January is also Shostakovich Symphony Month

[TheGSMoeller]

Petrenko's 5th is on Spotify, I think I'll have a listen.

Petrenko's Largo has intensity, to me it felt more like a slow-burn, it set its somber tone early in the movement and maintained it even when the xylophone kicked in. It seems I've heard more performances that have reached its peak at this point (xylophone entrance), Petrenko utilizes this moment as one more spring board towards the next section. This slower build-up actually made the climax a bit more surprising, even jarring. Bernstein's is ferocious, and devastatingly powerful, but you're ready for the climax because he is hitting you with it a bit earlier. Both different, both effective.

I enjoy Petrenko's tempo choices for the finale's first section, consistently picking up steam all the way up to the harsh trombone chorale. Although the coda is a bit too slow for my liking, it certainly felt right for this performance and preserved the overall statement.

This is the first Petrenko DSCH recording I've listened to, I'm impressed and ready to take on more.

[Brahmsian]

Petrenko's Largo has intensity, to me it felt more like a slow-burn, it set its somber tone early in the movement and maintained it even when the xylophone kicked in. It seems I've heard more performances that have reached its peak at this point (xylophone entrance), Petrenko utilizes this moment as one more spring board towards the next section. This slower build-up actually made the climax a bit more surprising, even jarring. Bernstein's is ferocious, and devastatingly powerful, but you're ready for the climax because he is hitting you with it a bit earlier. Both different, both effective.

I enjoy Petrenko's tempo choices for the finale's first section, consistently picking up steam all the way up to the harsh trombone chorale. Although the coda is a bit too slow for my liking, it certainly felt right for this performance and preserved the overall statement.
This is the first Petrenko DSCH recording I've listened to, I'm impressed and ready to take on more.

That is my main slight disappointment with Petrenko/RLPO's take on the 5th.  However, listening to it earlier this month, it has grown on me a bit more.  Overall though, I still prefer Barshai/WDR in the 5th.

Hands down though, Petrenko and RLPO rock out big time on the 10th!  Magnificent!

[listener]

I've done no.1 (Martinon), have no.4 set up for tomorrow and will hear no.1 live on Monday.
List of disc with LPs shown with a ø:1 Martinon
2 Haitink, øRozhdestvensky  øGould
3 Haitink  øGould
4 øOrmandy, Slovak, Ashkenazy,
5 øMitchell, øM.Shostakovich,
6 øBoult  Haitink
7 øSvetlanov
8 øPrevin
9
10 øAncerl, øSvetlanov
11 Haitink
12 øMravinsky
13 øPrevin, øKondrashin
14 øBarshai
15 øM. Shostakovich,
My own database shows I have 3 lps of 9 (Horvat, Kondrashin and Koussevitzky hiding somewhere ,and a 14 with M. Shostakovich.
I have scores for all 15 as well.

[Fafner]

I just finished listening to No. 9 in three different recordings (Barshai, Petrenko, and Bernstein).

This is the first time I heard any of Barshai's interpretations and I must say it compares quite favourably to both Petrenko and Bernstein. His Moderato is notably faster than I was used to and it suits the overall tone of the work rather well.

[Karl Henning]

The Eleventh won't ever become my favorite of the 15, I don't think . . . but that is largely because there is a cluster of them that I really, really admire, and (though do I like the Eleventh better, each time I listen to it) I listen to the Op.103 in somewhat a different way than I listen to any other Shostakovich symphony.

[Fafner]

I really love the Eleventh. Partly because it was the very first Shostakovich I knowingly listened to when I was about fifteen, so it has certain sentimental value to me.
And, of course, the heavy metal fan in me probably responds to the sheer brutality of The Ninth of January.   

[kishnevi]

I really love the Eleventh. Partly because it was the very first Shostakovich I knowingly listened to when I was about fifteen, so it has certain sentimental value to me.
And, of course, the heavy metal fan in me probably responds to the sheer brutality of The Ninth of January.   

The Eleventh was not the first, but one of the first DSCH symphonies I heard (Rostropovich/LSO), and it remains a favorite of mine as well.

But Karl, when you say:

I listen to the Op.103 in somewhat a different way than I listen to any other Shostakovich symphony.

What exactly do you mean by that.

Meanwhile,  tonight I'm listening to Barshai's Ninth and Tenth.  In Barshai's hands, the Allegro of the Tenth certainly could be termed "sheer brutality".  But his Ninth is a sheer gem;  in this performance, it comes across as one of the best symphonies, one for which many other composers (including perhaps Prokofiev) would have given their first-born together with an arm and a leg to write;  so many different moods, although not as dark as many other DSCH pieces, and the meditative, wistful saxophone solo is, on this recording, more attention grabbing and more elegaic than I remember from other performances.

Overall, the Ninth deserved to be better known and more performed;  perhaps it suffers because of its proximity to the much more famous 10th and the relatively famous 8th, and possibly because it's one of the shorter symphonies in terms of length;  plus the opening might fool some people into thinking it's merely raucous andl ightweight.

[Brahmsian]

For me, they are all special.  There really isn't one of his symphonies that I dislike.  And the ones I enjoy less, I find I am enjoying more as time goes on, which if fabulous!

#10, #11, #8, #5, #7, #13 have always been favourites from the opening gates.

Over time, I've come to adore the #12, #14, #1 to #3 and #9

Just this weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed and lusted over the #6

Now, my hopes are that I will start to grow fonder of #4 and #15 (I know, these are suppose to be no-brainer clear cut 'favourites', just please have patience with me) 

[Brahmsian]

Listened to the 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th and 2nd thus far this month.

Upcoming tomorrow, the mighty 11th!!

3 recordings:

Barshai/WDR
Petrenko/RLPO

...and my current favourite (and happened to be a freebie through BBC Magazine)  Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Kirill Karabits (live recording, Nov 26, 2008)

[Mirror Image]

I personally like the 11th, but each time I return to it I'm finding it rather thin on musical material much like the 12th is weak in material. The Ninth of January movement is probably the highlight of the whole symphony for me. I prefer the dark, troubled world of the 8th, which, for me, is still Shostakovich's greatest symphony. The 5th is a much more public Shostakovich and the symphony that saved his life whereas the 8th is free of these feelings and, therefore, a much more personal musical statement. This is truly a war symphony. The 7th could be viewed this way, but once I absorbed the 8th and it's musical ideas, I looked at Shostakovich in a new light.

[Fafner]

There really isn't one of his symphonies that I dislike.

I really don't like the Second as a whole, and I thoroughly despise the chorus ending of the Third. It would be a much better work without it.

[aukhawk]

That's easy to fix, when you're listening to a recording.  Not so easy at a concert ...

[kishnevi]

Finished giving the Barshai set a first listen this mornng. 
Preliminary rating:
Excellent, probably the best available, performances of 2, 3, 9  and 12.
Excellent, possibly the best available performances of 10, 13, 14, and 15.
First rate, but not as good as others I've heard, performances of 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8
Either I was having a bad hair day when I listened to it, or it's a total dud, performance: 11

Still, with only one apparent clunker in the group,  it's very well worth having


Humor note: I have this as part of the Brilliant 100 CD Symphonies box, the megaset which also includes Fischer's Haydn,  Blomstedt's Beethoven, and various other cycles or parts of cycles marketed by Brilliant.  It's arranged mostly chronologically, which means that Shostakovich should be the very last composer in the box;  but apparently Brilliant thought he was too heavy or depressing for that position, and inserted two Borodin CDs to finish out the set.

[Karl Henning]

Very interesting, Jeffrey; and:

Humor note: I have this as part of the Brilliant 100 CD Symphonies box, the megaset which also includes Fischer's Haydn,  Blomstedt's Beethoven, and various other cycles or parts of cycles marketed by Brilliant.  It's arranged mostly chronologically, which means that Shostakovich should be the very last composer in the box;  but apparently Brilliant thought he was too heavy or depressing for that position, and inserted two Borodin CDs to finish out the set.

That is funny!

Now that I am listening to the Maksim Dmitriyevich recording of the Tenth with the LSO, I think I may never have listened to this recording before. Very impressed with the slower pace for the Moderato, with the energy still intense.

[Brahmsian]

I am spilling over the Shostakovich symphony month into February.  Onto a riveting performance of the # 3 by Petrenko/RLPO.

Record breaking month was January.  47 listens to Shostakovich.  I think that is record for me (for any composer) in one month. 

[Brahmsian]

Onto the 9th Symphony (in the same key as the 3rd).

Barshai/WDR and Petrenko/RLPO (the 9th is one of the finest in the so-far Petrenko/RLPO cycle)

After the 9th I have 5 symphonies left (all steaming powerhorses!)

*8th (Barshai/Petrenko and the mighty Haitink/Royal Concertgebouw - perhaps one of the finest recording of any Shostakovich symphony!)
*15th (Barshai/Petrenko)
*7th (Barshai)
*4th (Barshai)
*10th (Barshai/Petrenko) - saved my favourite for last! 

[Karl Henning]

I am spilling over the Shostakovich symphony month into February.

Splendid!