BaL 20.02.16 - Shostakovich: Symphony no. 9

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This seems to be still available:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich...takovich+boult

Either you've got your laptop upside-down or I have, Pabs!

[visualnickmos]

....Instead - and in his Ninth Symphony of all things - he writes a piece of comedy music! It looks very much like a deliberate insult to Stalin and I've no doubt that it is. This could have had very serious consequences for Shostakovich.

Having said all that, I'd go for Rozhdestvensky as well. He understands...

As it did indeed, cast 'out of favour' yet again, which of course means your life is in danger. I just listened to Bernstein's (NYPO) and I rather thought he'd captured the comedy 'poke in the eye' aspect very well. One could almost picture the politbureau's collective expressions of someone who's had a lemon squirted in their face!
Bernstein is IMVHO worth searching out if one is a fan of Shosty's 9th.

[Pabmusic]

Either you've got your laptop upside-down or I have, Pabs!

Oh!!

Fool that I am! Thank you, Ferney.

Still, it seems to be available for £2.37 as an mp3 download.

[cloughie]

I like the Weller on a good 60s Decca recording.

[cloughie]

That's good. Sargent was my first in this symphony.

The favourite among my little crop is Rozhdestvensky with the USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra from 1989. Marginally available - so your call, Alpie.

This symphony is blessed relief after the rigours of 7 and 8!

amazon merchants around £1-20 plus p&p

[MrBear]

amazon merchants around £1-20 plus p&p

At that price an absolute bargain for an amazing CD

Really glad they are doing this my a wonderfull little symphony

My favourites are the Meloydia/Olympia Rozhdestvensky and Ancerl on a two disc set with 5 & 7 Edition Live Karel Ancerl

Brilliant released a different Rozhdestvensky version in two different Box sets recorded April 1976 still great but the sound quality is not as good

[seabright]

I still have the Everest CD of Shostakovich's 9th with Sargent, coupled with Boult and the LPO in Shostakovich's 6th. They both sound excellent even today, having been recorded on 35mm film and not tape. Everest did some "off-beat casting" with Boult, as he also recorded his only Mahler symphony for them (No. 1) and the Hindemith Symphony in Eb, both first-rate performances.

[seabright]

Why is the volume level of the first extract so low compared with D Nice's voice? It's barely audible. The same thing happens on Breakfast where music volume levels are often half what they should be.

[verismissimo]

Not sure David Nice needs to remind us quite so frequently that this symphony is 'not just a jolly romp.' Bleeding obvious? And too much lip-curling at discarded performances for my taste.

But I have both of his finalists - winner Barshai and hard-to-find Rozhdestvensky - so a cheap week.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes, a cheap edition for me, too: I don't have the Rozhdestvensky, but can wait until a re-release before I wake up my plastic.

Interesting to hear about the metronome marks in the super-duper edition - I have only the Boosey & Hawkes score, without MMs (I have anxiety attacks as a result! ) and without the tempo change marked in the middle of the Third Movement. Based on this, I can see why Sargent and others took the Music slower than intended - although Kurz was a bizarre idea of "moderato"! Just shows how important such markings are.

Strange that DN gave a little tut about the unmarked ritenutos in the clarinet theme of the Second Movement in Kondrashin's recording, but approved of the Rozhdestvensky - who does exactly the same thing! (As did one of the other Russian performances - the Movement is in 3/4, with single bars of 4/4 interrupting them. To me, Shostakovich has written in the rits with these bars, and slowing down even more interrupted the flow of the Music, I felt.)

[Barbirollians]

I have the winner so again a cheap week.

[mahlerei]

DN posted on the old MB for a while but was forced to beat a hasty retreat after a controversy of some kind (others might remember the details). At one point his moniker was ivendacid. Appropriate, I thought.

[visualnickmos]

Yes, a cheap edition for me, too: I don't have the Rozhdestvensky, but can wait until a re-release before I wake up my plastic.

I think there are plenty of 'pre-loved' copies knocking around with the usual suspects. Definitely a great recording from a great complete set..... buy, buy, buy!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think there are plenty of 'pre-loved' copies knocking around with the usual suspects. Definitely a great recording from a great complete set..... buy, buy, buy!

Still pricey - for a single LP (costing more than I paid for the entire Barshai set!)

There is an MP3 download for £3.96 which might tide me over until the prices drop.

[Flosshilde]

MW, was a couple of years below me at school! So I have a soft spot for him.

A schoolboy pash?