Repertoire: The BEST Shostakovich Symphony Cycles
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2020
- The number of complete Shostakovich symphony cycles is (happily) limited, mostly very good, and easy to assess. Check out your options, and decide if you want to go for a whole set, or proceed one work at a time.
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It was the Haitink that got me into Shostakovich after years of thinking he was just ‘tea for two’, so a place in my heart. The Liverpool set was a revelation.
I bought the Barshai cycle years ago on your recommendation and that’s worked out so well. I’m so glad to hear about Petrenko. Thanks!
I got the Barshai cycle years ago on your recommendation and have enjoyed it very much. Thanks for the listening ideas!
You are so welcome!
Agree completely on the excellence of the Barshai set; amazingly consistent, with committed performances and outstanding sound. We have symphonies 4, 7, and 10 from the Petrenko cycle, all excellent. A little surprised that Jansons' cycle was not mentioned.
Listening to the excellent talk on the eighth today made me think of this video. I am so happy that Petrenko comes out on top for complete cycles. It is a recent cycle, from 2008 to 2013, and a highly serious project, with studio sessions for each recording, rather than a haphazard collection of live performances. That alone is reason enough to support this endeavor at a time when such undertakings are far and few between. Who would have thought that it would be Naxos of all labels that would be the guarantor for this level of quality?
Michael Sanderling's cycle on Sony from last year is scintillating. The sound is out of this world terrific.
I'm in the middle of it and am enjoying it very much.
Also try his father Kurt's recordings (not a complete cycle) with the Berliner Symphoniker.
can only find it on ebay and it is pricey. wish Amazon had it. any suggestions?
Great! I heard Michael Sanderling 7 th with Berlin Philharmonics live in Berlin Philharmonie last year and it was excellent! it's very promising for this cycle
The 12th is actually my favourite. The opening movement was tracked to a print of Eisenstein's Oktober and worked marvelously with those frantic edits and harried imagery. It was my introduction to Shostakovich. I love the Haitink set personally. I find the 10th second mvmt to be riveting. The 12th by Haitink personally cannot be topped. It has an intensity that I've not heard in other recordings, and believe me, I bought many of them as the Decca recording wasn't available easily for many years. BTW- I enjoy your book on Shostakovich David. It's a terrific guide to the Shostakovich cannon.
Thank you!
Haitink's 8th and 13th are spectacular and powerful. Loved them from the day I first heard them, and bought them on vinyl back in the 1980's. The recordings were amazing and I use them as hifi demo discs still. I pull out the vinyl versions anytime I want to impress people with the quality of vinyl vs. cd/mp3.
Solid picks as always. I'll watch for a review of the Michael Sanderling at Classicstoday. I'm curious to know more about it.
Damn! Now I have to listen to it!
After spot-sampling the Petrenko and Barshai cycles (both excellent), I opted for the Barshai. It seemed to have more of a feel of Mother Russia (under the watchful eye of Uncle Joe, of course) about it. I guess there’s something to be said for going with a conductor who was friends with the composer, and who even led the premiere of one of the works in the set. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I wind up getting the Petrenko eventually as well.
Sounds good to me!
Hi Dave, would love if you're able to do a video on the Michael Sanderling cycle. Thank you.
I've got them all, but I would also add Kondrashin, if you can still find it. Petrenko and Sanderling are indeed magnificent cycles!
I would welcome a talk (and analysis) on Shostakovich’s string quartets. Perhaps bizarrely I bought my first Shostakovich string quartet cycle before my first symphony cycle.
Barshai made a fan out of me with his Mahler Fifth, with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. It's my favorite performance of my favorite symphony, and by a high school orchestra! So while I'm sure you're right to recommend Petrenko ahead of him here, I went with Barshai's set. At least for now.
For those who want to hear what Kondrashin could do with the 13th, but also don't want the revised text: he made a recording almost immediately after the premiere in 1962 which has the original text sung by Vitaly Gromadsky, who sung the premiere (the Melodiya one is from '65 with Arthur Eisen). The sound isn't stellar (as is to be expected from an early 60s Russian performance), is indeed very swift, but to me just sounds angry and vicious and is in my opinion well worth a listen if you already know the piece and aren't too bothered by the sonics. It's available as part of that Alto set wich also contains Mravinsky's 8th.
Ok guys. Best 4th - Haitink, best 5th Bernstein NYPO (1959), best 6th Mravinsky/Leningrad. Kondrashin has the best 7 8 9 and 13 (honourable mentions for Svetlanov/USSR State Symphony and Bernstein’s 1989 CSO live performance of the 7th). Paavo Berglund and Bournemouth SO tie with Karajan/BPO for the 10th, Rozhdestvensky (1983) best 11th (honourable mention for Stokowski/Houston) Haitink best 12th (as per Dave) and Mariss Jansons/LPO best 15th. That’s my opinion as a lifelong Shostakovich devotee - would love to hear your thoughts.
4th - Kondrashin, 5th - Sanderling/Rozhdestvensky (Bernstein's finale was dismissed by Shostakovich as Barshai claims), 6th - Barshai, 7th - Neeme Jarvi, 8th - Kondrashin/Sanderling/Haitink, 10th - Mravinsky/Jansons, a weak symphony anyway, 11th - probably Haitink, 12th - ..., 13th - probably Barshai, 15th - Mravinsky only.
Putting a word in for Ladislav Slovak's cycle on Naxos, which preceded Petrenko's. I have most of it in single discs and love (or like very well) every performance (the 5th is marred a bit by an unusually cavernous recording, though). Those are the Shosty discs I listen to most.
Surprised by no mention of Jansons, a high-profile set along with Haitink. I guess you don't much like it. I don't like some of it, either, but the Fifth in Vienna and the live Eighth are very fine (his earlier Oslo 5 is okay).
Finally, a minority opinion (of which I seem to have nothing but!): I really prize Rostropovich's LSO 8. Pretty colossal.
Great video!
I have that early Naxos cycle from Slovak - don't know why it didn't get more attention. I thoroughly enjoyed them when they came out, although the sound is as you say cavernous and glassy at times. I like that set far more than Haitink.
Any chance that you can provide a link to where one might buy the Kiril Kondrashin box that you described first in the podcast. The rare available copies that I find are in the multi hundreds of dollars.
Thank you for this wonderful video. I am and have been a Shostakovich fanatic since discovering him in my first year of college, back in the late 80s. I have always adored all of the Haitink performances. Actually, the very first Shostakovich I heard was his performance of the 5th. A friend and I were in high school. Every weekend we would get together and make very odd improvised videos together. The radio happened to be tuned to a station playing said Shosti and the improvisation was wild!! I missed the name of the music, but in my first year of college heard it again at a store and hung around until they announced the composer. Anyway, I have always really adored his 14th, and to me the original languages work so perfectly, perhaps because I got used to them. I listened over and over and over…! I’m disappointed that you characterize this performance as a light performance and will certainly be listening to either the Barshai or the Petrenko as comparison. Was the original work in Russian?
Yes, it was, and the original languages make a mess of the work.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Wow, that's so surprising to me! I mean, obviously the poetry started off in the original languages. But Shostakovich's writing was in Russian...!! I just ordered the Barshai boxed set and look forward to a new revelation! :)
I have built myself a "Sanderling" cycle. The Kurt Sanderling recordings with Berlin are my go to recordings (followed by Bernstein in a different style). I could not really bond with Petrenko outside of his fourth. I came to listen to Michael Sanderling 11th and really liked the "musicality" of it and the sound of Dresden. It does feel like something that is not immediately attention grabing but that I stop to listen to easily, which is the same feeling I have with his father's recordings, so something that shoudl endure the test of time. Maybe I am biased by the filiation :-) Anyway I downloaded in gorgeous sound the "misisng" symphonies (4,7,9,11 & 12) to complete the reference ones (1,5,6,8,10 & 15) and I am a happy camper. I still have Bernstein, Jarvi, Mrvasinky and Ormandy to provide a different "sound".
Thanks David for your wonderful and enjoyable reviews. One cycle which I find to be unsung and superb is the Mark Wigglesworth on BIS using two different orchestras. What do you think of the performances that comprise this cycle?
Check out the videos on the individual symphonies, and the reviews at ClassicsToday.com.
Mr. Hurwitz!!! Dude!! Long time I missed you. I’m catchin up on all your vids. You’re awesome!!! Lissen I was wonderin if you might review shostaovich strong quartets. I always loved the shostaovich quartet but I just discovered Pacifica compete collection. I’m blown away!! It’s like hallucinatin what do you think? God bless!
Well, there are no bad sets, so it's a bit difficult to talk about. I may do the quartets individually, though.
Douglas, you can sample most sets on youtube. I would recommend starting with the Beethoven Quartet for whom Shostakovich wrote many of them. Enjoy they're wonderful works. ENJOY , JIM
That Kondrashin 4th...yikes!!! I've never heard anything like it! Hair-raising! I picked up the new Sanderling but haven't listened to it yet.
I totally agree with you regarding Petrenko's cycle. I have all of the sets you mention, but when I first encountered Petrenko's set it immediately shot to first place, by a wide margin. You didn't mention Ashkenazy's cycle, presumably because you don't consider it competitive. My take is that it's quite uneven, but there are a few standout performances; the 10th, for instance, never one of my favorite Shostakovich symphonies, is quite successful in my opinion.
I didn't mention Ashkenazy because I couldn't see that it was still in print.
Hi Dave---Thank you --I have both the Barshai and the Petrenko and very satisfied with both---any chance of a you doing a survey of the best cycle for the string quartets?
Thanks Charles
I'd like to, except that they're (mostly) all very good, so it's kind of hard to make distinctions without just splitting hairs.
As always, learned some things I ddn't tune into before, especially Ancerl's 10th. I would add that I'm very fond of my disc with Symphonies 5 and 9 led by Rozhdestvensky, but I still agree that a single "greatest" version is hard to pin down.
I also agree with being very careful about reducing this music to political allegory (for either point of view), not least of all with the 5th Symphony, despite its premiere less than five months after the execution of Shostakovich's friend Mikhail Tukhachevsky. To understand what was meant by the symphony, I recommend listening to one of Shostakovich's Pushkin songs (Op.46--just before the symphony's Op. 47), the setting of a poem called "Resurrection." It abut a painting scrawled over by a "barbarian" that later re-emerges in its original splendor. Aside from what was meant by the poem, all literate Russians (including Shostakovich) knew about Pushkin's friendships with insurgents (Decembrists) and his long struggle with censorship under Nikolai I. Evoking another time isn't exactly a coded message as much as a way to let a work resonate in more dimensions--changing the notion of message itself. By channeling what survived Nikolai I, Shostakovich was also signaling (especially to himself) that this music could outlast other rulers, as well.
The 5th also has to be viewed simultaneously with the stylistic changes that happened in the 1930s with many composers in different counties and political systems. If I may oversimplify, the impersonal irreverence of the 1920s had grown stale and formulaic, almost trivial. Maybe that's why Shostakovich and Popov tried to change the game with something more audacious. But, when there was a rehearsal for Popov's Symphony No. 1, the listeners (including Shostakovich and Myaskovsky) curbed any enthusiasm that might have felt--not that the Popov, despite some merits, would necessarily be a crowd pleaser.
The Shostakovich 4th has a crowd pleaser in Boston with Nelsons and Jurowski, but it didn't get much play before the last decade, even though Ormandy's 1st US performance was decades earlier. As for the USSR in the mid-1930s, the 4th might have been a tough nut to crack, even if the idiom is fairly close to that of "Lady MacBeth."
But there's little doubt that the 5th has always been a crowd pleaser. Was Shostakovich pandering to the Kremlin, or was connecting with an audience his lifeline?
At the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, there's a display of the program notes for the 5th's premiere in 1937. The description of the four movements is fairly brief and unremarkable. The closest thing to an explanation of meaning is the last sentence: "On the whole the symphony relates a prolonged, heartfelt struggle culminating in victory." You don't have to be a scholar or an expert on foreign relations to take that as a Delphic utterance that can mean different things to different people at different times. And that goes for the symphony, as well.
I have both the Kitajenko cycle with the Guerzenich Orchester Koeln which is fully satisfying (especially in n. 4, 11 and 12) and the Barshai (as you say, no weak performances in it). I thought you would have mentioned the cycle conducted by the composer's son Maxim. I heard some performances and I found them absolutely convincing.
I did mention it.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I re-watched the video...sorry, you are right! It happens sometimes when you watch or hear something which is not in your mother language! Sorry! 🙏🏻
@@francescofurlan3098 No problem. It happens to me all the time whether it's in my mother language or not!
Dave, have you had a chance to listen to all of the Shostakovich symphony recordings by Michael Sanderling and the Dresdner Philharmonie? How does Michal Sanderling's set compare with Vasily Petrenko's set on Naxos?
Have you had a chance to hear the Michael Sanderling set? If so, a revised review would be appreciated. The core of my Shostakovich canon consists of 4 (N. Järvi, Boreyko), 5 (Bernstein, Honeck), 7 (Bernstein DGG, both Järvis), 8 (Tabakov, Kitaenko), 9 (Kondrashin Melodiya, Bernstein), 10 (Mravinsky) and 13 (Kondrashin premier).
Yes, I have heard it, and so far so good, but I want to take my time. It's not "binge" material.
i don't believe David will answer, so perhaps some others will. David got me into Shostakovich and his symphonies are my absolute favorites. Love the excitement, history, percussion, etc. Hard for me to listen to Bach and the others now, too mellow. Where do I go from here? Who would I also find exciting and worth buying box sets of their symphonies? I have 4 boxsets of Shostakovich now. Thanks to David. any advice is welcome. thanks.
Why would I not answer? Anyway, if you like grim, try Pettersson's 7th and 8th (I'm not sure about the rest). No one sounds exactly like Shostakovich--that's what makes him so wonderful, especially if you want a whole "box of symphonies." There are many Soviet composers with exploring, however, including Tischenko, Popov, Karayev, and others, but none wrote such an imposing collection of symphonies.
@@DavesClassicalGuide thanks, David. no offense intended. I know you are a very busy guy is all. appreciate that you did answer and offer me more music to expand to. i found Shostakovich through your excellent videos, so I thought I would ask. again, thanks so much for taking time to reply to a newbie in the classical music world (though I was a percussionist in the orchestra all through high school, it was never my thing until I got older, but I like percussion heavy pieces as a result). thanks again!
@@ScottAReid No problem!
No love for Kitajenko's cycle? I think it's superb.
I don't seem to have much love or Kitajenko in anything.
I have the Konstatin Silvestri Angel Resocrds version from the 1970's with the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra adn actually attended at a performance with Silvestri and the Russian Philarmonic in Mexico City. I would like you to review it! And one question do you have any LP's in your collection, as I guees most of your music is on CD?
I have no LPs.
Rostropovich recorded the 5th twice with the National Symphony. The first one was for DG, and it is loads better than the one in this Teldec set. The third was for LSO Live--it wasn't as good as the first, and it had dreadful Barbican sound.
Wigglesworth cycle is worth checking out as well.
I have the Kondrashin, Barshai and Jansons sets, and lots of other discs not in a complete set so I haven't felt the need to invest in Petrenko... that may still change. The in-progress Nelsons cycle could yet turn into a contender.
You mentioned that there were 'Russian' and 'Western' sets but what are your views on what difference that makes? Does a Russian orchestra make a more 'authentic' sound? And does a Russian conductor have an advantage in understanding the music? For most composers these things hardly come into it, but Shostakovich is the exception.
No, I don't think it matters, necessarily.
@@DavesClassicalGuide i think you are right that it doesn't necessarily matter. You listen to, say, Mravinsky in the 8th, or Rozhdestvensky in the 9th, and the sound their Russian orchestras make for their Russian conductors seems somehow inherent to the music - but then you listen to, say, Ančerl or Karajan in the 10th, or LB in the 5th, and you have forgotten about that. The music can take the different sound worlds.
Question for Dave. I have been really impressed by Inbal's read of Mahler for Denon. He also did a Shostakovich cycle for them as well. What do you think of that one?
Much less good.
I am watching an interview with Petrenko on youtube and he talks about performance in general and hi Shostakovich cycle in particular.... that consistency is important and it is necessary to keep the "low bar" relatively high as well as having high inspired moments and performances
Thank you for this very helpful and interesting survey. I agree with you completely: Barshai and Petrenko are among the best - but Petrenko in my opinion has too relaxed tempos in certain symphonies (he takes the finale of Fifth Symphony too slow for example)...Rostropovich? It depends from the symphonies: he did a very good job with the First or the Eleventh (one of the most underrated!) but I don't like his performance of the Leningrad. The earlier complete cycle with Ladislav Slovak for Naxos is sadly affected by orchestra's mistakes: lack of coherence sometimes, harsh brass, acid woodwinds & so on. But it was really a pity because Slovak was a terrific Shostakovich conductor and a very fine conductor in general. I like much his performance of Eleventh Symphony for example (alas, the engineering...the bells are sadly overwhelmed by the orchestra in the finale...)
My only small niggle with Petrenko's superb set is that his Liverpool chorus sounds a little too "polished" in _Babi Yar._ In this symphony, the chorus needs more bass, heft and bite - like Barshai gets from the Choral Academy of Moscow in his version. That said, both Petrenko's and Barshai's sets are fixtures on my music player, and I wouldn't be without either.
Slovak also didn't really get the recording quality he needed. These were the early days of Naxos, after all.
Excellent cycles you have presented! I have them all and I would say that the one I like the least TODAY is Petrenko's. Once the initial enthusiasm had passed, I began to detect defects. for example I listen to it too "domesticated"; the orchestra sounds civilized in excess, it lacks the "Soviet fierceness" that Kondrashin or Rozhdestvensky can have for example. or the tragic sense that Rostropovich exudes. Or the greater idiomaticism that presides over the Barshai cycle. I even prefer, as a complete cycle, Haitink than Petrenko. I have the feeling of a lack of philosophical and vital depth in the Petrenko cycle.
But indeed I think that if you can, it is very positive to have "all" the cycles that you have presented.
Best regards
Jonn
Petrenko still sounds great to me.
@@DavesClassicalGuide For me it is still a great cycle. I just like it less than when I discovered it and tasted it for a few months. I feel that in my case it withstood the test of time less than the others mentioned. In summary, I would say that: technically unobjectionable, Petrenko's approach is too light emotionally for me.
Best regards
Jonn
@@DavesClassicalGuide Hi
I was reviewing the Petrenko cycle and I can say that the ones that I liked the most and seem to me to be of superlative quality are: 8, 10, 12, 13 and... 14!!
As a full cycle, with higher and lower points like any cycle, today I still choose Great Gennady and Kondrashin how come they are not reissued with all the possible remastering enhancements? it is imperative that it be done !!!
I also think that with any of the mentioned cycles you can enjoy Dmitri's great symphonism.
Best regards
Jonn
Moi aussi, Dave. Domesticated? Civilized? Pffttt!@@DavesClassicalGuide
Hi Dave, great review and nice channel. I think it could be nice to also mention some of the bad recordings that in your opinion don't live up to the expectations. Just a thought. I assume you don't think high of Jansons or Ashkenazy in their Shostakovich sets? Greetings from Belgium
That's a fair request and sometimes I will mention bad recordings too (I've done it here several times already separately). Actually I think both Ashkenazy and Jansons are very good, but they are not easily available or historically noteworthy so I left them out. I'm not trying to be comprehensive, just practical and representative.
Any update on the Sanderling set? Love to hear what you think now (if?) you've listened to the whole thing.
It's not even available anymore is it? I saw it was out of print almost before it was issued, and so I put it on the back burner. I don't understand what was going on there. I sure liked what I heard.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Its available on Spotify. If you have any new thoughts on the cycle, please share, so I know if it's one I should download haha!
@@DavesClassicalGuide Michael Sanderling's cycle is still available for purchase if you look around, though I am skeptical that it really is available. It is also available to stream in various locations as well.
Oleg Caetani (Markevtich son) and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in Arts is a very good cycle
Some of it.
I appreciate your work. But how about a review of Brahms and Prokofiev cycles? Or did you do them already? Or are you concerned that there are too many Brahms cycles and too few Prokofiev cycles? Or do you think it would be boring? You might as well do all the symphonic cycles, for that matter. How about it?
How about going to my channel home page and looking through the composer playlists before asking?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Gee, I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't know that there was a channel home page. That's why I didn't look.
@@theosalvucci8683 I'm not offended at all. I was just answering in kind!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I was only teasing. I agree with you a lot, actually.
@@theosalvucci8683 So was I.
Tam Tams in the Bach Saint Matthew passion. 🤭
Is Vasily related to Kiriill?
@@davecook8378 Thank you.
No.
I think we can really stop with "the price is unbeatable" when it comes to Naxos, since at this point they are clearly more expensive -- especially for sets -- than any major label's re-issuing efforts. I haven't updated the prices on my DSCH-Symphony-Survey in a while (ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-survey-of-shostakovich-symphony-cycles.html), and in a way it doesn't even make sense to include them anymore, because availability and prices change so frequently. But Naxos is never among the cheapest, no matter what.
I agree. Many Naxos efforts are as expensive, or as cheap as other labels now, so I think we need to be careful about mentioning how inexpensive Naxos are.
I absolutely agree with you regarding the magnificense of the Petrenko set - apart from the performances what also surprised me was the excellence of the Naxos recordings. I have never been a Naxos fan, finding their recordings below par when it cones to big orchestral sound. But in this set they are simply superb. My only disappointment with this otherwise great set is no.13. The Liverpool choir Petrenko uses sound so un-Russian it almost sounds as if they are singing the symphony in English. For me the choir completely spoiled what could have been a great performance.
Disagree about "Naxos sound"! At the price, I have found their recording standards to be very high.
Didn't Janssons do a complete cycle?
Sure, for Warner, with different orchestras.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Not worth a mention?
@@thomasbirkhahn9616 Did you see it?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Twice now, incase I missed you mentioning it. Just wanted to know wether you rate it.
@@thomasbirkhahn9616 I think it's very good, for the most part. You can find reviews of individual releases on ClassicsToday.com if you're curious about specific bits.
Earlier this year, Christophe Huss argued in Le Devoir that Alexander Sladkovsky could be one of the best conductors in the world, even though nobody knows about him. On Spotify, I have found his complete cycle of Shostakovich’s symphonies with the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra. Have you had the chance to listen to it? I’d be really curious to know what you think of it!
I have it and am working through it. No comments yet.
It was interesting to hear Mr. Hurwitz comment on the recording of the 12th Symphony made by Haitink. The first time that I have listened to this symphony was this recording and when I listened to other versions I thought: "This is strange, this symphony seems a different and worst piece of music than the one I listen to before, Haitink made the music better than it is?".
I loved the recording of the 12th by Durjan when on LP. Terrific, and I just love the 12th. Always have.