Shostakovich Symphony No. 10

[MartinT]

Jerry and I have been playing Shossy 10ths and comparing notes, so I thought I'd start a thread about this one work.

On Saturday he brought around the Neemi Jarvi recording with the RSNO on Chandos. We played the 2nd movement Allegro, the one about Stalin. I think in just over four minutes Shostakovich poured every possible emotion into what he thought of his erstwhile leader and it really shows. Talk about pinning us to the wall!

I have never heard a more fiery rendition, quite, quite stunning in fact. So tonight I went through my collection of 10ths in an attempt to match it. The best I have is the Andre Previn / LSO dating from 1983, and it is also one hell of a performance. He doesn't quite reach Jarvi's red hot delivery, but boy it's close. I have always liked Previn as a conductor of Shostakovich.

Other recordings I have are disappointing. I thought I had a Mravinsky but that's his 11th. I had hoped I had the Haitink but I have many others of his (and an absolutely stunning 13th) but not the 10th. So I've ordered the Jarvi.

Who else has a good version?

[guyhayton]

I like the RLPO, Vasily Petrenko recording that won the 2011 Gramophone awards.

Okay, I have seen him conduct it, so I might be biased... but it did win the award!

more info (http://www.liverpoolphil.com/4971/royal-liverpool-philharmonic-orchestra-recordings/shostakovichs-symphony-no-10.html)

[MartinT]

Listening to that clip, it sounds pretty well balanced. I shall investigate the review, thanks for the tip.

[jandl100]

Ah, Shosty 10 - one of my very fave pieces of music! :thumbsup:

Tragic, soulfully heart-rendingly beautiful, violently aggressive & angry; full of Russian passion.

Neeme Jarvi on Chandos remains my fave by far. He really captures the tragic tension and soul-searing anger that make the music so memorable. And the Chandos recording is demonstration class. -- The 10th is way the best of Jarvi's Shosty set, though, imo. (His 8th lacks tension and is very disappointing, and his 7th is limp, others OK but not top grade).

I bought Previn's LSO EMI recording on Martin's suggestion - and wonderful it is. It disappoints a bit in the "Stalin Allegro" when the tympani double thwacks come in around 3'30" are kind of limp and soft compared to Jarvi, where they have a real startle factor. The EMI recording is detailed and dynamic but a bit bright.

Karajan is bloody marvellous, too, in his 1982 digital recording - amazing, perhaps the best Karajan performance of anything that I've heard. (His earlier 1960's recording is a waste of shelf space, imo!) Soft tympani thwacks here, again, but there's a very different balance to the whole Stalin Allegro movement that works well. Yep, a great performance and a fine recording.

I also have David Oistrakh conducting the Berlin SO recorded in 1972. That's very fine, and captures the Russian feel of the piece to perfection. But you can hear that he was a violinist first and a conductor second - he doesn't really hold it together and the orchestra kind of plays itself some of the time. Interesting, though.

Rozhdestvensky is pretty good on Olympia, but succumbed to a clear-out a year or so back!

Petrenko on Naxos? I read the rave reviews and bought it along with his Shosty 8th.
I wasn't at all impressed with either of 'em. He seems to just skim through the score without any real feeling, to me. Reviews, eh!

Also a bit disappointing is Svetlanov with the USSR State SO on an ica classics CD. This was a very special event - recorded live at the Proms in 1968, just after the Soviet tanks had rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring. Boos and catcalls at the start in protest at the Soviet orchestra -- just amazing! But the performance doesn't really catch fire - not Svetlanov at his best, sadly.

I've owned loads of others over the years, but it's Jarvi, Karajan 1982 and Previn for me. :)

[MartinT]

Interestingly, I have just played the Previn and Haitink 13ths. The Haitink you heard at mine, Jerry, and I think you said "wow" at the end. Well, the Previn is up there with possibly a better bass soloist and very nearly the same intensity in In the Store as the Haitink. The recordings are 'house sound', with the Decca very dynamic and the EMI a little bright.

[jandl100]

Yep, I wowed Haitink's 13th. Very moving. When I got home I played my recording by Barshai - and that was damn good, too. Very 'present' recording of the bass soloist.

As we are diverging from the 10th - here's (possibly!) my fave recording of the 8th ....
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_czcoOhTYhxs/SbZ5voJq5XI/AAAAAAAAAYU/hHxsPK-ih1I/s320/previn+symphony+no.+8.jpg
Unusually, for 'late' Previn, it's taught and powerful, rather than sloppy and slow ...

[MartinT]

Also a bit disappointing is Svetlanov with the USSR State SO on an ica classics CD. This was a very special event - recorded live at the Proms in 1968, just after the Soviet tanks had rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring. Boos and catcalls at the start in protest at the Soviet orchestra -- just amazing! But the performance doesn't really catch fire - not Svetlanov at his best, sadly.

I'm very annoyed that I don't have more tenths. When I was in the Soviet Union in 1985 I found the Melodiya record store in Nevsky Prospect in Leningrad (as it was then named). You could not browse! There was a big counter and you had to ask a nice Russian girl for the records you wanted, which she then duly went and pulled from the expansive storage area.

Well, her English was about as good as my Russian. So I said "Tchaikovsky" and "Shostakovich" and after a while she understood and came back with a selection. I couldn't read most of it (I can, with a little time, pronounce cyrillic to make sense of the records now), so I chose by the numbers of the works I thought they were and by the orchestras. Ultimately, it was the weight to bring back home that prevented me from buying more, they only cost a few kopeks each. I love my special Russian LPs now and am very glad that I carried them home. Some have noisy surfaces but there are a few real gems, including performances by Mravinsky, Svetlanov and Rozhdestvensky. Sadly no 10th :(

[MartinT]

As we are diverging from the 10th - here's (possibly!) my fave recording of the 8th ....
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_czcoOhTYhxs/SbZ5voJq5XI/AAAAAAAAAYU/hHxsPK-ih1I/s320/previn+symphony+no.+8.jpg
Unusually, for 'late' Previn, it's taught and powerful, rather than sloppy and slow ...

I have the 1973 Previn and will play it later. I also have the Mravinsky and Haitink, with the latter (on Decca) being my favourite.

[jandl100]

Inspired by this thread, I've just now listened to the Barshai Shosty 10 on Brilliant Classics boxset - hey, pretty damn good, and excellent if slightly lightweight recording. There's real bite to the brass and good imaging, too.

You used to be able to pick up this bargain box really cheap, but I've just had a look and it's getting on for £20 or more now for the full set of Shosty symphonies on 11 CDs.
Still worth considering, though! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovich-Complete-Symphonies-Barshai/dp/B00005UW2D/ref=sr_1_21?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1350393948&sr=1-21

[WAD62]

Out of my depth a bit here chaps...;)

I have the 'Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic' from I think '95

Damned intense it is too, perhaps lacking in real bass, but that's what I find with classical orchestras in general

[JJack]

Nice to hear people appreciate our longtime conductor of the DSO, Neeme Jarvi.

I did the Shostakovich 13 with him in 1999. I've sung with the DSO many times, and Neeme is the nicest man, but there was fire in his eyes when we did the 13th. We were joined by the Estonian mens national chorus, and, well, let's just say that Shostakovich has a deep meaning to those men.

Incredibly moving and one of the great experiences of my life in any arena.

[MartinT]

When I was in the Soviet Union in 1985 I found the Melodiya record store in Nevsky Prospect in Leningrad (as it was then named). You could not browse! There was a big counter and you had to ask a nice Russian girl for the records you wanted, which she then duly went and pulled from the expansive storage area.

Sad to report, having just returned from St Petersburg, that the Melodiya store is no longer there. I hadn't really expected the record label store of the Soviets to still exist, but I still looked for it in vain. Nevsky Prospect is a fantastic street, full of all manner of shops (and more coffee shops than you could believe) and just a wonderful place to be. Sitting in a coffee shop and watching the world go by, their women put ours to shame. Their level of fashionable dress sense is high and there are so many slim, gorgeous young Russian women that I was quite taken aback. Luckily, so was Ruth so at least I didn't get elbowed for ogling. However, it is not rich in music shops. The best I could do was a musical instrument store that had CDs in rotating displays in the centre of the floor space. There I bought a disc of Shostakovich film and theatre scores, but that was all.

More successful were three discs of Russian folk and church acapella singing, quite staggeringly beautiful and very well recorded, bought in Yaroslavl.