Shostakovich 5 Symphony

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 in C minor Op. 65 –
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra; Yevgeny Mravinsky, conductor
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 269 Mb | FLAC+LOG+M3U+Cue | Scans | 3 RS links
Publisher: Philips 422 442-2

As would be expected of this conductor, Yevgeny Mravinksy leads a highly intense reading of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8.
–Victor Carr Jr

A decade after its debut performance of the Chamber Symphony Op. 110a by Dmitri Shostakovich (after whom the group is named), The Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross performs the composer's String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 and 10, re-worked as thrilling "Chamber Symphonies" for string orchestra by his pupil and advocate, Rudolf Barshai.

Though he was born on the Swedish island of Gotland, Englund settled in Helsinki, where he studied and later, after a spell of study in Tanglewood with Copland, taught. On returning home after his service on the front in 1945, he burned all his wartime manuscripts and sketches, and wrote this symphony, his first orchestral piece—and a remarkably accomplished piece it is! It became known in his native country as the War Symphony, though the composer characterized it as an expression of ''a euphoric joy at having—by a sheer miracle—come through four years of hell during the Second World War alive''. The musical language has more in common with Shostakovich than any other modern composer, but it is far from derivative. The idiom is accessible and there are memorable melodic ideas.

This extremely well played and vividly recorded disc offers an excellent overview of Shostakovich’s work as a film composer. More importantly, it relates his output in this much-maligned genre to his work in more “serious” music more clearly than does any other similarly focused collection. As such, it should be heard whole, for the total impression then becomes very much more than the sum of its parts, revealing how a great composer manages to write music that serves its admittedly utilitarian purpose while also remaining (mostly) true to himself.

Gergiev pairs Shostakovich's most popular symphony with one of his wittiest. The Fifth was a lifesaver for the composer, literally. He'd come under severe attack from Stalin and his minions over the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The Fifth was his response, a 1937 work of "socialist realism" glorifying "Soviet man." The subtext was quite different, the finale's numbing outburst of screaming brass and relentless drums implicitly damning the official line. But it's hardly a formulaic work, as its attractive melodies are clothed in typical Shostakovichian garb. Gergiev and the Kirov band capture the buildup of tension in the first movement, the sardonic nature of the Allegretto, and the grim Largo, as well as that ambiguous finale.

Composed against a cataclysmic backdrop of Stalinist oppression and the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is a deeply affecting poem of suffering. The composer described it as “an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war” and it contains some of the most terrifying music he ever wrote.

British Conductor Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez makes his debut recording for First Hand Records with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the 6th & 9th Symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich; two of the composer's more enigmatic and intimate works. The scale and breadth of the 6th Symphony's opening nocturnal Largo contrasted with the livelier and shorter 2nd and 3rd movements emphasises the work's unique form and place in the 20th century symphonic oeuvre.

Shostakovich's film music, and before that his incidental music for the stage, has gotten a bad rap as unadventurous music he wrote when he needed to ingratiate himself with the Communist regime. For some of it, the characterization rings true, but not for all of it, and these early works – one a set of stage incidental music and one a film score of 1935 – are delightful. Both are world premieres, although a suite from The Bedbug, Op. 19 was performed by Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra many years ago. It's a biting, bumptious, satirical work straight out of the highly creative early Soviet scene that Stalin brutally stamped out.

The prospect of hearing Alina Ibragimova in two of the most important concertos written for the violin is in itself irresistibly enticing, but Shostakovich aficionados will also welcome an opportunity to hear the rarely performed original opening to the Burlesque of No 1, subsequently made less fearsome for the soloist at the request of the work’s dedicatee, David Oistrakh.