettling, creepy undertones, putting it more in line with other late DSCH.

[PaulR]

This is one of my favorite of his symphonies.  The recordings I have are Lopez Cobos/Cincinnati Orchestra, Ormandy/Philadelphia, Kondrashin/Staatskapelle Dresden, Kondrashin/Moscow Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra.

My favorites are the Lopez-Cobos and the Kondrashin recordings, although I don't know if you can get the one with the Moscow orchestra separate from the box set.   

[MishaK]

Anyone knowing the "BPO 16.03.1999, Live in Berlin. Philharmonie CD: BPO BPH0611 (2006)" live recording with Sanderling/BPO? [source]

Yes, I have that recording (and the rest of that BPO Anniversary box). I found it a bit disappointing. It's quite lethargic and the BPO isn't playing as well as it could. I might give it another spin sometime soon. 

It is a great work and that ending is wonderful. My favourite version is the one I had on LP with Maxim Shostakovich conducting (I think) the USSR Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately I don't think that this has ever been released on CD.

I do think that made it onto CD at one point, but it's probably OOP now. A friend of mine had that recording on CD and I remember borrowing it and copying it casette tape (this was in the early 90s). That is indeed a terrific recording and was my introduction to the piece.

My current favorite is this, however:



I'm not normally a big Solti fan, but this is an outstanding performance captured in great sound. Really wonderful control of colors at the low end of the dynamic spectrum and superb dramatic pacing.

Rudolf Barshai with the WDR on his complete set also does a fine job.

[dirkronk]

For years, my Shostakovich listening largely consisted of the symphonies 1, 5, 9 & 15--and I still feel that these are most engaging and approachable for the newcomer to this composer. All have layers of depth, of course, and the 15th rewards listening to different versions IMO. For me, "back when," the favorites were Haitink, Maxim Shostakovich (as per Vandermolen's rec) and Mravinsky. I still greatly enjoy all three.

Dirk

[greg]

The ending of this symphony really gets to me if I think of it like this: I picture the percussive sounds as hoove sounds from a horse which DSCH is riding, a black horse like a horse of death, off into the next life while smiling in a goofy way with some sort of bizarre dream world scenery all around. The message seems to be the highest tragedy which is just given a nonchalant, quirky reading that is exactly fitting for Shostakovich. Of course, this is only my own idea.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The ending of this symphony really gets to me if I think of it like this: [evocative fantasy snipped]

I usually think of it as the life-support equipment going haywire as life ebbs from the patient. But I admit that your way of thinking is more appealing, and I will try to apply it on next listen.

[karlhenning]

There's no actual 12-tone writing in the work, despite what people may claim on wikipedia. There is thematic material which uses each of the 12 tones in the chromatic scale, but it's always treated tonally.

For instance:  (wish I had the score to hand to double-check this, but I'll risk speaking from memory), the clarinet lick which opens the third movement Allegretto (essentially the 'A' material of a scherzo) gaily clips through all twelve chromatic tones of the octave, and then immediately plays an inversion.  But it's all accompanied by a droning fifth, and the phrases wind up in a clearly tonal cadence.

[greg]

I usually think of it as the life-support equipment going haywire as life ebbs from the patient. But I admit that your way of thinking is more appealing, and I will try to apply it on next listen.

Yeah, give it shot! 

[vandermolen]

The return of the percussion pattern from the 4th Symphony at the end of Symphony 15 is intensely moving - a last statement of defiance? My brother likes to think of it as the KGB knocking on Shostakovich's door - but him being beyond their power to harm him.

[Guido]

Clearly I need to hear this piece!

[Brünnhilde forever]

If and when you decide to buy this piece to listen to it repeatedly in your home, give consideration to the recording  conducted by Bernard Haitink. He is so often overlooked yet has given Shostakovich a lot of his consideration and time and study.

[The new erato]

If and when you decide to buy this piece to listen to it repeatedly in your home, give consideration to the recording  conducted by Bernard Haitink. He is so often overlooked yet has given Shostakovich a lot of his consideration and time and study.

I really, really like that recording a lot. A very interesting alternative to the more obvious Soviet recordings of the work.

[Dundonnell]

If and when you decide to buy this piece to listen to it repeatedly in your home, give consideration to the recording  conducted by Bernard Haitink. He is so often overlooked yet has given Shostakovich a lot of his consideration and time and study.

Haitink on CD and Maxim Shostakovich on LP are certainly my choices for this magnificent coda to the Shostakovich symphonic canon.

[The new erato]

What about the Kondrashin/Dresdner Statskapelle from '74 on Hanssler Profil? A quite introspective reading of this hard-to-classify symphony with its odd mix of inward musings and strange, public declamations.

[Herman]

I have Kondrashin's nr 15 with the Moscow Philh from September 1973. It's the one I listen to, along with Haitink. I suspect it has the same clipped quality you call introspective.

PS: sorry it's from May 1974