Shostakovich: which one is your favourite amongst his works?

[kernelbogey]

Chamber Music

I heard the Piano Quintet for the first time, live, on Saturday - having gone mainly for the Schumann - and was knocked out by this work!

I've found DSCH's symphonies mostly not to my liking, but have heard one of the String Quartets - I think no 15 - and enjoyed it.

I'd welcome comments and recommendations about the chamber works. (I haven't taken the time to review the whole of this thread, though perhaps I should....)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd suggest the second Piano Trio as the "natural" follower to the Quintet, kernel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IesxWe1pT28

... and the Eighth rightly deserves its place as the most famous of the String Quartets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0nKJoZY64A

[MrGongGong]

... and the Eighth rightly deserves its place as the most famous of the String Quartets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0nKJoZY64A

I co-devised a family concert for the Britten Sinfonia which had this as one of the pieces...went down very well indeed (without any references to Dresden n'all )

[teamsaint]

Chamber Music

I heard the Piano Quintet for the first time, live, on Saturday - having gone mainly for the Schumann - and was knocked out by this work!

I've found DSCH's symphonies mostly not to my liking, but have heard one of the String Quartets - I think no 15 - and enjoyed it.

I'd welcome comments and recommendations about the chamber works. (I haven't taken the time to review the whole of this thread, though perhaps I should....)

The Viola Sonata is a very fine late work IMO, KB, well worth investigating.

[Pulcinella]

Chamber Music

I heard the Piano Quintet for the first time, live, on Saturday - having gone mainly for the Schumann - and was knocked out by this work!

I've found DSCH's symphonies mostly not to my liking, but have heard one of the String Quartets - I think no 15 - and enjoyed it.

I'd welcome comments and recommendations about the chamber works. (I haven't taken the time to review the whole of this thread, though perhaps I should....)

If piano music appeals, the 24 Preludes and fugues are well worth investigating, kb.

[Barbirollians]

Cello Concerto No1 - especially the Rostropovich/Ormandy recording.

[gradus]

I'm afraid my tastes in DS are pretty mainstream, so it has to be sym 10 but he's not a composer that I turn to very often.

[Bryn]

Cello Concerto No1 - especially the Rostropovich/Ormandy recording.

That recording played a major part in my life during my mid-teens. I just could not get enough of it. It's the one I tend to go back to, despite accumulating many others over the years.

[Pulcinella]

Cello Concerto No1 - especially the Rostropovich/Ormandy recording.

I 'grew up' with Tortelier/Bournemouth/Berglund, coupled with the Walton, but the Rostropovich/Philadelphia/Ormandy is indeed very special; I have it coupled with Oistrakh/NYPO/Mitropoulos in VlnC 1, both premiere recordings, apparently.

[pastoralguy]

I was watching a YouTube video where Nicola Benedetti talk about different composers. She said that stamina was the main component required to play DSCH!

[Pulcinella]

I was watching a YouTube video where Nicola Benedetti talk about different composers. She said that stamina was the main component required to play DSCH!

I'm sure she's right.
I saw her give a performance of the first violin concerto in Oxford shortly before she recorded it.

[Richard Tarleton]

... and the Eighth rightly deserves its place as the most famous of the String Quartets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0nKJoZY64A

Moving account of the Borodins playing 8 to Shostakovich in his house in Rostislav Dubinsky's book "Stormy Applause", p. 278.....

[BBMmk2]

Amongst his chamber music, I would put his Piano Quintet. His orchestral music his Symphony No.8. I love his, also, preludes and fugues.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Amongst his chamber music, I would put his Piano Quintet. His orchestral music his Symphony No.8. I love his, also, preludes and fugues.

I've just reacquainted myself with his 24 Preludes op34 from a cheap but excellent Naxos CD by Konstntin Scherbakov. I'd had them since student days on an obscure RCA LP but they'd never done much for me. Now they do!

[gurnemanz]

I was watching a YouTube video where Nicola Benedetti talk about different composers. She said that stamina was the main component required to play DSCH!

Reminds me of a concert a few years ago. We were sitting very near the front of the Festival Hall for Sol Gabetta's rendition of the Second Concerto with Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia and got a vivid impression of the strength and physical effort required to deliver such a work. She was signing programmes in the foyer during the interval. Not something I am usually interested in but we duly queued up on this occasion and even got a chance to thank her for the performance.

PS and we got Symphony 15 in the second half.