Favourite Shostakovich Symphony

[frederic]

Okay i know this really has nothing to do with piano, but it is still repertoire.
For some time now, i've been dying to get hold of Leonard Bernstein's version of this symphony. I heard a bit of it on "The Art of Conducting" and i was just totally blown away by the cracking pace he took the Finale.
It has proven a huge challenge for me to get hold of this recording, and now i am close to giving up.
My question is, if anybody here is familiar with the symphony and/or Bernstein's version of it, would you have any idea whether any other conductors have a similar kind of interpretation of the last movement?
All the recordings I've heard are SO slow (maybe it seems slow to me because the first time i heard it was the Berstein's) and i really want a recording which is like Berstein's.

[frederic]

Okay to prevent this thread from dying, I have opened it up a bit more.
What is your favourite Symphony by Shostakovich?

[JCarey]

#5 

[sharon_f]

#5. My fave also.

[mrchops10]

Actually, mine's number 8. It's a kind of antithesis to 5, the most personal and least "formal" of all his symphonies. Instead of the fierce irony of 5 (I'll say imo to prevent a fight, but I'm pretty sure about this), we are let into a completely unique sound-world where the orchestra is divided into blocks modulate amongst themselves for minutes at a time. Instead of the horrifying D major chords at the end of 5, we are given a sort of catharsis, a profound inward peace. 5 seems to defeat itself, imo, because if the world really is an insurmountable as that symphony argues, what is the point of writing symphonies at all? That said, it's still a pretty amazing piece. All the rest, too.

[apion]

#5 > #10 > #8

[mlsmithz]

Can't help you with the Bernsteinesque recording, I'm afraid.  As for favourite Shostakovich symphony.... hm.  That's a difficult one.  My three favourites are Nos.1, 9 (the epitome, if not necessarily the apex, of Shostakovich sarcasm), and 10 (that terrifying second movement certainly sticks with you, doesn't it?), but I'd be hard-pressed to name a favourite of those three.

[mikey6]

I LOVE 7 - the march scared the bejesus out of me at one point. 8's pretty scary to.  1's fun, although the piano part is freakin awkward!!

[musik_man]

I LOVE 7 - the march scared the bejesus out of me at one point. 8's pretty scary to.  1's fun, although the piano part is freakin awkward!!

For some odd reason, I just can't see how anyone takes the march from the 7th as scary.  It sounds almost happy to me.  I love it and all, but it just isn't threatening.

[mikey6]

maybe it's an adrenelin thing - at the final stages of the march where the brass start flutter tonguing and the 'soldiers are coming'. - it's pretty powerful s**t! especially under the circumstances it was written when soldiers really were coming!
To contradict that, I read an interview with Ashkenazy where he said he didn't think it was of hi most powerful works, but then again he said he was never gonna record shostakovich!!

[sevencircles]

no. 10 is my favorite.

Listened to Karel Ancerl´s version from the 50.s on Deutche Gramophone a while ago.

How the hell could the horns play that fast?

I couldn´t hear them very clearly  but Ancerl´s tempo  was so fast that only the best hornplayers in the world could keep up with him.

[tolkien]

In no particular preference order, nos. 1, 5, 7, 10 and 11.

[frederic]

Has anyone heard Bernstein's 5th? Apparently it caused a lot of controversy. How the finale was taken too fast which killed the original intention. But Shostakovich liked it so hey, who should complain?

[prometheus]

Yeah, Bernstein was a hack of a conductor.

[BoliverAllmon]

5 and 15

[frederic]

I LOVE 7 - the march scared the bejesus out of me at one point. 8's pretty scary to.  1's fun, although the piano part is freakin awkward!!

Sorry, which movement is this march?


Okay I shall challenge your brains here a bit.
You've all seen "The Art of Piano" right?
Well you know that scene, straight after Vasary (i think thats how you spell it) explains how Fischer said something about " a luggage full of wrong notes", it cuts to a scene in black and white showing a close up of a chain, then you see a gate opening and Russian Soldiers marching, and then buildings being bombed.
Now, can anybody tell me what the music in the background is? Is it from a Shostakovich Symphony? Sounds very much like it.
And you may remember, straight after this, you see Gilels performing Rachmaninoff's Gminor prelude to soldiers outdoors.

[jehangircama]

where can i get an mp3 of any of them? or which are the good recordings easily available in CD format? thanks

[BoliverAllmon]

Sorry, which movement is this march?


Okay I shall challenge your brains here a bit.
You've all seen "The Art of Piano" right?
Well you know that scene, straight after Vasary (i think thats how you spell it) explains how Fischer said something about " a luggage full of wrong notes", it cuts to a scene in black and white showing a close up of a chain, then you see a gate opening and Russian Soldiers marching, and then buildings being bombed.
Now, can anybody tell me what the music in the background is? Is it from a Shostakovich Symphony? Sounds very much like it.
And you may remember, straight after this, you see Gilels performing Rachmaninoff's Gminor prelude to soldiers outdoors.

I think it is a movie that shostakovich wrote music to. I think Battleship Potempkin. I could be wrong though. I could be way wrong. I am trying to retrieve all of this from memory.

[cherub_rocker1979]

I love the Chamber Symphony in C minor (from String Quartet No.

[mikey6]

Sorry, which movement is this march?

the 1st movement - if you VERY broadly describe it in ternary form  - it's the central section made up of variations.  (where the snare drum starts)