BaL 20.02.16 - Shostakovich: Symphony no. 9

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But David Nice made the point that only Rozhdestvensky adheres to DSCH's minutely detailed dynamic markings in the moderato, and in the example played his solo clarinettist was strikingly (and expressively!) varied here, ritenutos notwithstanding; Barshai's soloist hardly varied in dynamic expression at all; so his supposed fidelity to the score failed to observe that much, at least.

YES - you're absolutely right, here (so relieved at the absence of the unwanted and eminently withstandable rits, I hadn't noticed! ) Just shows - the more attention you pay to the score, the better the performance gets, the more the listener becomes aware of how good the piece is; my attention nodded, and I missed this point.

Question is, was it deliberately licentious...?
For me it seems all of a piece with that aforementioned brusqueness - lack of creative interpretation, written or not - I noted elsewhere in his recording, in the winds especially.

I think you're right (why choose to ignore what's in the score?) - but I much prefer brusqueness to "creative interpretation" (typing the very words has brought me out in hives). I like the "motion" in my "emotion".

I should have also made clearer that I agree with an earlier statement of yours about the special "tang" of Soviet-era brass and winds (I so wish that there was a Mravinsky recording) and with your high praise for the Kondrashin set as a whole experience: one I've known for thirty years, and revelled even with the cheap old CHANT DU MONDE versions.

[kea]

...I think you'll find the Aulos version is distinctly finer, HD... from the very start I felt uneasy with the Qobuz 2015 Melodiya lossless - it seemed tame compared to my memory of the Aulos I'd been using this week, and so it proved on direct comparison. The latest Melodiya is OK, but feels too processed, and has lost space and air, that free-breathing openness that makes the Aulos remaster so thrillingly realistic in the fierce climaxes. This is especially damaging in the Largo, where this slightly muted quality has robbed both brass and bassoon of some of that precious, dolefully snarling Soviet character, and reduced the space around bassoon, brass and strings, so that final beatification of strings against bassoon isn't so breathtakingly special....yet, back in the moderato, the Aulos is at a lower, more natural level, so the clarinet/flute solos are quieter, the strings smoother and more open at the climax, and the dynamic range feels wider for being less congested. In short - better high-frequency resolution. Much easier to turn up!

To me, this latest Qobuz Melodiya lossless download sounds simply like a tamer, less highly-resolved version of the 2006 CD I'm afraid ( Audirvana tends to warm things up a bit too, compared to CD..), and whilst that CD does indeed have livelier HF, I still preferred its dynamism and openness (especially noticeable in the presto) to the treble-cut 2015 attempt. (BTW - I could still just make out a hint of print-through in the Largo on the Qobuz lossless. Audio-pedant's note. Sorry HD.)

...All of which would be academic, given the non-availability or daft 2ndhand pricing of the Aulos or the Melodiya CDs themselves, unless you're happy to download the Kondrashin/DSCH intégrale from Qobuz as Melodiya Lossless (as above - http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/sho.../0888831477457). (Just noticed - if you scroll through, you can download the 2006 9th (2008 download) separately after all...)

I have some individual Melodiya issues of KKDSCH (basically picked the ones I didn't already have recordings of—1-3, 7, 11-12—plus 4, which is a duplication as I have Ormandy but I liked it too much to leave behind) and have been considering the complete 2006 set in its downloadable form. Comparisons between the two are helpful in this regard. The Aulos set is MIA and prices on the black market are probably beyond me (I had to rely on the public-spiritedness of a Russian file-sharing site for the Aulos Taneyev Quartet dschintegral, no regrets though if I'm thrown in gaol for it as I'll have the best available or unavailable cycle to listen to whilst I await release )

The Bernstein/NYP 9th has been my favourite so far but we'll see >_>

[seabright]

For those who are willing to check out You Tube uploads as guides to the purchasing, or otherwise, of a CD of the work, here's a list of the complete Shostakovich 9ths thereon:

Kondrashin / Moscow Philharmonic ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpGLzI1_URY

Rozhdestvensky / USSR Ministry of Culture ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CvRTI1_Wsc

Jansons / Oslo Philharmonic ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU-aqsSgo64

Barshai / WDR Cologne SO ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM-D9WjXji4

Kurtz / New York Philharmonic (1947) ...

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

Rostropovich / Moscow Academic Symphony (the opening work of seven in this upload) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9byRkEcYMFc

Sargent / London Symphony (in four parts, starting with this one) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zzd77wSn3M&index=1&list=PLE849229E374C8481

Plenty of other individual movements, excerpts and live performances on You Tube too but the above list is sufficient I think for BAL requirements. By the way, unlike David Nice, I'm not going to be snooty about the Sargent. It was the first recording of the work I bought and I much prefer his urbane and rather gentlemanly approach to the hectic "let's break the speed limit" versions preferred by others!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Many thanks, seabright

[rauschwerk]

A large number of recordings were not mentioned in this BaL, even to be collectively dismissed in a sentence or two. The version on my shelves is Atlanta SO/Levi, excellent to my ears, and I was curious to discover what made me buy it. It was in fact a most enthusiastic review by Michael Oliver here http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/s...nies-nos-5-9-0. I don't feel the need to buy another version, especially as Levi is so superbly recorded.

[HighlandDougie]

...I think you'll find the Aulos version is distinctly finer, HD... from the very start I felt uneasy with the Qobuz 2015 Melodiya lossless - it seemed tame compared to my memory of the Aulos I'd been using this week, and so it proved on direct comparison. The latest Melodiya is OK, but feels too processed, and has lost space and air, that free-breathing openness that makes the Aulos remaster so thrillingly realistic in the fierce climaxes. This is especially damaging in the Largo, where this slightly muted quality has robbed both brass and bassoon of some of that precious, dolefully snarling Soviet character, and reduced the space around bassoon, brass and strings, so that final beatification of strings against bassoon isn't so breathtakingly special....yet, back in the moderato, the Aulos is at a lower, more natural level, so the clarinet/flute solos are quieter, the strings smoother and more open at the climax, and the dynamic range feels wider for being less congested. In short - better high-frequency resolution. Much easier to turn up!

(BTW - I could still just make out a hint of print-through in the Largo on the Qobuz lossless. Audio-pedant's note. Sorry HD.)

Yup - cloth-eared me. Now listening through my miss-nothing ATC speakers it's most definitely still there on the single disc download (marginally warmer from i-Tunes than from Qobuz, although there's not a lot in it). Inferior, as Jayne says, to the Aulos DSD remastering but rather more easily and miles more cheaply available as an OK download than it.

[seabright]

A large number of recordings were not mentioned in this BaL, even to be collectively dismissed in a sentence or two. The version on my shelves is Atlanta SO/Levi, excellent to my ears, and I was curious to discover what made me buy it. It was in fact a most enthusiastic review by Michael Oliver here http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/s...nies-nos-5-9-0. I don't feel the need to buy another version, especially as Levi is so superbly recorded.

It's also on You Tube but with each movement uploaded separately. I'm listening as I type and you're absolutely right, rauschwerk, this too should have made it to BAL, as the Atlanta performance and Telarc sonics are first-class, with a nicely airy concert-hall ambience too ...

1st mvt. ...

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

2nd mvt. ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeSTkOp1bOs

3rd mvt. ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5xZnKxuHVc

4th mvt. ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jgnoELjvI

5th mvt. ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0VanJ3n3Qg