Dmitri's Dacha

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

What is everyone's favorite performance of Babi Yar? I'm leaning towards Haitink on Decca, but the more recent Riccardo Muti with the CSO (on the orchestra's house label) is top-notch. Then there's Kondrashin, Barshai, Rostropovich et. al. who have turned in some excellent performances of the 13th.

[Karl Henning]

What is everyone's favorite performance of Babi Yar? I'm leaning towards Haitink on Decca, but the more recent Riccardo Muti with the CSO (on the orchestra's house label) is top-notch. Then there's Kondrashin, Barshai, Rostropovich et. al. who have turned in some excellent performances of the 13th.

Couldn't choose. I don't think I've heard a bad account of the piece.

[krummholz]

I haven't heard enough different readings to choose. I first heard the work as interpreted by Ormandy, I think. Currently have only the Haitink, and am quite fond of it.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Couldn't choose. I don't think I've heard a bad account of the piece.

Yeah, I can't really think of one either. Another one I forgot to mention that I enjoy is Masur/New York PO on Teldec. Masur's Leningrad is also rather good.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I haven't heard enough different readings to choose. I first heard the work as interpreted by Ormandy, I think. Currently have only the Haitink, and am quite fond of it.

Didn't Ormandy give the US premiere of this work? I need to revisit his recording of it --- I have a Japanese import of it on CD that was issued in 2003:

[krummholz]

Didn't Ormandy give the US premiere of this work?

I believe that's correct - I vaguely recall that the cover said it was a "premiere" recording, likely meaning US premiere.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I believe that's correct - I vaguely recall that the cover said it was a "premiere" recording, likely meaning US premiere.

Also worth noting that the front cover says "Banned in Russia". I had no idea that this symphony was banned. I've got to brush up on my Shostakovich compositional history.

[krummholz]

Also worth noting that the front cover says "Banned in Russia". I had no idea that this symphony was banned. I've got to brush up on my Shostakovich compositional history.

Yeah, I vaguely recall that as well. It didn't surprise me, given the subject matter and the rather overt political content of Yevtushenko's texts.

[Roasted Swan]

What is everyone's favorite performance of Babi Yar? I'm leaning towards Haitink on Decca, but the more recent Riccardo Muti with the CSO (on the orchestra's house label) is top-notch. Then there's Kondrashin, Barshai, Rostropovich et. al. who have turned in some excellent performances of the 13th.

The Barshai always struck me as a particular highlight of a consistently fine cycle

[DavidW]

The Barshai always struck me as a particular highlight of a consistently fine cycle

I think the 13th is the highlight of the entire Barshai box.

[relm1]

My favorite 13 is Okko Kamu/City of Birmingham/Chandos.  Great soloist and chorus too!  I just noticed it had three choirs.  Much larger sound than some of the others I've heard. 

[André]

I haven't heard any of Oleg Caetani's Shostakovich recordings. How is his conducting ? He is Igor Markevitch's son but of course that doesn't mean anything, does it ? Any particular recommendation ?

[aukhawk]

He's consistently fast, and the recordings are live.

[Roasted Swan]

He's consistently fast, and the recordings are live.

quite so - but the "live" element is not apparent in terms of audience noise or performing flaws

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

The Barshai always struck me as a particular highlight of a consistently fine cycle

I think the 13th is the highlight of the entire Barshai box.

Nice! I'll have to revisit this performance tonight as it's been far too long.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Another Babi Yar I enjoy is Previn on EMI (Warner):



I bought all of Previn's Shostakovich recordings on Warner as Japanese imports many years ago and greatly enjoy everything.

The other Previn recordings on Warner:

[Karl Henning]

Also worth noting that the front cover says "Banned in Russia". I had no idea that this symphony was banned. I've got to brush up on my Shostakovich compositional history.

Aye, the titular poem pulls no punches about antisemitic hate crimes soiling Russia's good name, when antisemitism was practically Soviet policy.

[Karl Henning]

Aye, the titular poem pulls no punches about antisemitic hate crimes soiling Russia's good name, when antisemitism was practically Soviet policy.

The Thirteenth was one of the first of his symphonies I dug into as an undergrad, and I still love it unreservedly. 

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Aye, the titular poem pulls no punches about antisemitic hate crimes soiling Russia's good name, when antisemitism was practically Soviet policy.

The Thirteenth was one of the first of his symphonies I dug into as an undergrad, and I still love it unreservedly.

Interesting. Thanks for the infomation, Karl. I can certainly hear why the Babi Yar is a favorite of yours. It's a favorite of mine, too. Immensely powerful work.

[Madiel]

Also worth noting that the front cover says "Banned in Russia". I had no idea that this symphony was banned. I've got to brush up on my Shostakovich compositional history.

The text of the first movement was objected to. There was a revised text that the censors accepted, but nowadays I'm pretty certain that all recordings would use the original text. Even with the changes, the symphony got very few performances.

The other interesting thing is that the text of the 4th movement, "Fears", was written by Yevtushenko specifically at Shostakovich's request for use in the symphony. The other movements were pre-existing poems, but "Fears" was new. And I've just read (maybe for the first time) that some lines in "Fears" were also censored and changed.