One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th Century and possibly Shostakovich’s most personal work! I obtained the Barshai recording as soon as it came out and then added Rostropovich, both on LP. When the Rostropovich was released in the US on a Melodiya CD, I of course grabbed that. I think it is the same performance that is in Shostakovich symphony box originally on Teldec. It was the only version I listened to until Petrenko recorded it. I love both accounts and find it hard to choose between them. When Rostropovich was the NSO’s music director he programmed the 14th with his wife and bass Stanford Dean. An unforgettable concert. The printed program had a booklet insert with the text and English translation in large enough print that I still refer to when listening to either CD.
So glad to see you talk about this one. I've always thought that this was Shostakovitch's best work. Probably the only sadder thing out there is his 15th string quartet. The final third of lorelei through the suicide are just haunting. But I agree with you that it has a message to enjoy life. Whenever I'm through listening to it I feel profoundly happy and at ease.
You really have to "gear up" to enter into Shostakovich's desolate, hallucinogenic "chasm of doom" which hangs over this work, along with the 2nd cello concerto, the Michealangelo Suite, the late quartets and the viola sonata, etc. Still, it's an exhilarating artistic experience... provided you can take it. (Viewers should be aware of the fate of Soviet musical bureaucrat Apostolov, who suffered a fatal heart attack during the 14th Sym's final public run-through in 1969. Couldn't take the heat, I guess). I love the gritty, yet mystical aura of Barshai's live performance (10/1969) on Russian Disc, which has the authentic "period" (late '60's, that is) flavor of the symphony's origins. I also hang onto Barshai's world-premiere LP on Melodiya (which used 2 other soloists). Awesome stuff. Re: the "monogram" motif that you point out in Shosta's late works (which opens the 14th),..it is used throughout Shostakovich's wild-and-crazy 2nd Symphony; I notated it in my score as the "inverse pedal motif", since the main note repeats, while the alternate notes descend. It's very prominent in the big E Major orchestral interlude in the middle of the choral section--- woodwinds, horns, trombones/tuba...the chorus even takes a whack at it, briefly. It's really the only thing in this symphony that resembles an actual theme. Anyway, I'm glad you've featured this symphony in a separate talk..but I'm surprised and disappointed by the small number of views/comments, in comparison to the other Shostakovich symphonies you've presented; I guess people really ARE jittery about this one. LR
I think the motive you're describing is actually taken from the Dies Irae plainchant - the first four notes of the chant correspond to the first four notes of Symphony 14. Rachmaninov used it in the Bells and other works.
Vishnevskaya sings khokhochu repeatedly in ‘Madam, posmotrite!’ It was a nightmare for a seventeen boy who knows nothing. Melodiya LP in mid-seventies. I remember vividly I could not sleep well that night. Two singers sing together at the very end and they disappear into nothing. Horror music.
I imprinted on this symphony through the Melodiya/Angel recording, Barshai conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra with Miroshnikova and Vladimirov as the soloists. This is not the same Barshai version that is in the Brilliant Classics box. I don't think it has ever been issued on a CD. I'd buy it if I ever found it, antique sound and all.
That's the version that turned me on to this symphony as well, on LP no less. I picked up a discarded record player along with some LPs in college and had a glorious time listening to this while my roommate gave me strange looks. An incredibly intense performance as I recall, and utterly riveting.
There's also a great Barshai LIVE performance (Oct 6, '69), shortly after the premiere, which features the two original soloists. It was released on Russian Disc (1993).
A quick shoutout to that BBC Live Britten/ECO recording (the premiere outside of the USSR) with Vishnevskaya and Mark Rezhetin. Admittedly largely due to the historical/biographical interest, but it is a very good performance and the live sound is captured well. It is OOP, but worth tracking down. I don't know the Rostropovich recording... will have to get that to compare Vishnevskaya.
Thanks for this post, Dave - it was great to hear your perspective on what has been for me a difficult piece to grasp. So, I did as you recommended and followed along with the text; first to the Wigglesworth recording (which was good), and then to the Rostrpovich recording - which was so intense and immediate that it blew me away. Would it be weird to say that I wanted to just listen to it over again...?!
I wanted to think a bit before saying anything about this - and I definitely think it’s one of your best talks, Dave. I have known this symphony for a long time, and if pressed, I might say it’s his best symphony. I like many of the others, but not all, although there’s still time for me to correct this! Maybe the format of the 11 songs allowed him out of that slightly conservative pose he’d been doing since the fifth symphony in various ways? In any case, and maybe it’s one of your “miniature masterpieces”, that final movement which is only about 1 minute 20 seconds long, is one of the most creepy things I have ever heard, extremely disturbing
I find the 1973 Rostropovich recording with members of the Moscow Philharmonic the most moving. Madame V provides a masterclass in vocal colour & shading & is still in good voice; Reshetin a Boris Godunov voice. Serviceable stereo.
Arrggggg… deleted my post because I named the wrong piece! Let me just say, I have lived for 30+ years with the wrong performance (Haitink) and I am quite excited to get to know a version in Russian! And, compliments on your marvelous posts. Music means so very much to me and these videos are all filled with gold!
Hello , i just found two offerings on amazon, one is a japanese issue on sacd and another one is a publication from russian disc - it is combined with number 9 under david oistrach and it is the "old" version - it is also a video on you tube with a photograph of the composer sitting on a sofa... seems like desperation and death all the way greetings from germany , Frederic
Really appreciated your approach to this..absorbed myself in this symphony the next day…listened to three of your five..and I’m a language guy and thought that the conjugal description was totally apt..I struggle with a lot of vocal music for the exact reasons you laid out with syntactical rhythm and can’t imagine the inspiration for the retranslations..absolutely transfixed by the musica aeterna performance for many reasons..the Rostropovich was too fast for me and found the soloists too forward in relation to the orchestra..the musica aeterna was intimate and sonically incredible…thanks for the insight
Russian is a beautiful language. My favorite Russian choral piece is Rachmaninoff’s setting of the Vigil service. Thanks for this great video, Dave! Давай.
The all-Russian version is certainly the sensible way to do things, to make an overall comment on the work. The multiple languages idea is sound in theory but doesn’t work as well in practice.
Omg I didn’t know my day needed Dave the countertenor! I enjoyed hearing you outdoing Alfred Deller!!!! Can we get a tinnitus classics release of you recreating the Alessandro Moreschi recordings??????
I first heard the 14th on the old London recording with Haitink, Fischer Dieskau and Julia Varady in the original languages. I didn't get the piece at all. Then I heard it in Russian, and then I got it. I didn't like it, but I don't think I was meant to "like" it, if you see what I mean. Anyway, I still don't like it, and I almost never listen to it. It's the kind of thing that, great as it is, has just too much visceral punch to listen to lightly. I put it on about once a decade, and that's all I can take.
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I think the very idea of Russian motion is terrifying right now. Great timing!
“...having a good life is a responsibility.” Beautifully said.
One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th Century and possibly Shostakovich’s most personal work! I obtained the Barshai recording as soon as it came out and then added Rostropovich, both on LP. When the Rostropovich was released in the US on a Melodiya CD, I of course grabbed that. I think it is the same performance that is in Shostakovich symphony box originally on Teldec. It was the only version I listened to until Petrenko recorded it. I love both accounts and find it hard to choose between them. When Rostropovich was the NSO’s music director he programmed the 14th with his wife and bass Stanford Dean. An unforgettable concert. The printed program had a booklet insert with the text and English translation in large enough print that I still refer to when listening to either CD.
So glad to see you talk about this one. I've always thought that this was Shostakovitch's best work. Probably the only sadder thing out there is his 15th string quartet. The final third of lorelei through the suicide are just haunting. But I agree with you that it has a message to enjoy life. Whenever I'm through listening to it I feel profoundly happy and at ease.
You really have to "gear up" to enter into Shostakovich's desolate, hallucinogenic "chasm of doom" which hangs over this work, along with the 2nd cello concerto, the Michealangelo Suite, the late quartets and the viola sonata, etc. Still, it's an exhilarating artistic experience... provided you can take it. (Viewers should be aware of the fate of Soviet musical bureaucrat Apostolov, who suffered a fatal heart attack during the 14th Sym's final public run-through in 1969. Couldn't take the heat, I guess).
I love the gritty, yet mystical aura of Barshai's live performance (10/1969) on Russian Disc, which has the authentic "period" (late '60's, that is) flavor of the symphony's origins. I also hang onto Barshai's world-premiere LP on Melodiya (which used 2 other soloists). Awesome stuff.
Re: the "monogram" motif that you point out in Shosta's late works (which opens the 14th),..it is used throughout Shostakovich's wild-and-crazy 2nd Symphony; I notated it in my score as the "inverse pedal motif", since the main note repeats, while the alternate notes descend. It's very prominent in the big E Major orchestral interlude in the middle of the choral section--- woodwinds, horns, trombones/tuba...the chorus even takes a whack at it, briefly. It's really the only thing in this symphony that resembles an actual theme.
Anyway, I'm glad you've featured this symphony in a separate talk..but I'm surprised and disappointed by the small number of views/comments, in comparison to the other Shostakovich symphonies you've presented; I guess people really ARE jittery about this one. LR
Apostolov actually died a month later, but he did have a heart attack at the concert. Poor boy.
I think the motive you're describing is actually taken from the Dies Irae plainchant - the first four notes of the chant correspond to the first four notes of Symphony 14. Rachmaninov used it in the Bells and other works.
@@pawdaw No. The first four notes of everything sound like the Dies Irai chant.
Vishnevskaya sings khokhochu repeatedly in ‘Madam, posmotrite!’ It was a nightmare for a seventeen boy who knows nothing. Melodiya LP in mid-seventies. I remember vividly I could not sleep well that night. Two singers sing together at the very end and they disappear into nothing. Horror music.
Yes, that certainly is memorable! And scary.
David, we hope to see soon a video repertoire on the symphony nr. 15 by Shostakovich, one of my favorites. Greetings from Valencia, Spain.
The date of this review of an anti-war piece should be in the title. February 24, 2022, a dark day in history.
Great episode
I imprinted on this symphony through the Melodiya/Angel recording, Barshai conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra with Miroshnikova and Vladimirov as the soloists. This is not the same Barshai version that is in the Brilliant Classics box. I don't think it has ever been issued on a CD. I'd buy it if I ever found it, antique sound and all.
Actually, it was on CD, but I have no idea if you can find it now.
That's the version that turned me on to this symphony as well, on LP no less. I picked up a discarded record player along with some LPs in college and had a glorious time listening to this while my roommate gave me strange looks. An incredibly intense performance as I recall, and utterly riveting.
There's also a great Barshai LIVE performance (Oct 6, '69), shortly after the premiere, which features the two original soloists. It was released on Russian Disc (1993).
This is my favourite recording of the Fourteenth. I got hold of a CD from HMV Japan.
21:36
I think 'shock' would be more appropriate than 'surprised' considering I nearly fell off my chair after hearing this
It is what it is!
I think there is another Currentzis recording people may be surprised to like: Stravinsky's Les Noces.
A quick shoutout to that BBC Live Britten/ECO recording (the premiere outside of the USSR) with Vishnevskaya and Mark Rezhetin. Admittedly largely due to the historical/biographical interest, but it is a very good performance and the live sound is captured well. It is OOP, but worth tracking down. I don't know the Rostropovich recording... will have to get that to compare Vishnevskaya.
Thanks for this post, Dave - it was great to hear your perspective on what has been for me a difficult piece to grasp. So, I did as you recommended and followed along with the text; first to the Wigglesworth recording (which was good), and then to the Rostrpovich recording - which was so intense and immediate that it blew me away. Would it be weird to say that I wanted to just listen to it over again...?!
Thank You so much! Dave, love you!
You're very welcome!
I wanted to think a bit before saying anything about this - and I definitely think it’s one of your best talks, Dave. I have known this symphony for a long time, and if pressed, I might say it’s his best symphony. I like many of the others, but not all, although there’s still time for me to correct this! Maybe the format of the 11 songs allowed him out of that slightly conservative pose he’d been doing since the fifth symphony in various ways? In any case, and maybe it’s one of your “miniature masterpieces”, that final movement which is only about 1 minute 20 seconds long, is one of the most creepy things I have ever heard, extremely disturbing
I find the 1973 Rostropovich recording with members of the Moscow Philharmonic the most moving. Madame V provides a masterclass in vocal colour & shading & is still in good voice; Reshetin a Boris Godunov voice. Serviceable stereo.
Arrggggg… deleted my post because I named the wrong piece! Let me just say, I have lived for 30+ years with the wrong performance (Haitink) and I am quite excited to get to know a version in Russian! And, compliments on your marvelous posts. Music means so very much to me and these videos are all filled with gold!
Hello , i just found two offerings on amazon, one is a japanese issue on sacd and another one is a publication from russian disc - it is combined with number 9 under david oistrach and it is the "old" version - it is also a video on you tube with a photograph of the composer sitting on a sofa... seems like desperation and death all the way
greetings from germany , Frederic
Dave your videos animate me to read philosophy books. I bought Plato’s „Gorgias“ today 😃
Really appreciated your approach to this..absorbed myself in this symphony the next day…listened to three of your five..and I’m a language guy and thought that the conjugal description was totally apt..I struggle with a lot of vocal music for the exact reasons you laid out with syntactical rhythm and can’t imagine the inspiration for the retranslations..absolutely transfixed by the musica aeterna performance for many reasons..the Rostropovich was too fast for me and found the soloists too forward in relation to the orchestra..the musica aeterna was intimate and sonically incredible…thanks for the insight
Russian is a beautiful language. My favorite Russian choral piece is Rachmaninoff’s setting of the Vigil service. Thanks for this great video, Dave! Давай.
The all-Russian version is certainly the sensible way to do things, to make an overall comment on the work. The multiple languages idea is sound in theory but doesn’t work as well in practice.
Beginning of the symphony starts like Brahms opus 118 number 6 the dies irae
Shuddering, shivering at the discussion of Russian verbs of motion.
Aren't they wonderful?
Has there ever been a recording of the 14th with just the music score and absent the vocals? I would be interested in hearing that
God forbid.
Is there a reason for the Ormandy-Recording (Philadelphia Orchestra on RCA) did never appear on CDs? Does anyone know about it?
It was released on CD.
Omg I didn’t know my day needed Dave the countertenor! I enjoyed hearing you outdoing Alfred Deller!!!!
Can we get a tinnitus classics release of you recreating the Alessandro Moreschi recordings??????
I first heard the 14th on the old London recording with Haitink, Fischer Dieskau and Julia Varady in the original languages. I didn't get the piece at all.
Then I heard it in Russian, and then I got it. I didn't like it, but I don't think I was meant to "like" it, if you see what I mean. Anyway, I still don't like it, and I almost never listen to it. It's the kind of thing that, great as it is, has just too much visceral punch to listen to lightly. I put it on about once a decade, and that's all I can take.