Repertoire: The BEST Shostakovitch Fifteenth Symphony
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ค. 2024
- Haunting, death-obsessed, witty and ironic, this late masterpiece has not lacked for fine recordings. Either you get it or you don''t. Here are the seven best, taken from a very strong pool of contenders.
Musical Examples courtesy of Supraphon Records - เพลง
It's your greatest series so far; it's doing Shostakovich's genius full justice.
ah yes! those icy creepy chords, in the second mvt and then near the end of the symphony. I feel absolutely the same way about them. In my view this symphony has quite a few striking similarities with Nielsen's Sixth. I find it quite strange and maybe even a bit mysterious since I think Shostakovich had never heard the Sinfonia Semplice. The latter btw also has a 'heart attack' moment with a loud dissonant chord in woodwinds.
The single disc Jarvi is also worth seeking out and pops up as a used disc from time to time. The performance of the symphonic poem "October" which fills out the disc is very, very good.
I almost don't dare to say that I like the Solti recording with the CSO, particularly for it's rhythmic precision and the gorgeous brass sound. My overall favorite though is Kondrashin.
The heartbreaking tune after the Wagner quotations in the finale might entail another quote, especially in the way it begins. It's from "Farewell to St. Petersburg," a set of songs by Mikhail Glinka. The song quoted is a romance by the early 19th century elegiac poet Evgeny Baratynski. In English, the words go something like this:
Don’t tempt me needlessly
With a return of your tenderness!
To the disillusioned, all enticements
Of bygone days are like strangers.
I no longer believe in assurances,
I no longer believe in love
Once they’ve deceived me,
I can’t give in again to fantasies.
Don’t swell my unseeing heartbreak,
Don’t bring up words about the past,
And, considerate friend, don’t disturb
The patient who's dozing off.
I sleep. Oblivion is sweet,
Forget the dreams that once were.
In my soul, you awaken
Unease, but not love.
I'm not the first person to make the connection here with Glinka. Someone seized upon it as another political parable, but I insist on hearing it as music. As far as I'm concerned, any meaning is more elusive: maybe political, maybe personal. I can even see a meaning about Shostakovich's native city, whether as a place of everyday life, a composite emblem of Russia, even--as some writers put it, a place haunted by its own dead. In a novel by a St. Petersburg writer a few years older than Shostakovich, the song is described as being sung in a bar at 3 in the morning. I only bring that up to suggest it would not have been surprising if Shostakovich had known the song, and he did show up for the writer's funeral in the 1930s.
The quotation is also paradoxical. The song is about not repeating the past, but in the symphony there is a repetition of the quote after the passacaglia. The first time you hear the tune, it really seems enchanting, almost out of character with the rest of the symphony. The second time around, afterthe climax and collapse just before, there's still enchantment, but also the feeling of more distance, maybe of too little too late. If the first time seemed like love, the second time was unease.
The Sanderling! Wow!
Speaking of Maxim Shostakovich, the recording of the Fourth Symphony in this cycle is absolutely PHENOMENAL! Up there with Kondrashin, Ormandy, Previn and Jansons. An absolute must-hear work.
I heard Ormandy conduct this in 1972 (the Philadelphia Orchestra at Philharmonic Hall) and it made a permanent impression. I got the M. Shostakovich LP as soon as it appeared.
I listened to this last summer and i couldn't get over how profound this work is. I find this a conductor's dream symphony. So much to keep everybody interested.
Your are right it is Shostakovich laid bare. If ever there was a time we needed Shostakovich it is now
Thanks for this and all the other wonderful talks in this series! One thing that I would like to draw attention to is the amazing cello solo at the beginning of the second movement; truly one of the best in the whole repertoire. I saw a very cello-heavy program in Rotterdam a couple of years ago where the program was the Guillaume Tell overture, Shostakovich's 1st cello concerto, and the 15th after the break. Marvelous!
Masterpiece for sure. It's a work I turn to when a reset is needed, when music isn't coming through and you're looking for something to get you back on track. Shostakovitch 15 works every time. Although for me it's the Mravinsky/Leningrad that does the trick. I still have the early Maxim Shostakovitch on lp, find it a little underheated.
your Shostakovich videos always brigten up my day. Recently, I saw on YT an exceptional performance of the 15th with Michael Sanderling and the Dresden Philharmonic - no applause (The concert was held on February 13, the memorial day for the allied bombing that destroyed Dresden in 1945) - pure magic.
The recording of Maxim Shostakovich's premiere was issued in the white Melodiya box of the complete symphonies (and in excellent sound).
Thanks.
Just found the Neeme Järvi 15th in the local used CDs store. And yes it is great!
Your enthusiasm for Shostakovich is marvelous! Last winter I got the Rostropovich box which I liked enough. I'm up for exploring other recordings of the symphonies that interest me including 15. I ran across the Ormandy while searching for Gilels performing his second piano sonata which is an interesting coupling. With your recommendation here, I went ahead and ordered it.
Thanks for this excellent analysis. I am very fond of this work. Gets me every time I hear it. Maxim's cycle might not be the best overall but I like live atmosphere and his view of the works. Also, the different sound of the Prague.
A very creditable theory (not my invention) is that the Rossini "Guillaume Tell" quotation is actually a reference to that music's use in a cigarette commercial for the Lark brand--> "Have a Lark, have a Lark, have a Lark today..."
Knowing what a chainsmoker DSCH was, that thesis is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.~
Thank you so much for this video. I ordered a copy of the Eugene Ormandy. I first know this work from Kirill Kondrashin but I heard by chance literally after talking about this work at a party the previous night, on the radio, Ormandy's recording and to me it sounded like it had more of an "it" factor. I looked for Maxim's and it was expensive. Some day I will have to hear that. Also thank you for your insight in breaking down the work. It is a phenomenal and fascinating piece.
No way to go wrong with any of these seven recordings. Suggesting eternity without taking an eternity is exactly right for this symphony. The first two you named are actually my favorites; Maxim Shostakovich brings plenty of great Soviet desolation, and Barshai’s nerve-racking performance puts the lie to any idea he was just a gentleman conductor looking to smooth out the curves of Shostakovich. I can’t argue with the HOWEVER, however; Sanderling’s seriously powerful perspective is regarded as a reference recording by many listeners with good reason. I even (kinda) like the Cleveland Sanderling although it doesn’t really hang together. Not an everyday Shostakovich 15th, if there is such an animal.
Great choices. I do enjoy both recordings from Sanderling but the Berlin version also has an edginess that I prefer over the CLE. Of course seeing the 15th live is where it’s at, it’s a great piece to experience in person if you have the opportunity, which I fortunately did about 15 years ago.
I don’t always agree with your recommendations, but in this case… you nailed it. Kurt Sanderling & The Berlin SO is the cream of the crop. Thanks.
I nail it most of the time. You don't. Hehe.
It so happened I was listening to Eugene Ormandy's version just last night and it truly is a marvellous rendition of this intriguing, quirky, facetious and spectral masterpiece. It's an immensely clever work, emotionally gripping and intellectually stimulating, concurrently, making a subtly coherent and unified statement out of emotional ambivalence and ambiguity. A damn fine honest work with a gorgeously sublime, unforgettable ending. The celesta has hardly ever sounded as celestial (without any religiosity) as in these last few bars (Mahler's "Abschied" comes to mind), and musical quotations hardly ever sounded as à-propos as they do here, whatever they may mean, if anything - doesn't matter a tiny bit. The recurring "William Tell" quotation, for example, never fails in making me smile. I cannot possibly imagine the 1st movement without it, it's so playful and witty in that context. His use of musical quotations is akin to a master chef's impeccable use of culinary spices. Truly love this fascinating work... and thank you for this short but excellent, spot-on exposé of the piece,
A very good explanation of a symphony I have always enjoyed listening to.
Finally it is out !!!!!!
The ending is so profound, the only way Shostakovich could have improved it was dying on the spot before he even wrote the "ting".
I have been waiting a long time for this one. The Haitink is the one I have best enjoyed, and now I have the Barshai recording which is excellent and yes the climaxes are earth shattering and in fantastic sound. I enjoy the entire box set.
I once read somewhere that the beautiful melody in the last movement that you mentioned is either derived from or part quotation of a Glinka song melody.
The passacaglia in the last movement is from his 7th symphony.
🙏
Not really. It does not quote the 7th.
Shostakovich 15th had a special place for Sanderling. I heard him do it live at least twice and in the Gewandhaus, he even wrote his extensive own programme notes for it as he probably didn't trust anyone else. Once I heard The Eterna (now Berlin Classics) recording and the live performances, there's no way I could ever enjoy anyone else doing it. One of the greatest achievements of one of the greatest conductors of his generation. And his other Shosty is almost as good. I just can't forgive him for never doing the Leningrad. I fear he simply disliked the political associations or perhaps genuinely though the music was not the best. You've done it again, David!
I saw the CSO perform this live, under Haitink, and I was sitting in the terrace right behind the percussion. The technique used to execute the percussion toccata at the end was, as I recall, very striking. I like the brisk way Solti handles this particular section…his tempo here seems a bit faster than the norm and it’s effective imo.
in the middle of first movement of this symphonies we sound a brief motive with the trumpet of the mahler second symphonies ( and symphonies no 4)
On the Ormandy, it’s disappointed that the Sony budget box of his Shostakovich was just the CBS recordings. If you’re going through the effort, why not add the RCA recordings as well. It would have those in greater circulation.
Very right.
NIce job. I'm going to get the Sanderling. There's a digital box set on Berlin Classics that has Symphonies. 1, 5, 6, 8, 10. You probably know, but the Maxim S. with the Moscow Radio is included in the Melodiya Shostakovich 110th Anniversary box.
Dave, do you remember the Viktor Derevianko arrangement of Symphony 15, for piano trio and a trio of percussionists - recorded by Gidon Kremer, Clemens Hagen etc. I sometimes get it out and give it a listen. It's wacky, and that combination of instruments is never going to replicate the massive sonorities of the 2nd and 4th movements, but I kind of enjoy it - definitely a triumph of will.
It's actually very imaginative.
While my favorite is the 8th, I do love the 15th. Perhaps I'm reading too much into into his musical references, but this symphony strikes me as rather straight-forwardly autobiographical. The 1st movement reflects his earlier "happy" years before Stalin's oppressive state apparatus threatened him, when much of his music was more melodic and lighthearted. I imagine the Rossini expresses a time of relatively carefree charging into the breach. The 2nd movement portrays that stage of life coming to abrupt end as he comes under official scrutiny. In the 3rd movement, life and work resume, but not with their earlier warmth or simplicity. I'm totally stretching when it comes to the Wagner quotes in the 4th movement, but maybe the T & I theme is reflective of loving what is unattainable - freedom, perhaps? At any rate, the final movement ends with the sounds of hospital machinery and his impending death. The 15th is a deeply personal self-revelation.
Passages in the last movement have trance inducing properties, what with the looping string motives over the constant pizzicati of the basses. Many times listening to it have I "gone away" in a territory between sleep and wake, only to be startled by the climax and the "boîte à musique" ending. In 1972, my father came back from a work assignment in Moscow with a 5-inch thick pile of Melodyia LPs. The first Soviet recording of it was in the lot. I'm sure Dave can tell us what it was? I had to ask my dad to identify all the works on the records because of the Cyrillic writing. He told me about the shopping experience at the Melodyia store: The customer is at store the counter and browses through the catalog of recordings. The clerk notes down your selections and goes to the storage room to find your records, telling you which ones are available and out of stock. That's how you got 5 inches worth of Melodyias in 1972
If it was the first recording it was Maxim's.
David Lynch used this symphony as inspiration while writing Blue Velvet.
Interesting. He played the first movement of the 11th to the composer of the music for Dune, as an example of what he wanted.
Great symphony, nice choices. The Sanderling is a new one on me, and will haunt me for days. Incredible! I will admit, however, that my musical OCD is triggered each time I hear the Rossini quotes in the first movement -- one note is wrong! Compare the original and the quote and you'll hear it.
The 15th has always been one of my favorite Shostakovich works starting with Maksim Shostakovich on LP and then Haitink on cassette (though I never found it as interesting as Maksim’s. Just too serious for me!) On CD I alternate between Ormandy and Jarvi, but also like a BBC Music cover disc with Vassily Sinaisky and the BBC Phil that is a bit slower and darker than those and very well played. Among Shostakovich’s “borrowings” I wonder if he intentionally begins the passacaglia in the fourth movement with the fifths and octaves of Haydn’s 104.
No. It's a coincidence.
Thanks. I didn’t know, but when I hear that theme I always think of the beginning of Haydn’s last symphony.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a video about best representations of death in orchestral music? Or maybe best music for the post-apocalypse.
@@davidbo8400 you took some time there for hating, huh. Launch the Polaris!
@@tatoarg9508 No hate here, just having fun for a couple minutes. Thanks for the opportunity!
The 15th is my Shostakovich favourite symphony. I just love it (the 14th goes just behind, so I guess I'm a very tragic guy, after all).
But I have a question for you, David. In your talks, every time you have mentioned Maxim's Prag cycle, you have praised it, but there have not been many of these recordings in your best versions videos, neither you mentioned it in the best complete cycles talk, if I remember well. So I'd like to know what do you think about this cycle (which I really quite like)?
And as always, thanks for your channel.
Check out my review on ClassicsToday.com.
@@DavesClassicalGuide , much thanks. I hadn't noticed it.
@@josecarmona9168 Maxim also recorded some of the symphonies with the LSO for Collins.
@@ThreadBomb , I know, but I have never found them available. Thank you for telling, nevertheless 🙂
How about Maxim Shostakovitch's (presumably) later recording on Collins Classics with the LSO? It is any better or worse than his other two?
I think the Collins recordings were earlier. I like them a lot, but haven't heard the Supraphon set. I have heard that the orchestra and recording are not always the best.
@@ThreadBomb I can attest that the Collins recording is quite good on both sonic & interpretative fronts. It was recorded in August 1990; and yes it *_is_* earlier. than the one on Supraphon with the PSO, which dates from 2006.
This symphony has always been a tough one for me. The first movement reminds me of Haydn's musical jokes and then comes that dark, even depressing, second movement. The last movement even sounds creepy. So I prefer interpretaions on the quicker side. I just finished K. Sanderling's. It's lunch time now, but I feel llke it's midnight.
Yes, it does that, wonderfully.
…Sanderling did it three times - once live with Berliner Philharmoniker - it is in my opinion even better then his famous BSO one - but it’s just my opinion
I'm talking about studio recordings. If you include live airchecks, he did it 14,874.8 times.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I get it😉I also like 132 -one 😉
I think is it a studio recording as well
@@ilyamoshkov6536 it is a live recording from March 16,1999
But Dave, that would bring a whole new complication in our world. A lot of today's recordings are made out of several live concerts recorded and then mixed to be released. Are they on a different league? Umm....