Rozhdestvensky Shostakovich Symphony Cycle

[lachlanbutch]

Hi,

I'm new to Shostakovich's Symphonies as I've just played the 5th in a youth orchestra.

I've thus acquired a set of Shostakovich's Symphonies played by the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra - Conducted by ROZHDESTVENSKY.

I was wondering whether anyone could comment on this set, in comparison to others?

Cheers!

Lachlan

[George]

I am green with envy. I have about half of the cycle in single discs and very much enjoy these performances. I love the rawness of the performances and find them second to none. I have heard Kondrashin, Barshai, Hatink and others, yet Rozhdestvensky remains my favorite. In other words, I think you have made a great choice.

What do you think of the performances?

[lachlanbutch]

Yes, there is that raw, fiery, Russian really, quality to them. Nothing quite like it.

The timpani throughout the symphonies are superb!

There are mistakes throughout - or rather just mispitching/tuning issues - but this just adds to the intense, spontaneous i guess, nature of the performances.

I like the sound of a good, hard Russian orchestra and i think this cycle fits the bill.

Are the Mravinsky and Kondrashin recordings similar? If not, how do they differ?

On the note of Russians - can anyone name any other notable Russian conductors and what pieces they have made their mark with. I have many Gergiev recordings of various Russian pieces, and find some of them quite thrilling! Who else is out there? I've heard of Svetlanov? but know nothing about him.

Cheers

Lachlan

[M forever]

I like the sound of a good, hard Russian orchestra and i think this cycle fits the bill.

Are the Mravinsky and Kondrashin recordings similar? If not, how do they differ?

I like the caracterisitc sound and playing style of Russian orchestras a lot myself, but I have to warn you that most of what you hear on these recordings is not really their sound, but the extreme engineering with which many of these Ministry of Culture Orchestra recordings from that period were made. I heard them live under GR in the 80s. The sound was much, much richer and warmer, less glaring and bright. The brass playing was still rather edgy and could be very intense and rather bright, too, but not as bonecutting as it is on these recordings. I think it's a pity they played around with EQ and fake reverb and other nonsense so much. Some of these recordings are totally unlistenable, like most of the Bruckner recordings they made which sound totally bizarre. I have a lot of historical and a lot of Soviet recordings (many of which sound historical, too, even when they are from the 70s...) so I am not too spoilt when it comes to sound quality. But some of these recordings aren't just technically, but estheticaly very bad.

Mravinsky was very different from GR. Much less theatrical and basically much more controlled and "classicist" but because of that sternness and concentration, actually much deeper and emotionally more intense and to the point than GR. Kondrashin was somewhere in the middle between these two, I would say.

[sidoze]

anyone heard the new BBC Legends release of Rozhdestvensky's Shostakovich 4 (first performance in the "west")? Should be fascinating, though can't imagine it topping his Melodiya recording.