Shostakovich Symphonies

[Guest]

I wonder if MBs can help please.

I think it’s high time I got to know some Shostakovich, especially as I’ve recently heard he’s considered to be one of this century’s greatest composers – wow!

For no reason other than that I saw them, over Christmas, I bought

Symphony No 01 Temirkanov
Symphony No 05 Temirkanov
Symphony No 10 Ormandy
Symphony No 11 (1905) Karabits
Symphony No 13 (Babi-Yar) Temirkanov

What 1905 and Babi-Yar mean I have yet to find out. Any guidance please as to which to start with, are these his better works, or should I consider others?

Thanks,

Mario

[Norfolk Born]

I suggest you start with No. 5 - probably the most popular (with good reason IMO). No. 1 is a remarkable graduation work. You might want to then try Nos. 7 and 8 before going on to the others you've already bought.
DO also give the concertos (2 each for piano, violin and cello) a try!

[johnb]

All those you have bought are readily approachable apart from No 13 which is a very dark piece indeed - dark both in sentiment and in orchestration.

The Soviet authorities were extremely concerned about the 13th. Yevtushenko, whose poems Shostakovich set in No 13, revised his text after coming under pressure from the Soviet authorities. Shostakovich allowed the revised text to be used in performances (well, it was either that or having the work banned) but left the original text in the score. This was the first of his symphonies that was openly critical of the regime and the first symphony that Mvravinsky avoided conducting the premier (he had conducted all the premiers since No 5).

For us is the west it is almost impossible to imagine the significance of this piece (not to mention many of the other Shostakovich symphonies in which there was a subtext which the audiences felt expressed their own deep feelings, e.g. many of the audience wept after No 5.

[Chris Newman]

Good morning, Mario,

Symphony No 13 (Babi-Yar) plunged Shostakovich back into trouble with the Soviet regime even though Stalin was dead and gone. Babi-Yar is the name of a ravine near Kiev in the Ukraine. It gets its name from the Russian for Old Woman (Baba yaga) which you may know from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. For many years it had been a Jewish cemetary. In 1941 the German Army controlled Kiev and, notoriously, with the aid of Russian and Ukrainian collaborators rounded up almost 38,000 Ukrainian Jews amongst a total of 150,00 gypsies, gays and dissidents and shot them all. The Russian authorities have always been embarrassed about the affair because of their probable involvement. The wicked massacre was commemorated by the magnificent dissident Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko in his masterpiece Babi Yar. Shostakovich had a lot of trouble because he set Yetushenko's banned poem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

1905, Symphony No 11, was far less controversial with the Soviets. It remembers the occasion of Bloody Sunday on 22nd of January1905 during which Tsar Nicholas ordered the gunning down of starving protesters outside the Winter Palace in St Petersburg setting off a dozen years of increasingly violent protest and Civil War which led up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 with the execution of the Royal Family and take-over by Lenin and Stalin.

My first experience of Shostakovich was a performance of the 10th in 1961 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Constantin Silvestri. A friend and I had sneaked off to London by train and heard it on a Sunday afternoon at the Royal Festival Hall. It terrified the lives out of us with its "machine guns" in the scherzo (they are supposed to be German but most people agree they are Soviet guns shooting dissidents). Amazingly on the way home at Victoria Station we found WHSmiths selling Saga LPs for 5 shillings (25 pence today) and both went home with copies of the same symphony played by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravrinsky. I have not looked back.

[Auferstehen2]

Oh my God Almighty! What an absolute horror! Chris, I did not know any of this! And we Maltese suffered during the Second World War? For which we were awarded the George Cross by your King?

Oh well.

I could not be more grateful to you for the pointer Chris. I shall steel myself for what’s coming.

Fondest regards,

Mario

[umslopogaas]

The fifth and the tenth are probably the most popular, but in my view (this is one of my favourite composers), you need them all. The Rough Guide says no one cycle is completely satisfactory, but, again in my view as an enthusiast (but not a musician), you cant go far wrong with Haitink. And in fact the RG does give some Haitink versions top recommendation. And for a special insight, and a sometimes rough but very vivid sound, anything by Mravinsky is worth hearing.

The Ormandy recording of the tenth was my introduction to DS's music, the second movement Allegro is absolutely terrifying, it'll have you cowering behind the sofa. Shostakovich is endlessly fascinating and very enigmatic. When you read what he had to put up with, it is amazing that he could ever find sufficient composure to compose. Apparently at one point in the thirties he was so sure he was going to be hauled away by the secret police that he kept a suitcase ready packed, so that his family would not be disturbed when he was arrested.

There are a lot of books. 'Testimony' ed. Solomon Volkov remains controversial, but whether he is to be believed or not, its a good read. 'Shostakovich: a life remembered' by Elizabeth David, is very good and full of fascinating detail. Both published by faber and faber.

[ahinton]

'Shostakovich: a life remembered' by Elizabeth David, is very good and full of fascinating detail. Both published by faber and faber.

Wonderful a writer as Elizabeth David was, it is Elizabeth Wilson that you mean here! Wilson's book is probably the finest single study of Shostakovich available.

[visualnickmos]

Hello Auf2

A great selection, of Shostakovich for starters! For a real goumande experience, I would also suggest the 4th..... I'll say no more, and wait for others' comments on this one.
As an aside, would it be impolite if I asked you where you obtained the 10th with Ormandy? I've been after it for ages, but it's price on the great river of Brazil, is prohibitively high for me right now....
Thanks,
Nick

[Nick Armstrong]

As recited more than once on these boards, Shostakovich gave me my first personal access to classical music: Ormandy's recording of No 15 when I was about 15. It was such a galvanising experience that I still think of it as the ideal way in to his music, but 5 or 10 would be good too. I came to No 10 second (Svetlanov/USSRSO) and have never heard Ormandy in that piece - I'd like to.

Of all the pieces, Nos. 4 and 13 are the ones I have never been able to 'get into' (but I do have a mental block over hearing sung Russian).

The last point I would make is: don't forget DSCH's other work. I'd single out the piano quintet and the 24 preludes and fugues (in the latter, I'd recommend this as a purchase: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich.../dp/B00354XVKO ) which I got to know shortly after the 15th Symphony.

[umslopogaas]

Woops! Thanks ahinton (#7), I did indeed mean Elizabeth Wilson. Dunno what I was thinking about, my copy is right in front of me. Anyway, it is not 'Shostakovich's favourite recipes' by Elizabeth David, but 'Shostakovich: a life remembered' by Elizabeth Wilson that I was referring to!

[johnb]

Wonderful a writer as Elizabeth David was, it is Elizabeth Wilson that you mean here! Wilson's book is probably the finest single study of Shostakovich available.

[Byas'd Opinion]

There's a lot of fine stuff in Auferstehen's list. Of the ones mentioned, the 11th is probably the weakest. It can sound very impressive in the concert hall, but on disc it comes across a wee bit like Shostakovitch by numbers.

There's a darkly witty side to Shostakovitch which is arguably not fully represented by the symphonies listed (although it's there in the 1st). The 9th and 15th capture this element in his music well.

The 14th is arguably a song cycle rather than a symphony, but is very good if bleak: eleven settings of poems about death, and in particular death at the hands of the state.

As other posters have pointed out, there's a wealth of other Shostakovitch to explore, such as the concertos and string quartets.

[Bax-of-Delights]

As a life-long listener to DSCH symphonies - my first was the 10th on the old Heliodor LP label back in the 60's - I'd suggest the following in order:

5
10
1
6
7
8
9
11
12
now comes the tricky bit: -
13 and 14 are pretty dark and for me less interesting primarily because of the inclusion of the Russian voice - others may disagree.
15 is quirky but remains a favourite of mine primarily because I was at the RFH at the UK premiere with DSCH in attendance.
Which leaves us with numbers 2 and 3. I don't know if I'd call them weak but having listened to them a couple of times I have never felt the need to revisit. I think the beginning of no.2 is so ppp that I thought I had a duff LP and it was just playing silence.

[Alf-Prufrock]

"one of this century’s greatest composers". Which century are you living in, Auferstehen? !!!

I bought the complete symphonies recorded by Kondrashin, and never regretted the fact though the recording can occasionally be, um, what shall I say, er, bracing. This was despite Japanese re-engineering of exceptional quality - I once had the LPs and they were far worse!

Looking on Amazon, I see that they now cost more than £50. Perhaps it would be better to wait or look around.

[gurnemanz]

I can chip in with a thumbnail checklist which I nicked a while ago from here: http://www.artsandmedia.com/allcla.html and would more or less go along with:

Symphony 1 - Good
Symphony 2 - Fun, but not a great work
Symphony 3 - Boring, 'a mess'
Symphony 4 - Very good work
Symphony 5 - Very good work
Symphony 6 - Good
Symphony 7 - Overblown, some good moments
Symphony 8 - Good, not outstanding (some rate it higher)
Symphony 9 - Good, not outstanding
Symphony 10 - A great modern symphony
Symphony 11 - Uneven but good slow movement, good pictorial bits
Symphony 12 - Absolutely the worst of the symphonies
Symphony 13 - A good work
Symphony 14 - Very good work
Symphony 15 - Very good work