Shostakovich Symphony 8

[vandermolen]

I'd be interested to know of favourite recordings of the above:

My own favourites are Previn with the LSO on EMI, Barshai's Bournemouth CFP recording and also the Leonard Slatkin St Louis one on RCA that was not that well received.

[PaulR]

I like Rostropovich's recording with the LSO, slower third movement than I was used to when I first heard, But I still like the recording.

I also like Janson/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra one, one that I probably listen to the most. 

The other 2 I have that I don't really listen to is Litton/Dallas Symphony and Levi/Atlanta Symphony

[bhodges]

My favorite is Haitink/Concertgebouw, one of the highlights of his Shostakovich cycle, magnificently played and recorded.  I also have Gergiev/Kirov which is more extroverted, also with excellent playing if a little rougher, and with very good sound, too, but I keep coming back to Haitink's more implacable approach.  His no-nonsense view somehow makes the result even more bleak.  

Here are the covers for the original release and the reissue.

--Bruce

[Drasko]

[not edward]

How does that one compare with the well-travelled (and often-mispitched) 1982 Leningrad version?

[Drasko]

How does that one compare with the well-travelled (and often-mispitched) 1982 Leningrad version?

Never heard '82, as you said most of its travelling was done mispitched and I kept avoiding it. Latest Regis reissue should be on pitch but I haven't gotten it yet.

1960 performance on BBC is one of those truly earth-shattering experiences, only detriment is audience noise which is really unbelievably constant and so clearly caught by microphones. 

[vandermolen]

My favorite is Haitink/Concertgebouw, one of the highlights of his Shostakovich cycle, magnificently played and recorded.  I also have Gergiev/Kirov which is more extroverted, also with excellent playing if a little rougher, and with very good sound, too, but I keep coming back to Haitink's more implacable approach.  His no-nonsense view somehow makes the result even more bleak.  

Here are the covers for the original release and the reissue.

--Bruce

Bruce,

I have the Haitink on LP and saw him give a fantastic performance at the Proms many years ago.  As a student at Lancaster in the 1970s, the university arranged for a mini -bus to take some students (including me) to Philharmonic Hall Liverpool to see Ashkenazy conduct a great performance of Shostakovich's 8th. I remember the concert also because the leader of the orchestra shredded his violin bow during a crucial solo just before the end of the work, so that the strings on his bow turned suddenly into what looked a large ball of cotton wool. It was held up to great applause at the end. Also there was clearly a cat somewhere in the audience.

[vandermolen]

Thanks for replies guys 

I have both Mravinsky's (Regis and BBC Legends), they are both epic but I find that it is the Previn that I return to more often. It is a "warmer" performance but just as moving. The Symphony became better known in Britain via this recording on LP. In the notes, Robert Layton referred to the work being "shot through with a compassion for suffering humanity" and that rings true for me of this work, although I am prepared to believe that it as much about the suffering of the Russian people under Stalin as about their suffering at the hands of the Nazis. "Forward Victory is Near!" as the Soviet poster said on that original Haitink LP sleeve. Deeply moving stuff.

[bhodges]

Bruce,

I have the Haitink on LP and saw him give a fantastic performance at the Proms many years ago.  As a student at Lancaster in the 1970s, the university arranged for a mini -bus to take some students (including me) to Philharmonic Hall Liverpool to see Ashkenazy conduct a great performance of Shostakovich's 8th. I remember the concert also because the leader of the orchestra shredded his violin bow during a crucial solo just before the end of the work, so that the strings on his bow turned suddenly into what looked a large ball of cotton wool. It was held up to great applause at the end. Also there was clearly a cat somewhere in the audience.

Fantastic memories, there!    I wish I'd heard Haitink do that piece with the Amsterdammers live, but he and the orchestra weren't really on my radar at the time he was doing the cycle.

And love the cat story...so it added "extra-musical commentary" on the proceedings?   

--Bruce

[vandermolen]

Fantastic memories, there!    I wish I'd heard Haitink do that piece with the Amsterdammers live, but he and the orchestra weren't really on my radar at the time he was doing the cycle.

And love the cat story...so it added "extra-musical commentary" on the proceedings?   

--Bruce

Yes, the cat was clearly enjoying the performance too. It was the only time I've been to Liverpool. There was a great circular pub "The Philharmonic" next to the Philharmonic Hall. I hope that it is still there.

[bhodges]

Yes, the cat was clearly enjoying the performance too. It was the only time I've been to Liverpool. There was a great circular pub "The Philharmonic" next to the Philharmonic Hall. I hope that it is still there.

Just imagine: there must be a recording of that performance out there somewhere, and in the background, with careful listening, one can discern a faint yowling now and then...

--Bruce

[Moldyoldie]

The Shostakovich Eighth Symphony is one of my absolute favorite pieces of music and what has to be one of the most powerful musical expressions of the 20th Century.

My favorites have been:

Previn/LSO/EMI - The recording which introduced and "sold" the work to me in the '70s, now recently re-released at bargain price and sounding fantastic. It hasn't dimmed one iota in its persuasiveness and impact.
Haitink/COA/Decca - As convincing a performance as can be imagined in fine sound.
Mravinsky/LPO/Philips - Any possible "mispitching" can be overlooked, or else I have a good pressing.
Previn/LSO/DG - Appreciably different than his '70s recording; wartime tragedy depicted as austere resignation to a far-flung nightmare instead of immediate visceral horror.  Outstanding recording!

Others I have:

Sanderling/Berlin SO/Berlin Classics
Järvi/SNO/Chandos
Rostropovich/NSO/Teldec
Bychkov/BPO/Philips

Have also heard Caetani/GVOM/Arts on Rhapsody.com -- interesting as an uptempo alternative.

I've been reluctant to spring for the Mravinsky on BBC on account of the well-documented respiratory interference, nor have I heard the well-considered Kondrashin.

[karlhenning]

I also like Janson/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra one, one that I probably listen to the most.

My favorite is Haitink/Concertgebouw, one of the highlights of his Shostakovich cycle, magnificently played and recorded.

These are both excellent.  I like the Eighth in the Maksim Dmitriyevich set, too, though there are moments where the orchestra's stress-points nearly show.

[val]

With the 14th, the 8th is one of my favorite Shostakovich Symphonies.

Two splendid versions, powerful, tragic:

Mravinski with Leningrad (PHILIPS)

Kondrachin, Moscow Orchestra (MELODYA)

[vandermolen]

Once again, many thanks for the very interesting replies. Yes, the earlier Previn (LSO) has just been reissued as a bargain by EMI (sadly without Robert Layton's original booklet notes). It is well worth investigating if you like this work.

[Hector]

I do not think that I have one.

Had Previn on LP and played it to death.

One of my first CDs I ever bought was the Haitink.

Totally different. Whereas Previn took his orchestra to the edge where they nearly fell off, Haitink and his great band offered more weight and consideration.

I recently bought the Previn on CD and played it in the car only yesterday. It struck me as a tad lightweight in parts and the third movement not as scary as I remember.

However, it might be my fault as, these days, I prefer the less favoured 7th and 11th Symphonies and have gone off the 8th a little (overfamiliarity?).

[vandermolen]

I do not think that I have one.

Had Previn on LP and played it to death.

One of my first CDs I ever bought was the Haitink.

Totally different. Whereas Previn took his orchestra to the edge where they nearly fell off, Haitink and his great band offered more weight and consideration.

I recently bought the Previn on CD and played it in the car only yesterday. It struck me as a tad lightweight in parts and the third movement not as scary as I remember.

However, it might be my fault as, these days, I prefer the less favoured 7th and 11th Symphonies and have gone off the 8th a little (overfamiliarity?).

Interestingly, I too have periods where I favour No 7 or 11 and become overfamiliar with Symphony 8, but at the moment it is back in favour. No 4 is my favourite though.

[The new erato]

The 8th is my 4th favorite after 4, 15 and 14....

[Lilas Pastia]

Overfamiliarity is a familiar problem... Although it's one of my favourite orchestral works, I practically never play it.

I currently have eight versions and would not contemplate adding any others whatever their merits. But clearly, I should make an exception for the budget priced LSO Previn  . I've never heard it. OTOH his later DG version struck me as dour and laboured. Many extolled its virtues in the musical press, but for some reason it all flew above my head. I eventually sold the cd. One version that's not been mentioned so far is the Gauk with the Grand Symphony Orchestra of State Radio - wherever that is, presumably Moscow? - (1959, Russia Revelation). It has a rawness and savagery I haven't heard anywhere else. I personally prefer it to Mrawinsky, which in the end always leaves me with a certain feeling of unease. Granted, it's jaw-droppingly played, but I feel beaten to pulp and left cold on the ground. I don't hear "compassion for suffering humanity" (Vandermolen's post) which should suffuse the work's last  movement. This is the very quality I find in the beautiful Barshai Bournemouth version (also budget priced, EMI). More so than in his later, more purely 'symphonic' effort in Cologne. A good first-timer disc is probably the Haitink (also super budget). It doesn't plumb all the depths, but it covers most of the musical, interpretive and technical ground all the same. More so than the glamorous but slick Litton-Dallas symphonic war machine (where is the human suffering?). And then there's the Kondrashin Moscow Philharmonic, which is my first choice despite its slightly raw and blowsy sound.

I've downloaded the Wigglesworth a couple years ago and it's still waiting its turn. Anybody heard it ?

[vandermolen]

Overfamiliarity is a familiar problem... Although it's one of my favourite orchestral works, I practically never play it.

I currently have eight versions and would not contemplate adding any others whatever their merits. But clearly, I should make an exception for the budget priced LSO Previn  . I've never heard it. OTOH his later DG version struck me as dour and laboured. Many extolled its virtues in the musical press, but for some reason it all flew above my head. I eventually sold the cd. One version that's not been mentioned so far is the Gauk with the Grand Symphony Orchestra of State Radio - wherever that is, presumably Moscow? - (1959, Russia Revelation). It has a rawness and savagery I haven't heard anywhere else. I personally prefer it to Mrawinsky, which in the end always leaves me with a certain feeling of unease. Granted, it's jaw-droppingly played, but I feel beaten to pulp and left cold on the ground. I don't hear "compassion for suffering humanity" (Vandermolen's post) which should suffuse the work's last  movement. This is the very quality I find in the beautiful Barshai Bournemouth version (also budget priced, EMI). More so than in his later, more purely 'symphonic' effort in Cologne. A good first-timer disc is probably the Haitink (also super budget). It doesn't plumb all the depths, but it covers most of the musical, interpretive and technical ground all the same. More so than the glamorous but slick Litton-Dallas symphonic war machine (where is the human suffering?). And then there's the Kondrashin Moscow Philharmonic, which is my first choice despite its slightly raw and blowsy sound.

I've downloaded the Wigglesworth a couple years ago and it's still waiting its turn. Anybody heard it ?

Andre,

The earlier Previn does, I think have, that "compassion for suffering humanity" which it shares with the earlier Barshai (now on CFP over here). I agree with you about the Mravinsky. I think that the compassion is also there in the (generally poorly received) Slatkin St Louis version. Don't know the Wigglesworth. 

Jeffrey