Dmitri's Dacha

[vers la flamme]

I have been receptive to the music of Shostakovich lately. The first violin concerto blew me away when I heard it the other day. Additionally I have been dipping into my complete string quartets set from the Pacifica Quartet, an amazing cycle which also contains a few quartets by such other Soviet composers as Schnittke, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, and Weinberg. I especially love the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th quartets. I can't believe how many great ones he wrote.

The symphonies have been more elusive to me. I have listened to numerous times and enjoyed the 5th, I have seen the 7th live in concert but never listened to it again after that (it was pretty good, but one has to be in a mood for it), I really enjoy the 9th, and I've heard the 10th and found it very interesting, but I think I have a bad recording (Frank Shipway/Royal Philharmonic; it struck me as quite pedestrian the last time I listened). So what I think I need is a halfway decent complete set of the symphonies to work through. I'm down to three choices: Rostropovich on Warner, V. Petrenko on Naxos, and Barshai on Brilliant. Does anyone have any of these sets and care to comment on them? Another I am curious about is the newer Michael Sanderling set, but I know nothing of the conductor other than that his father Kurt was a great conductor.

Furthermore, I need to get my hands on the cello concerti. I'm thinking of getting the Naxos disc with Maria Kliegel and Antoni Wit, as I'm a big fan of conductor and soloist alike – either that, or Heinrich Schiff/Maxim Shostakovich which also looks excellent. Has anyone been listening to these works lately? Do you have a favorite recording?

I don't always love the music of Shostakovich, but it has been sounding just right lately.

[staxomega]

I really like Rostropovich with both Cello Concerti. For the first there is a recording with Ormandy and the second with Ozawa. For the first Cello Concerto there is a CD that combines it with Shostakovich's Violin Concerto with Oistrakh/Mitropoulos and that is also a phenomenal performance.

How is the sound quality on the Pacifica set? I have been making my way through Borodin's first cycle (Chandos) again after my interest in these quartets have been reignited with Danel's cycle and I am disappointed that the Borodin Chandos sounds like it was sourced from vinyl. I never noticed this before, but I've become much more attuned to these sort of things over the years 

[vers la flamme]

I really like Rostropovich with both Cello Concerti. For the first there is a recording with Ormandy and the second with Ozawa. For the first Cello Concerto there is a CD that combines it with Shostakovich's Violin Concerto with Oistrakh/Mitropoulos and that is also a phenomenal performance.

How is the sound quality on the Pacifica set? I have been making my way through Borodin's first cycle (Chandos) again after my interest in these quartets have been reignited with Danel's cycle and I am disappointed that the Borodin Chandos sounds like it was sourced from vinyl. I never noticed this before, but I've become much more attuned to these sort of things over the years 

Awesome, thanks. I've found the disc you mention with the cello and violin concerti, on Sony/Masterworks Heritage. Looks excellent, I will probably be picking it up.

The sound on the Pacifica set is amazing, to my ears. Crisp, clear, just the right amount of reverb. Great DDD sound. I couldn't be happier with it.

[Roasted Swan]

I have been receptive to the music of Shostakovich lately. The first violin concerto blew me away when I heard it the other day. Additionally I have been dipping into my complete string quartets set from the Pacifica Quartet, an amazing cycle which also contains a few quartets by such other Soviet composers as Schnittke, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, and Weinberg. I especially love the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th quartets. I can't believe how many great ones he wrote.

The symphonies have been more elusive to me. I have listened to numerous times and enjoyed the 5th, I have seen the 7th live in concert but never listened to it again after that (it was pretty good, but one has to be in a mood for it), I really enjoy the 9th, and I've heard the 10th and found it very interesting, but I think I have a bad recording (Frank Shipway/Royal Philharmonic; it struck me as quite pedestrian the last time I listened). So what I think I need is a halfway decent complete set of the symphonies to work through. I'm down to three choices: Rostropovich on Warner, V. Petrenko on Naxos, and Barshai on Brilliant. Does anyone have any of these sets and care to comment on them? Another I am curious about is the newer Michael Sanderling set, but I know nothing of the conductor other than that his father Kurt was a great conductor.

Furthermore, I need to get my hands on the cello concerti. I'm thinking of getting the Naxos disc with Maria Kliegel and Antoni Wit, as I'm a big fan of conductor and soloist alike – either that, or Heinrich Schiff/Maxim Shostakovich which also looks excellent. Has anyone been listening to these works lately? Do you have a favorite recording?

I don't always love the music of Shostakovich, but it has been sounding just right lately.

For the complete concerti I was very impressed a couple of years back by this;



6 different young but brilliant Eastern European soloists with an orchestra who have more than a hint of old-school soviet bite to them.  Unusual too because I think its just about the only complete set with a single conductor/orchestra.  The same artists' symphony cycle is very good too but prohibitively expensive at the moment.  I like the Barshai - and its a tremendous bargain but to be fair I don't know the Petrenko in comparison.  My go-to complete cycles are Kitajenko, Caetani and Rozhdestvensky.

[staxomega]

Awesome, thanks. I've found the disc you mention with the cello and violin concerti, on Sony/Masterworks Heritage. Looks excellent, I will probably be picking it up.

The sound on the Pacifica set is amazing, to my ears. Crisp, clear, just the right amount of reverb. Great DDD sound. I couldn't be happier with it.

Great, thanks! I have heard one other opinion of Pacifica's being great performances as well, it will be the next I explore. I listened to his second string quartet a few times this week. It might be my favorite "2nd" from all the various composers string quartets.

[vers la flamme]

Great, thanks! I have heard one other opinion of Pacifica's being great performances as well, it will be the next I explore. I listened to his second string quartet a few times this week. It might be my favorite "2nd" from all the various composers string quartets.

Even Prokofiev's 2nd? That's a great one, also included in the Pacifica box. Or Ligeti's 2nd? 

Shostakovich wrote maybe the greatest and most cohesive body of works in the string quartet genre of the whole 20th century (after Bartók, obviously). A wonderful cycle of works... though I still find about half of them impenetrable. There's enough there to sort through over a lifetime.

Anyway, yes, I highly recommend the Pacifica set.

[staxomega]

Even Prokofiev's 2nd? That's a great one, also included in the Pacifica box. Or Ligeti's 2nd? 

Yeah more than both, I really like the journey of Shostakovich's 2nd. To me it's like they story of someone traveling across the country side.

[vers la flamme]

Yeah more than both, I really like the journey of Shostakovich's 2nd. To me it's like they story of someone traveling across the country side.

Sounds awesome! I'll have to listen to it ASAP, later today perhaps.

I ended up ordering the Rostropovich/Oistrakh disc with the cello concerti. Very excited to hear it!

[BasilValentine]

Even Prokofiev's 2nd? That's a great one, also included in the Pacifica box. Or Ligeti's 2nd? 

Shostakovich wrote maybe the greatest and most cohesive body of works in the string quartet genre of the whole 20th century (after Bartók, obviously). A wonderful cycle of works... though I still find about half of them impenetrable. There's enough there to sort through over a lifetime.

Anyway, yes, I highly recommend the Pacifica set.

Not obviously — or at all, really.

[aukhawk]

The symphonies have been more elusive to me. I have listened to numerous times and enjoyed the 5th, I have seen the 7th live in concert but never listened to it again after that (it was pretty good, but one has to be in a mood for it), I really enjoy the 9th, and I've heard the 10th and found it very interesting ... So what I think I need is a halfway decent complete set of the symphonies to work through. I'm down to three choices: Rostropovich on Warner, V. Petrenko on Naxos, and Barshai on Brilliant. Does anyone have any of these sets and care to comment on them?

(Sladkovsky)  The same artists' symphony cycle is very good too but prohibitively expensive at the moment.  I like the Barshai - and its a tremendous bargain but to be fair I don't know the Petrenko in comparison.  My go-to complete cycles are Kitajenko, Caetani and Rozhdestvensky.

The Sladkovsky symphony cycle can be found on Spotify, and so can the Kondrashin cycle.  Both are recommendable with that Soviet edge (or a pale echo in Sladkovsky's case) which I think is essential to most Shostakovich.  Barshai has that too, and his Shostakovich credentials are impeccable (he has orchestrated some of the quartets as 'chamber symphonies' - with dubious results).  Likewise the Rostropovich Cello Concerto 1 - even though it was recorded in the US with a US orchestra - the concerto was written for him, he was at the height of his powers when he recorded it, and Ormandy, the Philadelphia and the CBS engineers all rose to the occasion, there really is no need to look anywhere else in this music.  His recording of the 2nd with Ozawa I find much less compelling.

With Oistrakh it's a bit more difficult - even more so than Rostropovich he is self-recommending in the Violin Concerto No.1 for the same reasons, however I'm not aware of a stereo recording that really does him or the music justice.  (Mitropoulos is in mono, there are some stereo recordings of Oistrakh/VC1 but they all sound pretty muddy to me.)  So - although I think it's fascinating to watch archive footage of Oistrakh on YouTube, he plays to all appearance like a machine - a socialist-realist performance - but to wonderful effect - I think a modern coupling of the violin concertos such as Vengerov or Tetzlaff is a safer bet.

Just because a composer has a big and varied output, doesn't mean you have to like it all.  Whether it's Beethoven or Bach, DSCH or Glass - we're all free to pick and choose those bits we like the best, and disregard the rest.  I've enjoyed Shostakovich since 1961 when that Rostropovich recording was first released - I grabbed Previn's first recording of the 5th symphony as soon as it came out later in the '60s - I can remember eagerly awaiting the premiere (on the radio) of DSCH's 11th symphony - that's how long I've been listening to this stuff - and yet I only ever listen to 8 of the 15 symphonies - of the rest, I consider three of them to be total duds (2, 3 and 12) and the other four just not my cup of tea.  The other concertos (both piano, and all the No.2) are also pretty optional, for me.

I find most of the String Quartets a bit too challenging, apart from the too-popular No.8 (which many on GMG seem to despise for some reason).  However here are a few more Shostakovich pieces that I do think very worth exploring:
Piano Trio No.2
Piano Quintet
Cello Sonata
These three can all be found on Spotify with the composer playing the piano, found under 'Shostakovich plays Shostakovich'.  Soviet recordings from the '60s, so not bad sound. Though personally I prefer other more recent recordings.
The Execution of Stepan Razin (a 'cantata' for soloists, choir and orchestra - it's on that Kondrashin virtual box set - by far rhe best version)
and of course, most of all -
24 Preludes & Fugues Op.87 (solo piano)  composed for Tatiana Nikolayeva who has recorded them twice, the 2nd recording on Hyperion is a classic (the 1st CD(s) I ever bought), though it is often said that she was past her best by then.  Jenny Lin is my other top recommendation here.

[staxomega]

24 Preludes & Fugues Op.87 (solo piano)  composed for Tatiana Nikolayeva who has recorded them twice, the 2nd recording on Hyperion is a classic (the 1st CD(s) I ever bought), though it is often said that she was past her best by then.

While her performances of Op. 87 aren't as bad as Op. 34 on Hyperion I still find them lacking and belabored. Her Melodiya recording is slightly better, but the Hyperion is in superior sound. I highly doubt either recording is the Nikolayeva that Shostakovich would have heard perform them. Going by her earlier recordings of other music she did possess fine skill in her earlier years.

My reference for Op. 87 is Konstantin Scherbakov.

I haven't heard an Oistrakh recording of Shostakovich's first Violin Concerto in reference level sound. Has anyone heard this one? BBC engineered recordings are usually alright.

[vers la flamme]

Not obviously — or at all, really.

You didn't think it was an obvious choice? Like them or not, Bartók's is a VERY popular cycle of string quartets. It's a cliché to call them one of the best.

[BasilValentine]

You didn't think it was an obvious choice? Like them or not, Bartók's is a VERY popular cycle of string quartets. It's a cliché to call them one of the best.

I like Bartok's a lot. Just saying it's not obvious they are greater or more cohesive than Shostakovich's.

[vers la flamme]

I like Bartok's a lot. Just saying it's not obvious they are greater or more cohesive than Shostakovich's.

Ah, I see. I guess I will need to familiarize myself more with the Shostakovich quartets then. I know there are those out there who say that Shosty is not even in the same league as Bartók when it comes to string quartets, and I would definitely disagree with that.

@hvbias, really?! You've turned everything I know about op.87 on its head. From all I gather, Nikolayeva's Hyperion recording is a classic. I thought she was in great form there from what little I've heard. Is it really that bad? As for Scherbakov, I'm somewhat of a fan of his, and I was considering going for his recording as well. I will have to do a little comparing and contrasting. I wish Richter had recorded more of them, those he did record are amazing. I once heard about a famous exchange between Shostakovich and Richter in which composer asked pianist to perform the entire cycle of preludes and fugues, to which Richter dismissively responded something along the lines of "what, even the ones I don't like?" 

[Madiel]

The symphony box set I ended up picking for myself when I went through the process of choosing a set is Petrenko.

I like his ability to control the structure of the big movements (of which there are many) so that they sound like a coherent whole rather than a bunch of episodes.

I think the series deserves the strongly positive reviews it got (there are only a couple of symphonies where it's not quite as good, which is a pretty fine strike rate out of 15, and most of them I find very satisfying). I know not everyone here agrees though. You won't get wild unhinged Russianness. But you will get symphonies that sound like symphonies, and some fiercely good playing.

[Madiel]

For the cello concertos there seem to be quite a few good ones around. The one I ended up with is Alisa Weilerstein.

[Alek Hidell]

The symphonies have been more elusive to me. I have listened to numerous times and enjoyed the 5th, I have seen the 7th live in concert but never listened to it again after that (it was pretty good, but one has to be in a mood for it), I really enjoy the 9th, and I've heard the 10th and found it very interesting, but I think I have a bad recording (Frank Shipway/Royal Philharmonic; it struck me as quite pedestrian the last time I listened). So what I think I need is a halfway decent complete set of the symphonies to work through. I'm down to three choices: Rostropovich on Warner, V. Petrenko on Naxos, and Barshai on Brilliant. Does anyone have any of these sets and care to comment on them? Another I am curious about is the newer Michael Sanderling set, but I know nothing of the conductor other than that his father Kurt was a great conductor.

I have the Petrenko and, like Madiel, am quite happy with it. But I also own (and enjoy) the Haitink set - is there a reason why you've eliminated it from consideration?

Re: Nikolayeva, I believe she recorded the Op.87 three times - once in the '60s (?), in 1987, and in '91. Of the three, it's generally the 1987 recording that's considered the best - and it's my go-to set, although I also enjoy Melnikov's. (I found myself rather indifferent to Ashkenazy's, and I have not heard some others that have been praised here, like Scherbakov's or Rubackyte's.)

[vers la flamme]

I have the Petrenko and, like Madiel, am quite happy with it. But I also own (and enjoy) the Haitink set - is there a reason why you've eliminated it from consideration?

Only the most superficial reasons; namely (a), that Haitink is not Russian and (b), that I forgot it existed and was a highly praised set.  Looking into it now, it appears a tier higher in expense compared to the other cycles in my consideration. In any case I'll have to at least sample it before ruling it out entirely!

For whom did Ms. Nikolayeva record op.87 in '87? I've only seen the older Melodiya and the newer Hyperion around. Edit: I think I found it...:

[asin]B00UJNWVJG[/asin]

Going for cheap too! Going to sample this one, may be the one to get. Good call!

[vers la flamme]

Yeah more than both, I really like the journey of Shostakovich's 2nd. To me it's like they story of someone traveling across the country side.

I wanted to thank you for putting me onto the 2nd quartet – I just finished listening to it and I enjoyed it very, very much! What an amazing work of chamber music... that finale blew me away!

[Alek Hidell]

For whom did Ms. Nikolayeva record op.87 in '87? I've only seen the older Melodiya and the newer Hyperion around. Edit: I think I found it...:

[asin]B00UJNWVJG[/asin]

Going for cheap too! Going to sample this one, may be the one to get. Good call!

Yes, judging by the back cover, that's the one. The front cover could lead one to believe it's the first traversal, but evidently it isn't. The '87 set has had several iterations: