Shostakovich Symphonies, Cycles & Otherwise

Started by karlhenning, April 25, 2007, 12:02:09 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

The new erato

Quote from: Renfield on January 12, 2009, 01:51:45 PM

And for what it's worth, using ad hominem arguments to support aesthetic claims is, to my sensibilities, a faux pas.
Holy c..p, three languages in one sentence! Is this some kind of board record?  ;D

Renfield

Quote from: erato on January 12, 2009, 02:10:47 PM
Holy c..p, three languages in one sentence! Is this some kind of board record?  ;D

I actually made note of that that when I pressed "Post", wondering if it wasn't a bit excessive. :P

karlhenning


The new erato

Quote from: Renfield on January 12, 2009, 02:34:39 PM
I actually made note of that that when I pressed "Post", wondering if it wasn't a bit excessive. :P
Pas de tout!

vandermolen

#704
My favourite versions of Shostakovich symphs. (Not 'the greatest' - but my favourites!)

No 1 Ormandy (Sony)

No 2/3?

No 4 Kondrashin (Melodiya) Maxim (Supraphon)

No 5 Mravinsky (1937 - terrific!)

No 6 Stokowski (RCA)

No 7 Rozhdestvensky

No 8 Slatkin (RCA St Louis SO)

NO 9 Boult (Everest)

No 10 Previn (EMI)

No 11 Kondrashin (Melodiya)/ Lazarev Royal Scottish NO (Linn)

No 12 No special favourite yet

No 13 Previn (EMI)

No 14 Barshai (EMI/Melodiya)

No 15 Maxim S (ASD LP)

I'm sure you'll all agree hahaha  ;D
"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).

Archaic Torso of Apollo

Quote from: vandermolen on January 14, 2009, 02:48:52 AM
No 5 Mravinsky (1937 - terrific!)

Hey there. Are you telling us that the premiere performance of the symphony is available on a recording?
formerly VELIMIR (before that, Spitvalve)

"Who knows not strict counterpoint, lives and dies an ignoramus" - CPE Bach

jlaurson

#706
Quote from: vandermolen on January 14, 2009, 02:48:52 AM

picking that up, leaving out those where I can't really make up my mind, have no strong opinion, don't care, or haven't heard enough, seriously...

No 1 Ancerl, maybe? (Supraphon)

No 2 Jansons, if anyone can salvage that (EMI)

No 4 Jansons (EMI)

No 5 Previn (RCA)

No 6 Skrowaczewski (Halle)... but I don't feel strongly about the work...

No 7 Bernstein (DG) (I know... sue me.)

No 8 Barshai (Brilliant) or maybe Gergiev? or Jansons? Maybe I just don't like this symphony as much, either. :-)

No 9 Kosler (Chant du Monde)

No 10 Karajan (DG II)

No 11 Bychkov II (Avie), alt. Pletnev (Pentatone)

No 12 Jansons (EMI)

No 13 Masur (Teldec)

No 15 Kondrashin Dresden (Haenssler PROFIL)




vandermolen

Quote from: Spitvalve on January 14, 2009, 03:15:43 AM
Hey there. Are you telling us that the premiere performance of the symphony is available on a recording?

It's the premiere recording and is difficult to find. Here it is but at a ridiculous price. I also have it on a set of Mravisky recordings in a series of either 4 or 6 CDs (I'm at work not home) in a long shaped folder; part of a set of issues featuring different conductors.

I had become rather bored through over-familiarity with this symphony - but this recording, old as it is, was a revelation and oddly links Symphony No 5 to the sound world of Symphony No 4.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yevgeni-Mravinsky-Vol-2/dp/B00006YXAA/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231939076&sr=1-15
"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).

not edward

Quote from: jlaurson on January 14, 2009, 03:35:35 AM
No 9 Kosler (Chant du Monde)
Good to see some love for this recording. It's the one I learnt the work from and has always remained my favourite... it digs deeper below the surface than any other I've heard.
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

karlhenning

Quote from: edward on January 14, 2009, 12:17:57 PM
Good to see some love for this recording. It's the one I learnt the work from and has always remained my favourite... it digs deeper below the surface than any other I've heard.

Hear, hear.

Tyson

I've got the Haitink, the Kondrashin, the Rozhdevensky, Kitajenko, Barshai, and Jansons cycles (complete or mostly complete).  Each has it's own character, but I find that I return to the Kondrashin (on Aulos) most frequently as my favorite "Fun House and Razor Blades" interpretation.  Of the rest, Barshai has grown in stature over time and really become my "European style" reference set.  Great sound and solid interpretations.
At a loss for words.

ezodisy

Quote from: vandermolen on January 14, 2009, 02:48:52 AM
No 4 Kondrashin (Melodiya) Maxim (Supraphon)

Quote from: jlaurson on January 14, 2009, 03:35:35 AM
No 4 Jansons (EMI)

have you chaps heard Rozhdestvensky's 4th (studio, haven't heard the live ones)? It's a cracker, one to partner Kondrashin though quite different

vandermolen

Quote from: ezodisy on January 14, 2009, 11:21:45 PM
have you chaps heard Rozhdestvensky's 4th (studio, haven't heard the live ones)? It's a cracker, one to partner Kondrashin though quite different

Do you mean the one on Olympia with the Jazz Suite? If so I have it and it is really good. I will listen to it again.
"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).

ezodisy

I think it must be the same one as the one I had on Melodiya/BMG because AFAIK he made only 1 studio recording of it, some time in the '80s I think. IMO it's a great recording, I recall it was Molman's overall favourite.

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: ezodisy on January 14, 2009, 11:21:45 PM
have you chaps heard Rozhdestvensky's 4th (studio, haven't heard the live ones)? It's a cracker, one to partner Kondrashin though quite different

I have a live Rozhdestvensky 4th with the Bolshoi (1981) on Russian Disc. It's actually much more driven (a la Kondrashin) than his studio efforts. But overall I still prefer either Barshai or Jansons in the 4th.

Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

karlhenning

A couple of days ago I revisited the Previn/CSO recording of the Fourth.  This is great music, even when not 'pushed';  and the band sound great.  It's a recording which sounds no whit less 'powerful' to me than others;  and at less frantic speed, it has terrific 'weight'.

vandermolen

Quote from: karlhenning on January 16, 2009, 11:38:48 AM
A couple of days ago I revisited the Previn/CSO recording of the Fourth.  This is great music, even when not 'pushed';  and the band sound great.  It's a recording which sounds no whit less 'powerful' to me than others;  and at less frantic speed, it has terrific 'weight'.

This is one of my favourites too Karl for the same reasons. I also like Previn's EMI version of Symphony No 10, with the slower than usual second movement.
"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).

Renfield

So I've found myself wondering, now that JPC has an offer on it, whether Kitajenko's (Capriccio) cycle should be on my shelf for comparison with Kondrashin, Jansons, Shostakovich (Jr), Barshai, Haitink and the incomplete Mravinsky.

Note "comparison" - I'm not looking for a "new favourite cycle"! Just an informative, consistent and high-standard supplement that is not simply "what I've heard, only less special". Is that the case with Kitajenko? Opinions? :)


(As an example of what I mean, you might remember - or just scroll up to - my opinions on Rostropovich, in whose cycle I am still interested.)

jlaurson

Quote from: Renfield on March 13, 2009, 06:29:12 PM
So I've found myself wondering, now that JPC has an offer on it, whether Kitajenko's (Capriccio) cycle should be on my shelf for comparison with Kondrashin, Jansons, Shostakovich (Jr), Barshai, Haitink and the incomplete Mravinsky.

I suspect the price is not much higher than it used to be? Then definitely, even though you are already very nicely set with DSCH cycles and another one would--strictly speaking--be unnecessary. (Not that's ever kept me, you, or most forum-members from acquiring a CD.) I think we are keeping the world economy alive, just on account of our continued classical music spending.  ;D

Quote(As an example of what I mean, you might remember - or just scroll up to - my opinions on Rostropovich, in whose cycle I am still interested.)

Incorrigible, you.   ;)

Renfield

Quote from: jlaurson on March 13, 2009, 11:05:56 PM
I suspect the price is not much higher than it used to be?

It goes for ca. 30 Euro on JPC, at the moment. And I'm between getting that and a few other things, or getting the Haydn Brilliant box, right now, going for ca. 80 Euro, from the same source. Hence my quandary. What's Kitajenko's interpretative selling-point?