Your Favorite Olympia/Melodiya Recordings

[AnotherSpin]

To the bolded text - that's a rather pointed comment if I may say.  What I meant - but perhaps did not articulate well enough - was that works like Babi Yar have a directness of contemporary extra-musical comment that much other 'absolute' music makes no effort to achieve.  BTW - which is the oratorio "about" Stalin or the symphony "about" Lenin?  As far as I know there are none by DSCH.

For me old Soviet orchestras do not sound "strange" neither is their performing style "peculiar" let alone in "the civilised world" and yes I find it "interesting".  I assume something is being lost in translation here.

Don't ask the question and then dismiss the reply.

You probably know a lot about Shostakovich. Surely you also know that he was a multiple winner of the Stalin and Lenin Prizes, and headed the USSR Union of Composers, which was the controlling body for all composers in the country? Symphony about Lenin - 12th Symphony, oratorio about Stalin - Song of the Forests. There were other works written to meet the demands of the regime.

My comparison with the music of the Third Reich struck you as superfluous. Yes, recordings made in the Third Reich are not as popular here. And the Third Reich only lasted 10+ years, whereas the Soviet regime lasted much longer. Not to mention that the Soviets/Russians killed incomparably more people, native and foreign and continue to kill today. Obviously, such relevance escapes your attention.

Happy listening!

[AnotherSpin]

At the height of the Cold War in the early 1960's, I learned as a teenager that Shostakovich may have seemed occasionally like a puppet, but word had already leaked to The West that he was terrified of his government...as were millions of others in "The Workers' Paradise."

See e.g.  https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Articles/2021/03/11/Shostakovich-and-the-Soviet-State

I lived in the USSR and remember very well the fact that Shostakovich LPs filled the shops and his propaganda symphonies were broadcast with persistent regularity on the only channel on state television as well as on the radio. At a time when foreign LPs were not available in the country and only works permitted by the Party were for broadcast, this created a rather special atmosphere for lovers of serious music.

[Daverz]

You probably know a lot about Shostakovich. Surely

Stop with the trolling.  And, yes, this is classic trolling: trying to drag other posters into irrelevant discussions.

[AnotherSpin]

Stop with the trolling.  And, yes, this is classic trolling: trying to drag other posters into irrelevant discussions.

Are you trying to control what one can think or say about Soviet music? Quite in line with the Soviet ways . But, no problem! I don't really care what anyone listens to or admires, go on!.

[vandermolen]

The Melodiya Shop sounds wonderful. Any pics? There was a record shop specialized in Soviet recordings in Tokyo. The store closed about 10 years ago.  I haven't seen the Myaskovsky 6 and Shebalin recordings. I will check them out.

No pics I'm afraid Manabu.
That CD of NYM's 6th Symphony was one of the two reviews that I wrote for Musicweb. Here it is:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/may06/Myaskovsky_6_MELCD1000841.htm

[Harry]

No pics I'm afraid Manabu.
That CD of NYM's 6th Symphony was one of the two reviews that I wrote for Musicweb. Here it is:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/may06/Myaskovsky_6_MELCD1000841.htm

Fine review Jeffrey, I knew that there was more knowledge as you let on.    

[Roasted Swan]

The Melodiya Shop sounds wonderful. Any pics? There was a record shop specialized in Soviet recordings in Tokyo. The store closed about 10 years ago.  I haven't seen the Myaskovsky 6 and Shebalin recordings. I will check them out.

I remember Collett's too.  At a time when there were so many music, book specialist shops in London - I moved to London in 1979 as a music student and could spend easily a day just wandering down Charing Cross Road.  The point about Colletts was that it started (in the 30's I thnk) as a Socialist bookshop so it celebrated all things socialist/soviet not just the Melodiya LP's.  But the other thing to know about those LP's - hopefully Jeffrey will back me up on this - was the smell!!  Presumably some chemical used in the vinyl or the printing/packaging but they (and the same with old Supraphon LP's too) had this very distinctive slightly rotten(!) smell about them.  Also the actual pressings could be rather dodgy so you could get some great repertoire and performances heard through a storm of clicks and distortion....

[img=350x350]https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2JB47BC/1970s-archive-image-of-colletts-bookshop-in-charing-cross-road-london-2JB47BC.jpg[/img]

There are still some bookshops on Charing Cross Road - although a fraction of what there was and there is still one 2nd hand music shop called Travis & Emery in Cecil Court.  Thats a pedestrian cut through from Charing Court to St Martin's Lane and is a bit like travelling back in time to how London shops used to be

[img=350x350]https://thirdeyetraveller.com/wp-content/uploads/Harry-Potter-Cecil-Court-London-Diagon-Alley-4-689x517.jpg[/img]

[Irons]

Melodiya often featured unposed images of composers on their LP covers. I appreciated this as on some occasions I had no idea what they looked like!

[Mandryka]

I used to love the Schubert and the Brahms on this one. I've not heard it since I got rid of my turntable in 1990 or thereabouts.



I had a very brief phase of being into the Ravel trio, and I remember that this was a bit sui generis in a good way. 




I could say much the same for late Shostakovich -- this isn't "the best" for sure, but it is still well worth a listen. Suicidal music.



Great Tristesse



Sui generis and marmite, in a good way.



From memory, and I may well be confusing it with another Gilels performance, this is one of the great Schumann Nachtstuecke on record.




The Igumnov here is a great favourite of mine, has to be heard, want it at my funeral. Is the Dichterliebe he recorded with Kozlovsky also on Melodyia?  That's another priceless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgu1HhH6r5Y&ab_channel=MargoBeloved

[Cato]

Another all-around favorite, especially because of Yuri Yelnikov's mesmerizing performance of Prokofiev's SEVEN, THEY ARE SEVEN!

Rozhdestvensky conducting the First Symphony was another great favorite on MELODIYA!  The speed of the final movement is staggering!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Melodiya often featured unposed images of composers on their LP covers. I appreciated this as on some occasions I had no idea what they looked like!

Nice covers. Love the music of Tsintsadze piano preludes!
What/who are the other three?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

No pics I'm afraid Manabu.
That CD of NYM's 6th Symphony was one of the two reviews that I wrote for Musicweb. Here it is:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/may06/Myaskovsky_6_MELCD1000841.htm

Detailed and very informative review, Jeffrey! The album is on my list and I will check it out shortly.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I remember Collett's too.  At a time when there were so many music, book specialist shops in London - I moved to London in 1979 as a music student and could spend easily a day just wandering down Charing Cross Road.  The point about Colletts was that it started (in the 30's I thnk) as a Socialist bookshop so it celebrated all things socialist/soviet not just the Melodiya LP's.  But the other thing to know about those LP's - hopefully Jeffrey will back me up on this - was the smell!!  Presumably some chemical used in the vinyl or the printing/packaging but they (and the same with old Supraphon LP's too) had this very distinctive slightly rotten(!) smell about them.  Also the actual pressings could be rather dodgy so you could get some great repertoire and performances heard through a storm of clicks and distortion....

[img=350x350]https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2JB47BC/1970s-archive-image-of-colletts-bookshop-in-charing-cross-road-london-2JB47BC.jpg[/img]

There are still some bookshops on Charing Cross Road - although a fraction of what there was and there is still one 2nd hand music shop called Travis & Emery in Cecil Court.  Thats a pedestrian cut through from Charing Court to St Martin's Lane and is a bit like travelling back in time to how London shops used to be

[img=350x350]https://thirdeyetraveller.com/wp-content/uploads/Harry-Potter-Cecil-Court-London-Diagon-Alley-4-689x517.jpg[/img]

Thank you for the pics. The street looks rather elegant and nice. Also the store looks large/sizable. Probably we won't see a pro-socialist or pro-Russia shop in any country anymore.

[Irons]

Nice covers. Love the music of Tsintsadze piano preludes!
What/who are the other three?

Between you and me I find Tsintsadze preludes more exciting then those of Shostakovich.

The first cover is composer/conductor Ivanov conducting his own works. The second has Alexei Skavronsky playing piano pieces of Kabalevsky. The last, a pupil of Shostakovich and bears an uncanny resemblance, who's name escapes me, making it difficult to locate the LP on my shelves.

[DavidW]

This is the record label that introduced me to Myaskovsky.  Back in the day, the Berkshire Record Outlet carried tons of Olympia recordings.  Melodiya was one of the labels to carry the legendary Kondrashin Shostakovich cycle (though my introduction was from the Aulos remasters).

[Atriod]

I have a great love for Melodiya with plenty of CDs from Sofronitsky, Dmitri Bashkirov (some of the best Schubert I've ever heard), Richter, Gilels, Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky, etc.

If I can single out one CD as being absurd in how good it is:



Lugansky's first recording of Etudes-Tableaux is the only Rachmaninoff I've heard that is the same league. When he started recording Rachmaninoff on Harmonia Mundi it was soft edged, bland, not particularly noteworthy. I include Sergei Babayan's Rachmaninoff CD in my holy top 3 of solo Rachmaninoff keyboard music. Aside from that everyone else is playing for silver, or if you're some of those Hyperion British pianists, participation ribbons 

[Holden]

This recording introduced me to Sviatoslav Richter



And this - an absolute revelation

[JBS]

Between you and me I find Tsintsadze preludes more exciting then those of Shostakovich.

The first cover is composer/conductor Ivanov conducting his own works. The second has Alexei Skavronsky playing piano pieces of Kabalevsky. The last, a pupil of Shostakovich and bears an uncanny resemblance, who's name escapes me, making it difficult to locate the LP on my shelves.

Revol Bunin.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revol_Bunin

[Irons]

Revol Bunin.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revol_Bunin

Many, many thanks! The old brain cells not what they were.

[prémont]

And this - an absolute revelation

Yes, indeed.