BaL 11.10.14 - Shostakovich: Symphony no. 10 in E minor

[richardfinegold]

We might complain about our Proms audiences but the noise coming from Moscow and Leningrad in live recordings is abominable. Have you heard the Russian Disc recording of the 1957 premiere of the DSCH 11? It is unlistenable thanks to the horribly intrusive racket from the audience. The Moscow audience were well behaved when I was there in 1979.

Interesting. Perhaps during the Khruschev "thaw" there was less inhibition amongst the audience for self expression, and during the Brezhnev years the lid was clamped back on...

[visualnickmos]

Interesting. Perhaps during the Khruschev "thaw" there was less inhibition amongst the audience for self expression, and during the Brezhnev years the lid was clamped back on...

Could well be - although I, personally do not think it was much of a "thaw" during Krushchev's tenure; holding a match to an iceberg, perhaps...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Karajan somehow manages in all three of his accounts to conjure up a feeling of mounting terror and fear in the first movement such as no-one else quite manages.

if I had to plump for just one of all versions of the work, it would be the Digital Karajan/BPO - not "by far my favourite", but the one that the metaphorical gun put against my head would ellicit.


But it's SJ - so no chance!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There is also a Leningrad PO/Mravinsky recording from 1976 which was released on the Erato label and this is the one I have, It's a good while since I last heard it so I remember little of it but am assuming this is a different recording from that mentioned by Ferney?

It is indeed - the SAGA CD was recorded four months after Mravinsky and the orchestra gave the World Premiere; the ERATO from a concert given twenty-two years later. There are two other Mravinsky recordings - one from Prague in 1955, and another from a couple of weeks after the ERATO performance.

http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~yemravinsky/discography.htm#Shostakovich

[Beef Oven!]

if I had to plump for just one of all versions of the work, it would be the Digital Karajan/BPO - not "by far my favourite"

?

[HighlandDougie]

I wouldn't want to part with Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic, which I have in its original DGG LP form and as a CD, coupled with the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. The DSCH was recorded in October 1955 in the Herkulessaal in Munich and, although mono, still sounds remarkably good. The Kurtz/Philharmonia version (another LP I've kept) doesn't sound quite as good but unsurprisingly, given that it was also recorded in 1955 in the Philharmonia's glory days, offers excellent orchestral playing - and an urgent performance by the rather under-rated Kurtz. It's available on Testament. Given the quality of the music, it's not surprising, though, that the symphony was so quickly taken up by conductors, orchestras - and record companies.

[richardfinegold]

I wouldn't want to part with Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic, which I have in its original DGG LP form and as a CD, coupled with the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. The DSCH was recorded in October 1955 in the Herkulessaal in Munich and, although mono, still sounds remarkably good. The Kurtz/Philharmonia version (another LP I've kept) doesn't sound quite as good but unsurprisingly, given that it was also recorded in 1955 in the Philharmonia's glory days, offers excellent orchestral playing - and an urgent performance by the rather under-rated Kurtz. It's available on Testament. Given the quality of the music, it's not surprising, though, that the symphony was so quickly taken up by conductors, orchestras - and record companies.

The Ancerl is readily available on Supraphon. It is a fine performance, but for me the mono sound will keep it from becoming a favorite. The Supraphon engineers did a much better job with the Ancerl recording of the 7th, also in mono, but with much more presence.

[Rolmill]

I have DePriest, Barshai, Ormandy, Petrenko, Mravinsky (Saga) and Mitropoulos. I enjoy all of them (well, the DePriest is rather bland and tbh I haven't listed to it for ages), but if I had to save one from a fire it would be Mitropoulos/NYPO. The intensity is utterly gripping and the orchestra play superbly (occasional dodgy wind intonation notwithstanding) - it is generally faster than most more modern performances (the 2nd movement really whips up a storm, with the NYPO struggling to stay together at times), but I find it the most moving of all the accounts I have heard, with no hint of slickness or self-conscious virtuosity, just a clear determination to get as close to the heart of the music as possible. As fhg implied earlier, the 1954 mono recording is pretty acceptable (especially by CBS's rather ropy standards). It also comes with an impressive (and even earlier) account of the 9th symphony conducted by Efrem Kurtz.

[HighlandDougie]

The Ancerl is readily available on Supraphon. It is a fine performance, but for me the mono sound will keep it from becoming a favorite. The Supraphon engineers did a much better job with the Ancerl recording of the 7th, also in mono, but with much more presence.

Richard

I think that it was DG engineers who were responsible for the Ancerl 10th as it was recorded in Munich, presumably during a Czech Phil tour. I may be wrong, though. It has certainly always been a DG issue, at least in Europe. The 'Leningrad' is, for sure, a fine performance and recording (I suspect made in the Rudolfinum in Prague) but I still rate Ancerl's 10th very highly.

HD

[Tapiola]

There can be some confusion in separating out the various versions emanating from Mravinsky and others. For example, Tapiola mentioned a version by Rozhdestvensky but there are two: the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra issued on the Olympia label undated but a blistering studio account and a live performance from the same orchestra given in April 1982 and issued on Brilliant Classics. The latter is afflicted by yet another bronchial audience and I gave up after the first movement..

Petrushka,

It's the latter - 1982 - account to which I was referring. Please do revisit it, despite the bronchitis. It is wonderful. The second movement snare drum assaults the ears. Imbalanced? Slightly, but, as with old recordings, the ear soon becomes accustomed to the extraneous flaws. There's plenty of air around this recording also, being live. It is most compelling. Rob Cowan (I think) gives it an honourable mention somewhere. Gramophone perhaps. I have learnt to live without the Svetlanov Melodiya for quite a number of years now, but this one comes close, to me anyway.

[umslopogaas]

I have, on vinyl, Mitropoulos and the NYPO, Haitink and the LPO, Ormandy and the Philadelphia O., Kurtz and the Philharmonia (mono), Svetlanov and the USSR SO, Ancerl and the Czech PO (mono). That's enough for now.

My favourite is Ormandy and the Phil. O.

[Tapiola]

Svetlanov and the USSR SO

Are you married, ums...?

[Petrushka]

A common misconception. BPO/Karajan performed the symphony in Leningrad and Moscow. The latter was recorded; the former was the one where Shostakovich was present.

I'm not so sure about this. My best guess is that Shostakovich was present at both the Leningrad and Moscow performances under Karajan. I can't do images on here but if you Google 'Karajan and Shostakovich' in Google Images and look particularly at the layout of the organ pipes behind you will see photographs that seem to be taken in two different halls. I believe that the better known image in black and white is the Leningrad Philharmonic Hall while the one in colour I think is in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Unfortunately, further photographic research seems to indicate that both organs have been refurbished since 1969.

[umslopogaas]

Tapiola #42

NO!

Though not without complications with the female of the species. Which just at the moment are particularly tricky, hence the exclamation mark. I always thought that women were necessary because someone has to do the washing up, but now I think a dishwasher would be cheaper to run, and much less trouble.

[Tapiola]

Tapiola #42

NO!

Though not without complications with the female of the species. Which just at the moment are particularly tricky, hence the exclamation mark. I always thought that women were necessary because someone has to do the washing up, but now I think a dishwasher would be cheaper to run, and much less trouble.

I reckon our female contributors would possibly the say the same about us males. My partner thinks my CD collection and I are both a waste of space, though she concedes that the former is probably far more valuable.