BaL 13.07.24 - Shostakovich: Symphony 5

[Retune]

How many Mravinsky recordings are there? There seem to be at least two live stereo versions from 1973 and 1984, and several mono recordings going all the way back to 1938. Any particular recommendations?

[oliver sudden]

How many Mravinsky recordings are there? There seem to be at least two live stereo versions from 1973 and 1984, and several mono recordings going all the way back to 1938. Any particular recommendations?

I was about to ask this very question! I have quite a few Mravinsky Shostakoviches on the shelves but my 5s appear to be all different incarnations of the 1984.

[smittims]

There's also a film of him rehearsing and perfoming part of the symphony on the Teldec video 'Legendary Conductors of a Golden era' in which he describes Shostakovitch as 'the greatest composer of modern times'. .

[Barbirollians]

Listened to the Petrenko this morning for the first time in a while . It's a central interpretation not too dirge like in the finale and an easier listen than say Sanderling but its very fine especially the Largo.

[Retune]

I was about to ask this very question! I have quite a few Mravinsky Shostakoviches on the shelves but my 5s appear to be all different incarnations of the 1984.

I noticed one of those £1 downloads from Classicselectworld includes a Mravinsky 5th, but I'd bet it's one of the mono versions (there is no useful information on the site):

https://www.classicselectworld.com/products/big-shostakovich-box

Edit: some Amazon reviewers suggest this set might be worth the 'investment'. The 5th does indeed seem to be an older mono version:

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Shostakovich-Box-Various-artists/product-reviews/B079C3MSZL

[richardfinegold]

The flood of concert performances and the sketchy data about dates make it difficult to discern how many Mravinsky versions are out there. I had bought a few Mravinsky box sets on different labels when the flood gates opened and wound up with at least 3 different recordings of the 5th. There were coughs and other audience noises in different places but the basic interpretation and timings and recording quality (poor) were all similar.
I think a decent collection, or discussion, should feature Mravinsky for obvious reasons, but I wouldn’t fetishize him. This is such a universally impactful work that one doesn’t have to be a Soviet citizen threatened with the Gulag in 1938 to appreciate it.
Barbs mentioned Bychkov upthread. As a former Refusenik he certainly has the political credibility, and it conveys all of the ominous dread convincingly

[Ein Heldenleben]

Didn’t much care for the Mravinsky Leningrad Phil version just played on BAL with its somewhat wayward trumpets. The LSO Previn following is in a different league.

Have to say that the NY Phil Bernstein recording that Seckerson seems keen on sounds a bit elderly and the extraneous ambient noise in the Honeck Pittsburgh Symphony I find a bit distracting .
ES seems VERY keen on the LSO Previn - and with good reason IMV.

oh dear Previn final movement let’s things down apparently.
And here comes Bernstein up on the rails with Kondrashin still in this two horse race
Who would have thought ES would go for LB ?
probably the entire forum …

[Ein Heldenleben]

The trumpets in that Kondrashin Moscow Phil performance are out of this world ….

[Ein Heldenleben]

So in the end Kondrashin is selected over Bernstein - on the evidence of the clips the right result.
Those trumpets again - Bravi.
sounds very compressed on FM and as Andrew has pointed out some instruments are weirdly forward in the balance (spot mic ing again) but musically very fine.

[Pulcinella]

So in the end Kondrashin is selected over Bernstein - on the evidence of the clips the right result.

Indeed, but far too few clips as far too few in the shortlist.
Rostropovich only mentioned wrt his LSO recording, not the earlier one with the National SO (which I think also got the composer's approval tempo-wise).

[Ein Heldenleben]

Indeed, but far too few clips as far too few in the shortlist.
Rostropovich only mentioned wrt his LSO recording, not the earlier one with the National SO (which I think also got the composer's approval tempo-wise).

That LSO with the great man was a bit saggy no ? Don’t know the other recording tbh.
Yes a shortlist of three sounded very parsimonious

[Howdenite]

What bothers me in this and other reviews from Seckerson is that he spends so much time playing recordings he doesn't think are good. I relistened to Geoffrey Norris this morning and he played excerpts from a similar number of conductors. He had good things to say about most (not Rostropovich, who he played, but he used the example to explain what was happening at the start of the 2nd movement). He also mentioned several versions he didn't play and said why. Best of all, he left me with a list of five recordings I really wanted to listen to.

[Ein Heldenleben]

What bothers me in this and other reviews from Seckerson is that he spends so much time playing recordings he doesn't think are good. I relistened to Geoffrey Norris this morning and he played excerpts from a similar number of conductors. He had good things to say about most (not Rostropovich, who he played, but he used the example to explain what was happening at the start of the 2nd movement). He also mentioned several versions he didn't play and said why. Best of all, he left me with a list of five recordings I really wanted to listen to.

Good point

[Pulcinella]

That LSO with the great man was a bit saggy no ? Don’t know the other recording tbh.
Yes a shortlist of three sounded very parsimonious

Here's the last movement, with the NSO in Moscow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbh9MKkV3oU

[Goon525]

That LSO with the great man was a bit saggy no ? Don’t know the other recording tbh.
Yes a shortlist of three sounded very parsimonious

Particularly odd that this BaL only lasted 40 minutes, not the allocated 45. That’s two extracts we might have heard. Incidentally, I think ES is now very aware of how well known his hero-worship of Lenny is - I think this is the second time he’s made him second in a photo finish, just to try and prove he’s not starting with a bias.