A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8 (Evgeny Mravinsky)


Information

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
  1. Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65: 1. Adagio
  2. Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65: 2. Allegretto
  3. Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65: 3. Allegro non troppo
  4. Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65: 4. Largo
  5. Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65: 5. Allegretto

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Evgeny Mravinsky, conductor
Date: 1982
Label: Regis (orginal recorded by Philips)


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Mravinsky's live recording of the Eighth is of capital importance, since it was he who gave the work its premiere, and neither of his two previous recordings was ever issued in the West. It is a performance of extraordinary vehemence and power, vivid contrast and bitter intensity. The curdled woodwind dissonances and huge climaxes of the first movement are given a shocking force not simply by sheer volume but by a sense that the instruments are playing at the very limit of their powers: when close microphoning or a discreet tweak to the controls can so easily boost a fortissimo it is not often these days that we hear a clarinet or an oboe being played so loudly that it comes within a hairsbreadth of splitting the note. The fact that this is a concert performance increases one's respect for the risks taken: to expect trombones to play staccato at the furious tempo Mravinsky chooses for the second scherzo is really living dangerously, but they respond superbly, as do the belligerently precise trumpets not long afterwards. It was not necessary for the engineers to highlight the solo piccolo and clarinet in the passacaglia as they do, especially in a performance which sees as clearly as this one does that the real burden of emotion here lies in the strings, this is the one flaw on an outstanding reading of this movement.

Barshai's account is a bit less extreme: it has to be, in part, because his is audibly a smaller orchestra, and sheerly massive weight of cello and doubletone, for example is not available to him. He is more reticent than Mravinsky in the passacaglia (so are most conductors: none of those listed above makes as much of the molto espressivo climax in the second violins as Mravinsky does) and he chooses a more cautious, almost dapper tempo for the second scherzo. But his control of the first movement is remarkable even though he adopts a slower basic tempo than Mravinsky (closer to Shostakovich's marking, in fact) and the admirable sound of the CD transfer reveals a wider dynamic range and subtler handling of pianissimo than was apparent on the original LP.

Rozhdestvensky's version on Olympia/Conifer resembles Mravinsky's in many ways, in his hands the second scherzo is even more of an alternation of shrieks and explosions. He does not match Mravinsky's intensity in the passacaglia, however, and is let down by a recording with a fiercely glaring edge to it. Haitink's Decca performance remains my first choice: it is stunningly recorded the orchestral playing is superlative even by Mravinsky's standard (even in that ferocious second scherzo), the subdued poignancy of the passacaglia is in its way as affecting as Mravinsky's more overt emotion, and the climaxes of the first movement have nobility as well as vehemence, not least because their sound, for all its impact, is more refined. But for a recapturing of the appalling shock this work must have caused (the Russians were expecting a ''Victory Symphony'' from Shostakovich), Mravinsky's account demands to be heard: the Leningrad audience is struck dumb by it. A few platform noises aside the recording is excellent.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/shostakovich-symphony-no-8-3
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Shostakovich8_Regis_BBCL.htm
http://www.allmusic.com/album/shostakovich-symphony-no-8-1982-recording-mw0001856793
http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Symphony-Leningrad-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B000GPI27M
http://www.amazon.com/SHOSTAKOVICH-Symphony-No-Leningrad-Orchestra/dp/B005IY3B5O
http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Symphony-No-Op-65/dp/B00000E3VW

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dmitri Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Shostakovich's music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and (especially in his symphonies) by the post-Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich

***

Evgeny Mravinsky (4 June [O.S. 22 May] 1903 – 19 January 1988) was a Soviet-Russian conductor. He had made his debut as a conductor in 1931 with the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1938, Mravinsky became principal of the same orchestra and hold the post until his death in 1988. He gave world premieres of six symphonies by Shostakovich: numbers 5, 6, 8 (which Shostakovich dedicated to Mravinsky), 9, 10 and finally 12 in 1961. He also gave the premier of Prokofiev's 6th. He was mainly known for his interpretation of Russian symphonic music, but in fact his repertoire is quite large.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Mravinsky

--------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Possibility for a new link? Much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Free Access with Ads' / 'Get link'. Complete the steps / captchas if require.
    Guide for Linkvertise: 'Free Access with Ads' --> 'I'm interested' --> 'Search for ...' --> close the newly open tab/window, then wait for a few seconds --> 'Get Website'

    https://link-target.net/610926/shostakovich-8-mravinsky
    or
    https://uii.io/NLjTH
    or
    https://exe.io/ML48mUr

    ReplyDelete