Dmitri's Dacha

Started by karlhenning, April 09, 2007, 08:13:49 AM

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MusicTurner

#2660
It's been many years since I read Volkov. But still, in relation to him, it's worth mentioning that several of Shostakovich's close acquaintances initially confirmed the general views presented in the book. The problem is that Volkov seems to have collected his material through a lot of contextual anecdotes etc., rather than through verified conversations with Shosty himself, making his book not usable as a definite, direct 'proof' of those views, and that it may therefore be incorrect at times.

Yet, the satirical, secret chamber cantata 'Rayok' is a definite proof of Shosty's critique of at least parts of the Soviet system, and Stalin himself.

Madiel

Quote from: MusicTurner on August 07, 2021, 02:17:21 AM
Yet, the satirical, secret chamber cantata 'Rayok' is a definite proof of Shosty's critique of at least parts of the Soviet system, and Stalin himself.

Yes, the "Antiformalistic Rayok" is really quite something. I have it on this album:



And it's clear that Shostakovich is not a fan of the people he is parodying.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Roasted Swan

For no particular reason I was wandering around on Amazon looking at complete DSCH cycles.  A crazy couple of bargains (both of which I have bought at much higher prices....!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich-Symphonies-D/dp/B001GZ011Q/ref=sr_1_19?crid=37UMP7ADO26VG&dchild=1&keywords=rostropovich+shostakovich&qid=1631813547&sprefix=rostro%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-19

Kitajenko's impressive cycle from Cologne - complete and in good SACD sound for under £13.00(!) + p&p

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich-Complete-Symphonies-Dmitry/dp/B00005UW2B/ref=sr_1_41?crid=37UMP7ADO26VG&dchild=1&keywords=rostropovich+shostakovich&qid=1631813622&sprefix=rostro%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-41

the very good Barshai cycle from under £10.00 + p&p

Happy days for the new DSCH collector!

vandermolen

Quote from: Roasted Swan on September 16, 2021, 09:35:07 AM
For no particular reason I was wandering around on Amazon looking at complete DSCH cycles.  A crazy couple of bargains (both of which I have bought at much higher prices....!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich-Symphonies-D/dp/B001GZ011Q/ref=sr_1_19?crid=37UMP7ADO26VG&dchild=1&keywords=rostropovich+shostakovich&qid=1631813547&sprefix=rostro%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-19

Kitajenko's impressive cycle from Cologne - complete and in good SACD sound for under £13.00(!) + p&p

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich-Complete-Symphonies-Dmitry/dp/B00005UW2B/ref=sr_1_41?crid=37UMP7ADO26VG&dchild=1&keywords=rostropovich+shostakovich&qid=1631813622&sprefix=rostro%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-41

the very good Barshai cycle from under £10.00 + p&p

Happy days for the new DSCH collector!
I recently bought the Kitajenko cycle which is very good - I already had the Barshai (but not for £10.00  :o)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

BasilValentine

Quote from: vandermolen on September 17, 2021, 08:41:19 AM
I already had the Barshai (but not for £10.00  :o)

Yeah, it cost me nearly $20 US!

Karl Henning

Eight years ago I got the mp3 album of the Barshai for nine clams
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

staxomega

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 17, 2021, 01:36:13 PM
Eight years ago I got the mp3 album of the Barshai for nine clams

Good deal, that would barely get you a good clam chowder in Boston these days  :laugh:

Karl Henning

Quote from: hvbias on September 17, 2021, 02:06:03 PM
Good deal, that would barely get you a good clam chowder in Boston these days  :laugh:

True!

(* chortle *)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mirror Image

This is just me reminiscing a bit, but I remember the first-time I heard any of Shostakovich's music, it was his 11th symphony and to be honest, it scared the hell out of me! It sounded so stark and menacing. This was around 2008, so I was a newbie to classical music, but I was interested enough in the music that I ended up buying the Haitink symphony set on Decca. This is still one of the best purchases I've ever made even if I don't consider Haitink's cycle an all out success, but this can be said of all of the symphony cycles. Anyway, I'm not sure why I'm sharing this, but carry on! :P

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 18, 2021, 07:38:07 PM
This is just me reminiscing a bit, but I remember the first-time I heard any of Shostakovich's music, it was his 11th symphony and to be honest, it scared the hell out of me! It sounded so stark and menacing. This was around 2008, so I was a newbie to classical music, but I was interested enough in the music that I ended up buying the Haitink symphony set on Decca. This is still one of the best purchases I've ever made even if I don't consider Haitink's cycle an all out success, but this can be said of all of the symphony cycles. Anyway, I'm not sure why I'm sharing this, but carry on! :P

I am sure about it. Because this composer and, most importantly, his music, resonates with you quite deeply.  ;)
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 18, 2021, 08:03:52 PM
I am sure about it. Because this composer and, most importantly, his music, resonates with you quite deeply.  ;)

I suppose that's true! :D Shostakovich was one of the only composers that has brought tears to my ears, so I suppose that's saying something!

relm1

My first encounter with Shostakovich was No. 5.  It was a record I rented from the library after being out of music choices and being a kid, I could only go to the library which I was lucky to have across the street.  It was incredibly powerful to me, having heard nothing like that before.  The first one of his works I heard live in performance, was my uni orchestra playing an absolutely electrifying performance of No. 11.  I was very familiar with the work from it's frequent use in Carl Sagan's Cosmos miniseries and my cassette tape of the Houston Symphony/Stokowski performance which I adored, but hearing it live is a whole new experience.  I even remember the conductor, Timothy Muffitt, who years later, I reached out to and mentioned what an impression that interpretation made on me.  I've since heard it live by some of the best orchestras and conductors but nothing impacted me quite like that electrifying live performance.   

Mirror Image

Quote from: relm1 on September 19, 2021, 05:58:26 AM
My first encounter with Shostakovich was No. 5.  It was a record I rented from the library after being out of music choices and being a kid, I could only go to the library which I was lucky to have across the street.  It was incredibly powerful to me, having heard nothing like that before.  The first one of his works I heard live in performance, was my uni orchestra playing an absolutely electrifying performance of No. 11.  I was very familiar with the work from it's frequent use in Carl Sagan's Cosmos miniseries and my cassette tape of the Houston Symphony/Stokowski performance which I adored, but hearing it live is a whole new experience.  I even remember the conductor, Timothy Muffitt, who years later, I reached out to and mentioned what an impression that interpretation made on me.  I've since heard it live by some of the best orchestras and conductors but nothing impacted me quite like that electrifying live performance.

What a lovely experience. Thanks for sharing. I never heard Shostakovich in concert, but I hope to be able to someday.

André

The Montreal Symphony is programming nos 5, 9 and 15 this season. None of the concerts they appear in couples it with another work I'm interested in, so I hesitate. Maybe I'll go for the 15th (w. the Schumann PC).

staxomega

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 18, 2021, 07:38:07 PM
This is just me reminiscing a bit, but I remember the first-time I heard any of Shostakovich's music, it was his 11th symphony and to be honest, it scared the hell out of me! It sounded so stark and menacing. This was around 2008, so I was a newbie to classical music, but I was interested enough in the music that I ended up buying the Haitink symphony set on Decca. This is still one of the best purchases I've ever made even if I don't consider Haitink's cycle an all out success, but this can be said of all of the symphony cycles. Anyway, I'm not sure why I'm sharing this, but carry on! :P

That's funny, your earliest cycle was Haitink and my latest cycle is Haitink  ;D My first cycle was the early (first?) edition BMG/Melodiya box set of Kondrashin. That was also my earliest introduction to Soviet music and those performances really paint an image of the turmoil of Soviet Russia.

Piano and chamber music comprised the vast majority of my listening for a long stretch when I was living in apartments so I mostly stuck with what I had instead of exploring performances that would have been new to me. For the last several years I've been catching up with all the good stuff I missed. The most recent one where I listened to a good amount was Michael Sanderling's, I was trying to convince myself to buy it, but as well played as it was it just wasn't idiomatic Shostakovich. And having all the other great cycles it was hard to justify.

Mirror Image

Quote from: hvbias on September 19, 2021, 02:17:31 PM
That's funny, your earliest cycle was Haitink and my latest cycle is Haitink  ;D My first cycle was the early (first?) edition BMG/Melodiya box set of Kondrashin. That was also my earliest introduction to Soviet music and those performances really paint an image of the turmoil of Soviet Russia.

Piano and chamber music comprised the vast majority of my listening for a long stretch when I was living in apartments so I mostly stuck with what I had instead of exploring performances that would have been new to me. For the last several years I've been catching up with all the good stuff I missed. The most recent one where I listened to a good amount was Michael Sanderling's, I was trying to convince myself to buy it, but as well played as it was it just wasn't idiomatic Shostakovich. And having all the other great cycles it was hard to justify.

Hah! That's quite interesting. I kind of wish I imprinted on Kondrashin's performances, because when I finally bought his cycle many years ago, the performances just felt right to my ears. Not saying that Haitink isn't convincing in his own special way, but there's something so infectious about those Soviet performances that I can't stop listening to them. Granted, the fidelity of these Kondrashin or even the digital recordings of Rozhdestvensky aren't the best, but there's a certain spirit in these performances that can't be topped. As for the piano and chamber music, Shostakovich delivered the goods in these departments, too. ;) As for Michael Sanderling, yeah, I don't know he just didn't really interest me. His father, on the other hand, was a fantastic Shostakovich conductor and if you haven't listened to his recordings on Berlin Classics, then do check those out.

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 19, 2021, 08:23:11 PM
His father, on the other hand, was a fantastic Shostakovich conductor and if you haven't listened to his recordings on Berlin Classics, then do check those out.

I'll second this, John, I have the 5th, 8th, 10th and 15th from older Sanderling and Co. on Berlin Classics and they are all solid. He also did No. 15 with the Cleveland Orch. on Erato.

P.S. Check out older Sanderling's Brahms too, also solid.

Mirror Image

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on September 20, 2021, 06:27:33 AM
I'll second this, John, I have the 5th, 8th, 10th and 15th from older Sanderling and Co. on Berlin Classics and they are all solid. He also did No. 15 with the Cleveland Orch. on Erato.

P.S. Check out older Sanderling's Brahms too, also solid.

I can only nod my head along with your own with the exception of Brahms who is a composer I'm not too fond of in general.

Symphonic Addict

Once again the Violin Concerto No. 1 manages to astound me. It strikes me like a genuine masterpiece in any standard. Wow, all the movements are eloquently and uniformly brilliant in conception and technique, mastery. Mordkovitch is on fire along with Järvi and the Scottish N. O.

What are your other favorite recordings on this unique creation?
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 25, 2021, 06:35:32 PM
Once again the Violin Concerto No. 1 manages to astound me. It strikes me like a genuine masterpiece in any standard. Wow, all the movements are eloquently and uniformly brilliant in conception and technique, mastery. Mordkovitch is on fire along with Järvi and the Scottish N. O.

What are your other favorite recordings on this unique creation?

It is an incredible concerto without question, Cesar. I love it dearly. It is one of the only works that I've listened to that actually had me in tears. Favorite performances? Certainly that Mordkovitch/Järvi recording you were listening to, but also Batiashvili/Salonen, Vengerov/Rostropovich and, more recently, Ibragimova/Jurowski, which, interestingly enough, wasn't a performance that won me over when I first heard it. I've heard many other performances, but none of them quite hit the mark like the afore mentioned ones have for me.