Your First Shostakovich Record

[EdgeleyRob]

Symphony no 12, CfP, (LP) with I think, Geoges Pretre, and I think, the Philharmonia.... but this was a present from a close family friend; my first actual purchase was Decca's (LP) of symphony no 8 with Haitink.

C/W the Festival Overture,this was my first DSCH LP too.
Borrowed from the school record library,forced to give it back eventually,then bought my own copy with heaven knows how many weeks paper round money (around 1972 ish ?).

[Madame Suggia]

Shostakovich 5 NYPO Bernstein
a live performance I think, on a second hand tape.
When the music finished on one side I could faintly hear music from the other side through the tape.

[Bryn]

Shostakovich 5 NYPO Bernstein
a live performance I think, on a second hand tape.
When the music finished on one side I could faintly hear music from the other side through the tape.

If that's the performance in Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan (1979), I think you will find it available on DVD these days, amazon.co.uk ASIN: B000E3LCX2. It's pretty damned good! The audio, however, is only Dolby Digital 2.0.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Borrowed from the school record library,forced to give it back eventually,then bought my own copy with heaven knows how many weeks paper round money (around 1972 ish ?).

Unless you worked for an especially stingey Newsagent, Edgy, it shouldn't've been too many: CfP records were 84p each in 1972!

[teamsaint]

Unless you worked for an especially stingey Newsagent, Edgy, it shouldn't've been too many: CfP records were 84p each in 1972!

apparently about £10 in todays so called modern money.(Why do we always have to have Churchill on our notes?)

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

I earned £1 an hour in my first job in 1979 after years of high inflation.

Shostakovich hadn't reached Wiltshire by then. Thats my excuse.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

apparently about £10 in todays so called modern money.

Blimey! That really puts the prices on the "Bargains" thread into context. (I've just bought a boxed set of Brahms' collected Piano Works: 6 discs for £3.88!) I earned 50p pocket money in those days, so a CfP was a fortnight's purchase.

(Why do we always have to have Churchill on our notes?)

Never in the field of human finances has so much been owed by so many, for so much, to so few!

[EdgeleyRob]

Unless you worked for an especially stingey Newsagent, Edgy, it shouldn't've been too many: CfP records were 84p each in 1972!

sixpence every four years !

Must be memory playing tricks,it was a cracking LP though.

[teamsaint]

Blimey! That really puts the prices on the "Bargains" thread into context. (I've just bought a boxed set of Brahms' collected Piano Works: 6 discs for £3.88!) I earned 50p pocket money in those days, so a CfP was a fortnight's purchase.


Never in the field of human finances has so much been owed by so many, for so much, to so few!

off topic, but on Brahms I always recommend this as a bargain:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Choral-Works-6CD-ROM/dp/B005JWX7KE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403731234&sr=8-1&keywords=brahms+choral+nicol

Gorgeous.

[Petrushka]

Hmm ... like several other posters, an early buy was the Supraphon symphony no. 5 conducted by Ancerl, but I think the first ever DSCH LP was symphony no. 10 on CBS, conducted by Ormandy. I cant remember the dates of purchase, but I've still got both of them.

A later purchase, but a most treasured one (apologies, I think I've posted this before) is the Melodiya LP of the symphony no. 15, signed on the front cover by the composer. The dealer I bought it from for a couple of quid must have thought it was part of the artwork, but its not, its a biro scrawl and its definitely his signature, I've seen reproductions of several other examples. He visited the UK just after the LP was issued and only shortly before he died, and no doubt was often asked to sign copies.

I do have Shostakovich's actual signature on an album page and purchased at auction in 1991 for £120. I made enquiries at the auctioneers to try and establish date and provenance but they were not allowed to give out the sellers identity, more's the pity. As you say, it is indeed a biro scrawl but priceless to me.

As luck would have it, I met Maxim Shostakovich after an LPO concert in 1981 just weeks after his defection to the West and got his signature as well.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

off topic, but on Brahms I always recommend this as a bargain:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Choral-Works-6CD-ROM/dp/B005JWX7KE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403731234&sr=8-1&keywords=brahms+choral+nicol

Gorgeous.

I have a rule (that I'm more-or-less sticking to, much to my own astonishment) only to buy works that I don't already have (money is going to be very tight from September). I don't have Brahms' Choral works (apart from a MONO recording of the Liebeslieder-Walzer with Ferrier). Duly ordered (at a total of about 54p, in 1973 money).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

sixpence every four years !

LUXURY!

I had to pay the newsagent and write each newspaper before I delivered it.

Y'tell that to kids these days ....

[teamsaint]

I have a rule (that I'm more-or-less sticking to, much to my own astonishment) only to buy works that I don't already have (money is going to be very tight from September). I don't have Brahms' Choral works (apart from a MONO recording of the Liebeslieder-Walzer with Ferrier). Duly ordered (at a total of about 54p, in 1973 money).

Enjoy.Very much look forward to hearing what you think of it.
So much of it is perfect for winter afternoons. Well thats what I find.
This is handy too:In fact it is quite amazing.

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/

My first DSCH:

Symohonies 5 and 6. Barshai.

[Beef Oven!]

I do have Shostakovich's actual signature on an album page and purchased at auction in 1991 for £120. I made enquiries at the auctioneers to try and establish date and provenance but they were not allowed to give out the sellers identity, more's the pity. As you say, it is indeed a biro scrawl but priceless to me.

As luck would have it, I met Maxim Shostakovich after an LPO concert in 1981 just weeks after his defection to the West and got his signature as well.

[ahinton]

Philadelphia Orchestra / Ormandy: Symphony No. 4.

[Pianoman]

Funnily enough, I've just been listening to the Philadelphia in this work - Myung-whun Chung, part of a big box. What playing ! Mind you, he does take the first movement a bit too fast for my liking, but undeniably exciting. Never have heard the famous Ormandy..