Shostakovich Sanderling

Beethoven’s final symphony was also the first in the history of music to go beyond the scope of purely instrumental music and open itself up to the human voice. Conceived in several stages between 1817 and 1824, his D minor Symphony op.125 enlists the services of a choir and four vocal soloists in its final movement, effectively becoming a cantata. With its setting of Schiller’s Ode to Joy from 1785, it conjures up a dream of humans coexisting in peace – assuming that foes can become brothers. Beethoven’s own contemporaries believed that his Ninth Symphony represented the ne plus ultra of symphonic music and that the genre’s traditional parameters had been definitively exhausted with this work, whereas in fact the Ninth marks the beginning of a new symphonic age, providing the impetus for a whole series of unorthodox successors from Berlioz and Liszt to Mahler and Shostakovich.

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphony 11
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,62 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,07 GB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-036 | Country/Year: Germany 2005 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Beautiful, full rich string sound, and great sound overall. I is fantastic. II is slightly slower than I prefer (about 4'30"), but Kitajenko does very well with it, sustaining tension throughout. III is terrific; you can hear and feel the soft percussion toward the end. IV again has a slightly slower basic tempo than usual, but tension is sustained throughout, and the playing responsive." ~sa-cd.net

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphony 12
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,32 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 703 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-037 | Country/Year: Germany 2005 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Full and rich start. Slight transient noise from left front in first movement, about 3 minutes in. Horns at start of IV lack a little nobility, but otherwise performance is excellent throughout; timpani in IV, starting about 6'20", are thunderous." ~sa-cd.net

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphony 10
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,23 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 985 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-035 | Country/Year: Germany 2005 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Beautiful, full rich string sound, and great sound overall. I is fantastic. II is slightly slower than I prefer (about 4'30"), but Kitajenko does very well with it, sustaining tension throughout. III is terrific; you can hear and feel the soft percussion toward the end. IV again has a slightly slower basic tempo than usual, but tension is sustained throughout, and the playing responsive." ~SA-CD.net

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphony 8
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 4,00 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,08 GB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-013 | Country/Year: Germany 2004 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Icy cold I. II and III are powerful. Rostropovich's recording also has great sound, and perhaps a little more character. Sanderling's stereo SA-CD is a very good performance but no competition sonically." ~SA-CD.net

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphonies 1-3
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,80 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 832 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-030 | Country/Year: Germany 2005
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Excellent performance and sound. Powerful trombone pedal tones in ii; piano sounds very naturally placed on the stage. Excellent timpani solo in iii. Coda of iv very exciting. Better than Fedoseev's performance/recording; I haven't heard Masur's yet." ~sa-cd.net

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Symphonies: Symphonies 2-5
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Dmitrij Kitajenko
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,87 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,14 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # SACD71-031 | Country/Year: Germany 2005
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century, Contemporary

"Amazing to hear this much detail in this densely polyphonic work. Factory siren overly centered but otherwise excellent sound. The orchestra holds back a little dynamically for the choral passages." ~SA-CD.net