Dmitri's Dacha

[Roasted Swan]

Interesting. I expect it might "click" with me eventually? I don't know, we'll see.

Well I ordered Lady Macbeth, the Rostropovich/LPO recording w/ Vishnevskaya. Very much looking forward to receiving it and spending time w/ the opera.

Hopefully you'll let us know what you think of "Lady Macbeth" once encountered!  I had a opera conductor friend who considered the re-working as "Katerina Ismailova" the finer work  I don't know either well enough to comment - but it interesting to hear both.  I love the wildness of the original....

On a tangent... here's a link to the Prom in 2007 when Dudamel first came (I think) with the Venezuelan YO and they played Shostakovich 10.  The quality of the playing and the sheer engagement with the music astounded me then and it still does now.  Not saying its the "best" No.10 but as a piece of communicative music making its pretty remarkable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKXQzs6Y5BY

[Karl Henning]

Hopefully you'll let us know what you think of "Lady Macbeth" once encountered!  I had a opera conductor friend who considered the re-working as "Katerina Ismailova" the finer work  I don't know either well enough to comment - but it interesting to hear both.  I love the wildness of the original....

On a tangent... here's a link to the Prom in 2007 when Dudamel first came (I think) with the Venezuelan YO and they played Shostakovich 10.  The quality of the playing and the sheer engagement with the music astounded me then and it still does now.  Not saying its the "best" No.10 but as a piece of communicative music making its pretty remarkable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKXQzs6Y5BY

Yes to the wildness of the original Ledi Makbet!  And while, similarly, I have not done a comparison, Shostakovich labored hard, at a time when it was physically difficult for him, on the score of Katerina Izmailova.  So he was musically invested in it.  I have the latter on DVD, too.

[vers la flamme]

What did he change exactly? I thought Katerina Izmailova was just the film adaptation of Lady Macbeth.

[Roasted Swan]

What did he change exactly? I thought Katerina Izmailova was just the film adaptation of Lady Macbeth.

It was a substantial reworking. Here's a link to a talk-classical discussion about the changes;

https://www.talkclassical.com/14800-questions-about-lady-macbeth.html

[Karl Henning]

It was a substantial reworking. Here's a link to a talk-classical discussion about the changes;

https://www.talkclassical.com/14800-questions-about-lady-macbeth.html

Interesting, thanks.

[vers la flamme]

Yes, thanks, Roasted Swan. I'll check it out.

[Karl Henning]

Cool! WCRB is rebroadcasting the BSO concert with the Ledi Makbet Passacaglia, the Beethoven Vn Cto, and the Shostakovich Tenth

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/#stream/0

[vers la flamme]

I just got the Riccardo Chailly/RCO "Shostakovich: The Jazz Album" CD. Really good stuff! Light fare for Shostakovich standards, but both Jazz Suites are great, as is the first piano concerto.

I've been really enjoying the Shostakovich symphonies, listening to all those I know, mostly to the Petrenko/RLPO cycle. I'm going to try and listen to the Mravinsky/Leningrad recording I have of the 5th. It's part of the Bach Guild Big Shostakovich Box—is anyone familiar with this release? I'm curious when this was recorded. It sounds pretty old.

I ordered Lady Macbeth the other day, the Rostropovich/LPO, and I'm really excited to hear it! My love for Shostakovich's music always comes and goes in phases, so hopefully I'll still be in the mood for DSCH by the time it gets here 

[Madiel]

I just got the Riccardo Chailly/RCO "Shostakovich: The Jazz Album" CD. Really good stuff! Light fare for Shostakovich standards, but both Jazz Suites are great, as is the first piano concerto.

That particular album seems to be pretty well universally praised.

[Roasted Swan]

That particular album seems to be pretty well universally praised.

For sure its a really well played/well recorded disc - but of course neither the "Jazz" suites or the PC No.1 have anything at all to do with jazz - but it makes for a nice bit of promotion/marketing to hang the programme on.

[vers la flamme]

For sure its a really well played/well recorded disc - but of course neither the "Jazz" suites or the PC No.1 have anything at all to do with jazz - but it makes for a nice bit of promotion/marketing to hang the programme on.

Agreed, but it's really nice music nonetheless. I want to hear more of Chailly's Shostakovich series, ie. the Film Album, Dance Album, etc.—he hasn't recorded any of the symphonies, has he? Shame as I think he'd make a fine Shostakovich conductor, especially considering how well he takes to Mahler.

[Roasted Swan]

Agreed, but it's really nice music nonetheless. I want to hear more of Chailly's Shostakovich series, ie. the Film Album, Dance Album, etc.—he hasn't recorded any of the symphonies, has he? Shame as I think he'd make a fine Shostakovich conductor, especially considering how well he takes to Mahler.

You are right - those 3 "themed" Chailly discs are very fine.  For me, one of Shostakovich's lighter gems is Moskva Cheremushki Op 105 which is as near as he got to writing an operetta/musical which has some great fun music in it.  Chailly includes 4 excerpts on the "Dance" disc - for a fuller version of the score worth finding either the complete recording or the excerpts in English which were on an early BBC Music Magazine disc.  The latter seems to catch the madcap spirit very well I think.....

   

[vandermolen]

Good review of the new Storgards recording of Symphony 11 (Chandos) in the Sunday Times:

'Storgards' paces the drama with inexorable tread, inspiring the players to shattering climaxes in the massacre 'scene' - the second movement - and the final 'Tocsin', in which real church bells ring out at the symphony's 'optimistic' denouement. The atmosphere of foreboding before the massacre, and numbed shock after the event, are evocatively caught.'

[Roasted Swan]

Good review of the new Storgards recording of Symphony 11 (Chandos) in the Sunday Times:

'Storgards' paces the drama with inexorable tread, inspiring the players to shattering climaxes in the massacre 'scene' - the second movement - and the final 'Tocsin', in which real church bells ring out at the symphony's 'optimistic' denouement. The atmosphere of foreboding before the massacre, and numbed shock after the event, are evocatively caught.'

"Optimistic" ...... REALLY??!!

[vandermolen]

"Optimistic" ...... REALLY??!!

Yes, that struck me as odd too. However, as the ending seems to represent the Tsarist tyranny of Nicholas II being swept away by the forces which he himself had unleashed in 1905, I guess that it could be seen as optimistic in that sense.

[Roasted Swan]

Yes, that struck me as odd too. However, as the ending seems to represent the Tsarist tyranny of Nicholas II being swept away by the forces which he himself had unleashed in 1905, I guess that it could be seen as optimistic in that sense.

If I hear anything there (given its about 1905 not 1917) surely its a "vengeance is mine I will repay" (see you in 12 years kind of thing).....! 

[Madiel]

"Optimistic" ...... REALLY??!!

It doesn't say optimistic, it says 'optimistic'. The "REALLY??!!" is implied.

[vandermolen]

If I hear anything there (given its about 1905 not 1917) surely its a "vengeance is mine I will repay" (see you in 12 years kind of thing).....!

As in Rachmaninov's First Symphony. Yes, I see that but the end of the Shostakovich seems to me, at one level, to anticipate the end of Tsarist tyranny (only to be replaced, ultimately, by Stalinist tyranny of course).

[relm1]

What would you think if I said I really like his Symphony No. 3?  Are we misjudging 2 and 3?

[Karl Henning]

What would you think if I said I really like his Symphony No. 3?  Are we misjudging 2 and 3?

I do like both those.  So I think you have good reason.