Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Performances and recordings of Shostakovich's wartime Symphony No. 7 ("Leningrad") are rare. Its length makes it difficult to program, and that it is hard for conductors to organize does not make it any easier for audiences to understand. It may seem strange, therefore, that Yuri Temirkanov's performance with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic is perhaps the finest modern performance of this work. With the possible exception of Leonard Bernstein's account with the Chicago Symphony, Temirkanov's is the longest ever recorded. But, where Bernstein's drags--particularly in the march section of the first movement--Temirkanov's never lets up. More than any other living conductor in this kind of repertory, Temirkanov can suggest the illusion of spontaneity: his widely fluctuating tempos breathe naturally and keep the ear in a state of perpetual expectation. There is tremendous note-to-note tensile strength in the massive first movement; humor tinged with melancholy in the shorter second movement; unflagging drama and intensity in the hushed, expansive third movement; and fervor and ferocity, culminating in a hair-raising coda, conveying the otherwise rambling finale with a sense of prophetic urgency. --Stephen Wigler

Tracks:

Brandenburg Concerto No.2, BWV 1047: III. Allegro assai
Birthday Ode For Queen Anne: Eternal Source Of Light Divine
Concerto For 2 Trumpets In C Major, RV 537: 1. Allegro
The Prince Of Denmark March
Canzon V
First Symphonic Suite: Rondeau
Trumpet Tune 'Martial Air': Martial Air
Trumpet Concerto In E-Flat Major: III. Finale. Allegro
Sonata a 9 zu der Kayserlichen Serenade
Voluntary In C Major
Trumpet Concerto In E-Flat Major: II. Andante
Trumpet Concerto In E-Flat Major: III. Rondo
Pictures At An Exhibition: Promenade
Petrushka: Dance Of The Ballerina & Waltz
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30: Introduction
Lieutenant Kije: Symphonic Suite, Op. 60: Kije's Wedding
Hary Janos Suite: Entrance Of The Emperor & His Court
Swan Lake, Op. 20: Naepolitan Dance (Act III) - Tchaikovsky
Rondo For Lifey
Concerto No. 1 For Piano, Trumpet & String Orchestra, Op. 35: IV. Allegro con brio
Tsar Saltan: Flight Of The Bumblebee
The Three Aces - Clarke
A Bugler's Holiday
Variations On The Carnival Of Venice

Customer Reviews:

It was faulty on the last title to be played The Carnival of Venice.......2007-06-01

I returned this to New Castle. Box 15550. I have heard nothing. The date of the return was 15/05/07 from my Throop postoffice in Dorset. I sent it recorded delivery. Over to you. There was nothing on the return screen to explain the fault. ie faulty track. So after many attempts to get intouch I sent it to the address on the paper inside the parcel. Please help.
I am a Grandmother so I am over 13 ???

Awesome Collection!.......2006-07-04

As a young boy I would play my trumpet from my father's old Arban's method book. My private trumpet teacher (Mr. Bonfield) would love to play duets with me from the Merchant of Venice. One day I heard Wynoton Marsailas play a a flawless rendition of The Merchant of Venice on my local clasical radio station. It was flawless and brought back many fond memories of studiying the trumpet as a youngster with my beloved teacher. This collection contains that rendition and a wide selecton of clasical trumpet pieces. You may not recognize every song, but you will enjoy the high quality of the music and artists on this CD. Anyone looking for an introduction to quality, classical, trumpet music should buy this CD. The price also makes this an affordable must for any true trumpet fan.

A Wonderful Collection.......2004-01-26

This is a splendid anthology of music. Traditional Baroque and orchestral pieces up front, and a few surprises nearer the end. A splendid work. The price makes it a steal. Add it to your cart. You will not be sorry. There is technical excellence - peace in some of the songs and real energy in others.

Wonderful edition to your trumpet collection........2003-10-21

Trumpet fans should all own this album, that is if they don't already own all of the pieces on here on separate recordings (it would take a while to obtain them all). This recording features a bunch of great classical trumpeters and innovators such as Armando Ghitalla, Phil Smith, Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, H.L. Clarke, Ron Romm, Charles Schleuter, William Vacchiano, and more. Great performances of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2", the Haydn and Hummel Concertos, Wynton's excellent performance of J.B. Arban's "The Carnival Of Venice", the New England Brass Ensemble performing "Trumpet Voluntary", a very good job done by a Baroque Orchestra of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets, "The Three Aces" played by H.L. Clarke, and Leroy Anderson's classic "A Bugler's Holiday".

Overall this is a great listen to some of the best trumpet players of all-time in this idiom. All of the pieces are impeccably played by some of the best. I didn't discover this tape in my collection until recently, and boy I'm glad I did.

Quite the CD.......2001-04-17

If I were you, I would buy this CD. It is a diverse collection of amazing performances of quintessential pieces - an important addition to any classical music fan's collection. Heck, even if you're not big on classical music (or trumpet music or brass music or music at all) you should purchase this compact disc.

And comrades, let me say that you can't call yourself a member of the human race until you've heard Wynton Marsalis' performance of JB Arban's "Variations of Carnival of Venice." It's literally perfect. Buy this today.

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7
Average customer rating:

A must have.

A fantastic Performance...

You Should Have Been There!

Once and never more.

The only pairing of Bernstein and the CSO, in good performances

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000001GB2
Release Date: 1989-10-20

Tracks:

No. 1 Op. 10; 1. Allegretto - Allegro non troppo
2. Allegro - Meno mosso - Allegro - Meno mosso
3. Lento - Largo - [Lento] (attacca:)
4. Allegro molto - Lento - Allegro molto - Meno mosso - Allegro molto - Molto meno mosso - Adagio
No. 7, Op. 60

Tracks:

No. 7, Op. 60
3. Adagio (attacca:)
4. Allegro non troppo

Amazon.com essential recording

One of the most thrilling musical experiences of my life was seeing Leonard Bernstein and the Chicago Symphony play Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony live. As Bernstein wrung every last ounce of pathos from the slow movement, I found it incredible that anyone could ever have thought this less than great music. The ending was so loud you could hardly even hear the cymbals! Happily, every bit of that experience--including the full dynamic range--has been captured on this recording, along with a terrific First Symphony. This is one of the great ones. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

A must have........2007-02-02

While I must admit that this is the only recording I've heard of Shosty's 7th symphony, I can't imagine a more impressive performance. Seriously, this might be the greatest brass playing ever...ever! I highly recommend this recording!

A fantastic Performance..........2007-02-02

Up until I heard the live performance of Berstein and the CSO playing the Shostakovich 7th, I had not been a fan of Bernstein, especially because of his NYPO recording of the Shostakovich 5. However, I was so completely taken aback by the live performance of the 7th, that as soon as I could, I purchased the CD set. The 7th is a seemingly overgrown work, too overt and cumbersome, (think of Bartok making fun of it in his Concerto for Orchestra) yet it delivers an emotional jolt that makes one want to stand up and cheer. This Berstein recording got me back onto his side in 1989. It is sad that he had so little time left, however.

You Should Have Been There!.......2006-03-10

Yes, this "Leningrad" does indeed rate five stars, as most, if not all other writers here have given it. Despite some distortion in the louder passages, this recording certainly is a classic document. (I like Bernstein's 1962 recording on Columbia as well, but this simply has more impact.) One reviewer asked how the brass section did what they did. Having had the honor of being at this performance, I can tell you: the already world class regular section was augmented by extra players. If you think the finale is loud on the CD, you should have heard it when it was taking place!

I must correct one writer who said these performances were done in Medinah Temple in Chicago. They were both done in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, the First Symphony recorded without the audience, the Seventh done live. I was privileged to have been there. I'll never forget it!!

Once and never more........2006-02-01

This is the only recording, as far as I know, Leonard Bernstein did with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a group of players with a very long tradition in the American music and with a great technical playing good enough to play quite all the repertoires.

Like in the case of his Mahler's 9 with Berlin, Bernstein only recording with this orchestra is a miracle that happens once and never more, because of many reasons, the first one because this is a live recording in the Medinah Temple and the emotions felt in this CD could not happen again.

I always thought Chicago is a very appropriate orchestra to play DSCH's music, because of the characteristics of the orchestra and of Shostakovich's music, very hard and very sensitive at the same time. One of the symphonies it's better to this couple DSCH & CSO is the 7th that it's not the most complex between DSCH's works, from the technical and musical point of view, but that demands a great and powerful orchestral response, something you can listen perfectly in this amazing recording, in which CSO gives his best, with a baton that understand very well the score, as far as he can... I think no one could understand completely the meaning of the Leningrad not being in the place of the siege or in the scenario described in the double-program of the symphony, probably linked to the oppression Stalin made with his politics to the pre-communist life of Saint Petersburg. I remember Goethe's words, when he said that reading a book is more complex than reading a book. Of course good Goethe talked about understanding a work, and Lenny, even not living that situation gives us a description of the fears, sadness, oppression, etc, really convincing from the very first bar.

Symphony Nº1 is a piece from DSCH's conservatoire years, from 1926, when the composer was only 19 years old and he was suffering a very disturbing economical situation, after his father's death and in the poor CCCP after the Revolution and the Civil War. It's known DSCH had to work in a cinema, under very hard conditions to eat, and that Glazunov took care of having some official assistance for his conservatoire pupil in order to Dimitri gave attention only to composer. The piece is not a great work like symphonies 5, 7, 8, 10, 13... but it shows some details and the personality of the maestro clearly. It was a great success from the same premiere and it made appear Shostakovich as the emergent figure of the new soviet composers, formed in the communist conservatoire... That was what the regime said, because in fact Leningrad conservatoire was mainly what it was before communist regime.

Leonard Bernstein performance of this symphony is a glory from all the points of view, perfectly played and recorded, the piece is fresh, full of tension and emotion, and even that parts not so fine orchestrated shine with real genius. The fourth and final movement is specially outstanding and the way the symphony ends is so good that sometimes I repeat the last minute when it finish. I really don't know any other version played with this very deep conviction on CD.

Seventh Symphony "Leningrad" is OUTSTANDING too, in every movement the orchestral playing and Lenny's conducting is breathtaking. The gigantic crescendo of the first movement is really a monument in the way Lenny control the dynamics perfectly, having an end that is really impossible to repeat, with the scales of the metals and drums full of terror, like watching the face of the death in front of you, in front of the city.

Central movements are wonderfully described too, the dynamics and the control of the tempo is amazing, as we listen in the second movement, a clear example of alternation between fortissimos and pianissimos, as between an atmosphere were everything is like suspended in fears and moments of pain.

The last movement is another Bernstein's `show', because of the way he proclaims the victory of the initial motif, which we could say is not completely affirmed in order to create that two-senses possibilities in the symphony reading. From the very dark beginning of the movement Lenny creates a crescendo that finally leads an explosion in the last bars, outstanding one more time.

The recording is fine, very present, full of body and not so clean like his recordings with Vienna in the 80's (I think about his DSCH's 6 & 9, for example), but it worth very, VERY, very much.

I could not say this is the only possible version, as I read in other reviews. I know about 5 or 6 performances (Rostropovich, Jansons, Haitink, Barshai...), apart from some others life, and of course this is the one I like much more, but not the only possibility, I try to discover always new ways in art, specially in music performances. Jansons' version in EMI is very good too, and we can not forget DSCH music always use to ask for the soviet performances, which are a very different way of understanding the works generally. Kondrashin or Rozhdestvensky shows another ways too.

Nowadays you can buy this 1st and 7th in this double top price CD or in a very interesting 6CDs box which contains Bernstein performances of DSCH's symphonies 6th and 9th with the Wiener Philharmoniker for not to be missed. That 6CDs box offers too his recordings of Stravinsky for DG. I have all of them and I think it worth too, but you remember the best thing in that box are DSCH's performances.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

The only pairing of Bernstein and the CSO, in good performances.......2006-01-22

Bernstein was only 70 when he made this, his only recording with the Chicago Sym., but he was already debilitated and tired. Given his bad health, it's a wonder that these performances of the Shostakovich First and Seventh Sym. are as vital as they are. From anyone else, I would give the Seventh five stars. It is a galvanzing reading captured in great sound. But Bernstein's first Seventh, made in 1962 with the NY Phil., was a miracle of spontaneous, totally committed music-making. If you want maximum sonic impact, buy this CSO recording instead, but get it in the new bargain box from DG that contains all of Bernstein's later Stravinsky and Shostakovich recordings. The latest remastering is impeccable throughout.

Paying full price for this 2-CD set would hurt less if the Sym. #1 were better. I find it lacking in mood and color; it sounds very well played and nicely detailed but little more. When it was over I felt neutral, whereas the earlier NY Phil. version is quirky and digs in more. Again, the sonics are excellent, far better than before.

Average customer rating:

Haitink or Gergiev in the Leningrad Sym.?
FORGET LENINGRAD
Compelling and Magnificent !
More Than a Patriotic Poster
Fine Recording of a Musical Monument

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000IP39
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Tracks:

Symphony No.7 In C Major, Op.60 'Leningrad': I. Allegretto
Symphony No.7 In C Major, Op.60 'Leningrad': II. Moderato (poco allegretto)
Symphony No.7 In C Major, Op.60 'Leningrad': III. Adagio
Symphony No.7 In C Major, Op.60 'Leningrad': IV. Allegro non troppo

Customer Reviews:

Haitink or Gergiev in the Leningrad Sym.?.......2005-10-05

Some reviewers question whether the Shostakovich Sym. #7 is genuinely about the siege of Leningrad or a piece of pure music that fell into the lap of history. It gained its fame as a heroic war symphony and quickly lost popularity when the West stopped viewing the Soviet Union as an ally. I was excited by Leonard Bernstein's revival of the piece with the NY Phil. and then barely paid attention to it for thirty years.

But recently I went back to compare this twenty-year-old Haitink reading with the London Phil. (not the Concertgebouw--he alternated between the two orchestras for his Shostakovich cycle) and the recent Gergiev account with the Kirov Orch. on Philips. I expected Gergiev to excel on all counts, but there were surprising differences. First, the sound. Haitink is given wide-ranging, colorful sound that's fairly bright. Gergiev is given more distant, slightly cramped, duller sound. That's disappointing in the age of SACD.

As to timings, both conductors tend to pace deliberately. Haitink takes almost 29 min. in the first movement as compared to Gergiev's 27 min. What surprised me is that in the infamous jolly little march, which sounds best if taken satirically or at least with a snarl, Gergiev is carefree, setting aside any reference to invading Nazis on the march. Haitink is rather neutral; neither tries to make the music menacing or premonitory.

Haitink takes the quasi-Scherzo second movement a minute and a half faster than Gergiev, but that's enough to give his version a greater sense of urgency. At this point it would seem that Haitink will be better overall, but suddenly the woddwinds in the third movement cry out with real pain and panic under Gergiev, while Haitink is so neutral you muse about how the chords resemble Stravinsky. Just to confuse matters, Haitink's finale exhibits more fierceness in the allegro, where Gergiev seems to lose steam.

The Seventh is a problematic work, and I sympathize with any conductor who tires, as he must, to make it convincing all the way through. In this case, Haitink's version, which always seemed a bit neutral to me, is actually more exciting than Gergiev's. An unexpected result given how masterful Gergiev can be in Shostakovich's music.

FORGET LENINGRAD.......2003-07-09

This is the symphony made for CD. At nearly 80 minutes' worth the gaps between the movements are minimal, indeed there is none at all between the last two, but they managed it, and I detect no loss of sound quality such as used to accompany this sort of shoehorning in the LP days. The virtues of the performance are those of the others in this series that I have so far heard - big-scale, serious-minded interpretations, sensitivity to the mood-swings that are so characteristic of this composer, and impeccable orchestral work.

Probably no purely instrumental symphony by Shostakovich has given rise to so much extra-musical comment, but to my mind it can all be dispensed with. I am not troubled, or even visited, by thoughts of heroic workers, the sufferings of the people of Leningrad or the composer's uneasy relationship with the authorities when I hear it. And while it is certainly not unalloyed `absolute' music in the sense that Brahms's symphonies are that, the extent of the extra-musical expression imposed on it by its creator is not much more than one normally finds in Beethoven. The influence of Mahler on this work seems to me to be strong, not least on its expansiveness. The adagio alone is as long as many a Haydn symphony, and the first movement takes as long as Beethoven usually takes over all four, so music-lovers new to the work are counselled to listen in a more Mahler-oriented frame of receptivity. The resemblance to Mahler extends, in this symphony, even to the tone of voice that this chameleon among 20th century composers elects to adopt for the occasion, and it comes through most strongly and consistently, for me, in the slow movement.

If the first movement does not give you some problems I can only say it ought to. An enormous amount of the movement is taken up with a long series of repetitions of a single phrase with the orchestration building up over a long crescendo in a manner recalling Ravel's Bolero, a resemblance that cannot conceivably be accidental. I maintain, in the face of any orthodoxy to the contrary, that this sequence has absolutely no musical merit whatsoever. The theme itself is trivial and ridiculous, justly parodied by Bartok in the intermezzo interotto of the concerto for orchestra; and while Shostakovich is a thorough master of orchestral sound, I can't hear him as an absolute wizard in that department in the sense that Ravel is, or, come to that, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky, Strauss, Elgar or Walton.

Understandably enough, this symphony, written in 1941, was pressed into service with the patriotic spin-machine. The composer himself wrote a lengthy and dutiful commentary in furtherance of the its role as an ideological statement. However when the pressure came off he let out that he had planned it before the war. Depending on how you wish to take this intermediate version, it may in some sense be expressing anguish at the treatment of Leningrad by his own government. However there is a further twist, and there appears also to be some connexion with the Psalms. One approach to this music is to root deeply into these counter-indicative clues. The one I prefer is to ignore them altogether. Much (not all) of the first movement notwithstanding, this is music of major significance, intelligible and imposing without external references.

Compelling and Magnificent !.......2003-01-27

For me, the Seventh is the sovereign of the Shostakovich symphonies. I am mesmerized by its sometimes stark dignity and grandeur. Haitink marvelously reveals these qualities, as evidenced particularly in his journey through the adagio. Listen to the purity of expression he draws from the strings, and with it, at times, an aching, flowing, singing musical line. Also, in the opening movement, with its recurring march tune theme, he conveys an impression of rock steady command, and there's the poignant evocation towards the movement's close. A quiet sense of mystery carries into the final movement, where soon things become more visceral and immediate. Throughout, Haitink stays ably committed to the music's outspokenness, with its colorful and kaleidoscopic declarations and subtleties. As the final portions unfold he projects a compelling seriousness and ultimately, with cumulative power, an intense feeling of stateliness...The London Philharmonic plays gloriously. In both interpretation and sound, this is an A-1 disc.

More Than a Patriotic Poster.......2002-08-09

Shostakovitch's 7th symphony has always been a victim of it's dramatic myth and early success. Written during the siege of Leningrad in WWII and smuggled out of the city, the symphony was embraced by the Allies during the war and conducted to great acclaim by Toscanini. After the war, however, as the Cold War deepened, it was dismissed by many, even those who admired other works by the composer, as a piece of "social realist propaganda". It's a shame, because this work has greater depths than that label might suggest.

The 7th Symphony reveals it's wartime subject only in a few places, mostly in the first and second movements. Most obviously you have the famous "Theme and Variations" development, where Shostakovitch's seemingly innocuous first theme is gradually brutalized by the orchestra, leading to a shattering climax. And yet, most of the work is darker, less propaganda than lament. The third movement in particular seems gorgeously tragic.

The Haitink series with the Concertgebow is a wonderful Shostakovitch cycle, one that I aquired in it's last incarnation. Haitink is not usually a conductor that I think of as exciting, but he rises to Shostakovitch very well. (The composer seems to get the best out of a lot of mediocre conductors. Rostropovitch does Shostakovitch extremely well, even though most of the rest of his tenure with the National Symphony was unspectacular. Same holds true for Maxime Shostakovitch.) This CD would make a good choice for this wonderful symphony.

Fine Recording of a Musical Monument.......2002-07-09

The seventh (`Leningrad') symphony is a special case in all of music, but particularly in the twentieth century. I shall take the most unusual tack possible with this piece: I will concentrate principally on the music, and on this performance. A lot of the "news around the piece" gets in the way of the piece, indeed, for may of us, absolutely determines how we hear the piece. In a way, this is only perfectly natural, given the symphony's extraordinary circumstances. But I think we may gain a better understanding of the music itself, by a certain distance from the extra-musical discussion.

The first movement is a combination of a sonata-allegro design, and a loose set of variations on a repeated theme, very deliberately modeled on Ravel's "Boléro," which interrupts the sonata-design architecture.

The opening of the movement is earnest, even something heroic, in an unfeigned manner a little unusual for Shostakovich, whose "upbeat" music often takes sharply ironic turns; there are moments when you almost think, "Copland might have written such a passage." The second theme, beginning in the strings, then with an answer in the solo oboe & woodwinds, and the string choir which follows, is light and pastoral in character. And Haitink with the LSO brings this ease and grace out of the score with effortless simplicity.

Stopping here for just a moment, it is obvious that this piece stands in marked contrast to Shostakovich's three prior symphonies. This is music entirely different to the overwhelmingly tense and strident fourth symphony, to the melancholy introspection of the fifth symphony (whose "triumphant" finale, even, raises more questions than it solves), to the restless unease of the sixth. Whatever the external circumstances of the composer's life before and during the composition of the seventh symphony, he is saying something in this music here, which is in sharp contrast to the symphonies immediately preceding.

The first movement is one of the most difficult of Shostakovich's symphonic movements to bring off, musically; and the quasi-"Boléro" march interruption is the reason. It breaks in upon the sonata design, and then, it is (deliberately, there can be no question that this is every measure what Shostakovich wanted to do here) a little wooden-headed. The tune itself is simple, folksy, even a little carefree; in this way, it is entirely unlike the sensuous, yearning, arching tune of the Ravel "model." Like the "Boléro," though, the variations are not variations in the shape or make-up of the melody, but a process of evolving orchestration. There is a sense, really, in which Shostakovich `improves' upon Ravel's example, or accomplishes something very different, at least. The accumulating texture in the Ravel is essentially just a written-out crescendo (a modesty and simplicity of aim which is probably at the heart of Ravel's tongue-in-cheek, "I have written only one masterpiece, the "Boléro"; unfortunately, it contains no music"); where in the Shostakovich, the shifting orchestration alters the character of the melody.

The propaganda of wartime publicized this repeated march as the Nazi invasion of Russia, and siege of Leningrad (the famous "900 days"); while according to Shostakovich as Solomon Volkov reports in (the admittedly controversial) "Testimony," the symphony is not about the city that Hitler sought to destroy, but about the city which Stalin had crippled, and which Hitler "merely finished off." The simplistic "programmatic" view of the first symphony, then, has been to see Stalin's boots imprinted in this interruptive march. I think both that this is a little easy, and yet that there is something in it. The tune begins in perfectly beguiling innocence (indeed, it is so unassuming a melody, that Bartok savagely parodies it in his Concerto for Orchestra) ... in which it is hard to find any illustration of Stalin at all. And even when towards the end of the tune's transformation, it is blared out in the brasses, the tune does not strike me, strictly speaking, as an evil thing, but as a simple thing turned to evil use.

The second movement, Moderato (poco allegretto), begins in something of a Beethovenian vein; there is a combination of modesty, purpose and grace in the string opening, and in the solo oboe which enters to float above the strings. This movement in particular makes this symphony stand out in contrast to almost any other of Shostakovich's symphonic works, most of which have a scherzo, an entire movement in which Shostakovich uses his gift for affective rhythmic exaggeration. Some of his scherzi rage (in the tenth), some of them thumb their nose ("Humor" in the thirteenth), some dance on the edge, so that you wonder the dancer is intoxicated, or even in his right mind (the fifth and eighth). But we don't have an entire movement of this in the seventh symphony; and we have but a taste of it here in this second movement, when the Beethovenian/Tchaikovskian grace is intruded upon by a high-wailing clarinet, itself subsequently quieted by purposeful, martial brass. And these martial brasses also furnish a contrast to Shostakovich's other symphonies: in many other symphonic moments, the brass are a brute wall of menace (third movement of the fourth, first movement of the eighth, second movement of the tenth); but here (and in a manner richly consonant with the first movement) the brass are genuinely heroic, military in a noble sense. The strings take up the clarinet's wailing theme, but even so, the urgency of the wail is reduced, and we have begun the process of returning to the opening material; the breathy flutes and the bass clarinet are yet another example of Shostakovich's brilliant use of the orchestral pallette. It is even a kind of restoration, when the clarinet returns, in its "proper character," balanced and graceful.

Tracks:

Scherzo - Jeno Jando
Waltz In C# Minor - Peter Nagy
Song Without Words, Op.102, No.5 - Peter Nagy
'The Fountains Of The Villa D'Este' - Jeno Jando
Scherzo - Jeno Jando
'March To The Scaffold' - Pinchas Steinberg
Finale - Adrian Leaper
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Excerpt) - Adrian Leaper
The Moldau (exc) - Slovak PO/Barry Wordsworth
Final Movement Of Symphony No.9 'From The New World' - Stephen Gunzenhauser
'Bydlo' - Jeno Jando
'Flight Of The Bumblebee' - Balazs Szokolay
'Polovtsian Dances' - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Finale - Adrian Leaper
Finale - Takako Nishizaki
'Liebestod' - Johannes Wildner
Finale - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Intro To Also Sprach Zarathustra - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Uranus, The Magician - Adrian Leaper
'Jeux De Vagues' - Alexander Rahbari
'Sunrise' - Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Chorus
Adoration Of The Earth (Finale) - Alexander Rahbari
March From Love For Three Oranges Suite, Op.33: March - Andrew Mogrelia
Scherzo - Alexander Rahbari
Finale - Alexander Rahbari

The Essential Hyperion (Label Highlight Compilation)

Average customer rating:

A MUST BUY!!!
Great music, Excellent Value!
This truly is essential!

The Essential Hyperion (Label Highlight Compilation)
Henry Purcell , Charles Villiers Stanford , Sheppard, John , Haydn, Joseph , Satie, Erik , Schumann, Robert , and Shostakovich, Dmitri
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Essential Hyperion, Vol. 2
Glass Harmonica
Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op. 49 & Op. 66
Essential Purcell

ASIN: B000002ZDX
Release Date: 1995-02-13

Tracks:

Concerto For Two Trumpets, 1687: Allegro
Abdelazer: Rondeau
Who Can From Joy Refrain?: A Prince Of Glorious Race
The Morning: The Glitt'ring Sun
The Ephesian Matron, Or The Widow's Tears: Vaudeville
Magnificat In G
Libera Nos
Cantigas de amigo: My Love's Coming Home
My Lady, You Do Great Wrong
Locus iste
Symphony No 14 In A: Tempo di Minuetto
Symphony No 94 In G (The 'Surprise' Symphony): Finale
Gymnopedie No. 1: Gymnopedie No. 1 (Orchestrated By Debussy)
Liederkreis op. 39: Waldesgesprach
Album Leaf In Waltz Form
Prelude And Fugue In A, Op. 87, No. 7
Phil The Fluter's Ball
Piano Concerto In C Sharp Minor, Op. 30: Allegro
O salutaris hostia
Da quel sembiante, D. 688, No. 3
Sonata In G Minor, Op. 5, No. 5: Vivace
Clarinet Quartet No 1 In E Flat, Op. 2: Rondo
String Sextet In A, Op. 48: Furiant
Sherzo In A minor, Op. 81, No. 2
Come You, Mary, Op. 21, No. 2
Chorale Prelude 'Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g' mein'
Deus in adiutorium
Sortie In E Flat

Customer Reviews:

A MUST BUY!!!.......2001-03-03

If I had to choose one CD to spend a month locked in isolation with, this would be the one. Its varied but it flows well together. It's restive and soothing. The quality is beyond excellent!!! At the price, anyone is a fool not to own it, and give it lavishly as gifts. Its gorgeous, lush and fabulous! Everyone that hears it in our home, falls in love with it!

Great music, Excellent Value!.......2000-07-26

Rarely can one buy so much good music for so little. This compilation features almost 80 minutes of high quality music.

This truly is essential!.......1999-10-23

What a brilliant idea from one of our leading record companies! On this disc, they have assembled a programme of highlights from their vast collection of choral, vocal, orchestral, and solo instrumental music that is very satisfying. As with most CDs of this sort, it is a case of some tracks not appealing as much as others- I for instance am a lover of choral music so the gorgeous renditions of Stanford's "Magnificat" by St. Paul's Cathedral Choir or John Sheppard's divine motet "Libera Nos" by the Sixteen are obvious preferences of mine. However, whether you seek dyed-in-the-wool orchestral classics as Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, less familiar works performed by period artists (such as "'E irei Madr'a Vigo" by ancient Spanish composer Martin Codax), or snippets of breathtaking instrumental solos (such as the rousing performance of Lefebure-Wely's "Sortie in E flat" which is sadly only an excerpt), this disc is bound to have something on it for you. And all of it is finely recorded.

Super Artists on Super Audio, Vol. 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Average customer rating:

Super Artists on Super Audio, Vol. 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Channel Classics Nl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Super Artists on Super Audio
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Concord Jazz Sampler Vol.2
Stay in Tune with PentaTone [Hybrid SACD]

ASIN: B00027X3R8
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 [Hybrid SACD]

Average customer rating:

An outstanding 'Leningrad' Sym. from Jansons in concert

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Rco Live Holland
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Strauss: Ein Heldenleben [Hybrid SACD]
Poulenc: Gloria [Hybrid SACD]
Mahler Symphonies 1 & 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) / Klaus Tennstedt, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3; Poulenc: Organ Concerto; Barber: Toccata Festiva
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

ASIN: B000G2Y652
Release Date: 2006-08-08

Tracks:

Allegretto
Moderato (Poco Allegretto)
Adagio
Allegro Non Troppo

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding 'Leningrad' Sym. from Jansons in concert.......2007-02-18

This live reading of the "Leningrad" Sym. #7 of Shostakovich from Mariss Jansons is much stronger than his earlier studio version on EMI, which ironically enough was with the Leningrad Phil. Here his own orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw plays with great refinement and elegance, two qualities that might seem misplaced in a wartime symphony whose most famous feature is a long march about invading Nazis. But Jansons is out to erase memories of WW II in this music, substituting great care over detail and trying to find heartfelt expression in music often dismissed as second-drawer Shostakovich. For a sturm-und-drang reading one turns to various Russian accounts, along with Bernstein's two classics (one with the NY Phil. on Sony--my favorite--the other with the Chicago Sym. on DG) that take ful advantage of the symphony's blockbuster status. Jansons finds another way, and although I'm not fully persuaded that the Seventh isn't a bit junky and hollow, he makes as good a case for it as I've ever heard. This is by far his best Shostakovich recording after completing a less than thrilling complete symphony cycle for EMI.

Average customer rating:

Very Beautiful & Better than I Thought
The best of large group viola
Violins and 'celli. Who needs 'em??

The London Viola Sound

Manufacturer: Cala
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Six Cello Suites performed on viola
The London Violin Sound
A Portrait of the Viola
The Art of the Viola
Handel: Concerto in B/Walton: Viola Concerto/Williams: Flos Campi/Bach: Komm/Schubert: Litanei/Dvorak: Humoresque/Nev

ASIN: B00000FDJ5
Release Date: 2006-11-20

Tracks:

Porgy And Bess: It Ain't Necessarily So
Kiddush
Cherymushki: Galop
Slavonic Dance In E Minor
Arrival Platform Humlet
Pavane pour une infante defunte
War And Peace: Waltz
This Guy's In Love With You
Take The 'A' Train

Product Description

A most daring massed instrumental addition from Cala to the London Sound series. The London Viola Sound includes an extraordinary variety of pieces and styles, and features Rivka Golani whose impeccable technique has earned her the recognition as one of the greatest violists of all time. Bold programming is matched by fine arrangements by Julian Milone, in a landmark viola recording. From the intense driving force of 48 violas charging through Shostakovich's Galop from Cherymushki to the hypnotic wash of strings in Weill's Kiddush these are sublime performances whose sound simmers with emotional intensity.

Customer Reviews:

Very Beautiful & Better than I Thought.......2006-08-01

I bought this CD out of curiosity. A few dozen violas produce an immense breadth of sound. Add to this some high-level playing, plus a variety of pieces. A wonderful way to explore the instrument.

The best of large group viola.......2002-07-11

This is a most unique collection of works. The mellow but sonorous sound that is unique to the viola is amplified 48 times - nothing else does tribute to the viola like this recording. This is the BEST recording for viola that I've ever heard!

Violins and 'celli. Who needs 'em??.......1999-08-08

A delightful exercise in orchestration, this recording features 48 violas from the major London orchestras in numbers ranging from Gershwhin to Bacharach to Faure. With the exception of some percussion here and there, a harp and the occasional string bass, these selections are NOTHING but violas.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"

Average customer rating:

Great music, good performance, awful recording.
Comment
very intriguing performance!
the right background
From Leningrad To Washington

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"

Manufacturer: Apex
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Schostakowitsch: Symphonie No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93
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Symphony 11: The Year 1905

ASIN: B00005RC80
Release Date: 2002-07-16

Customer Reviews:

Great music, good performance, awful recording........2007-06-04

I bought this recording after listening to a live performance broadcast from the UNAM Philarmonic Orchestra (OFUNAM). I was moved by the powerful music and determined to get myself a copy of this symphony.

To my regret, I decided to buy this CD. As I mentioned earlier, the music is great and the performance is very good. Unfortunately, it is a very unbalanced recording volume-wise. You have to constantly juggle the volume to listen to some extremely low-volume parts being played and then immediately lower it to avoid deafness on the loud parts.

Seriously, I had to turn the volume up to 100% to listen to some parts, then lower it at least to 50% on other parts. Very annoying. It ruins what should be an excellent listening experience.

If you like this powerful symphony -and there are multiple reasons to enjoy it-, I recommend you get yourself another recording.

This is a cheap CD and -unfortunately- it shows.

Comment.......2007-01-06

Was surprised how much I liked it. The first movement reminds me of Ravel's "Bolero", but the theme does reappear all the way through. I'm surprised it is not thought of as opne of Shostakovich's top ones.

very intriguing performance!.......2006-04-17

With Rostropovich at the podium, it seems that any work of Shostakovich or any of his Russian predecessors for that matter, is rendered justice, or at least a very honest interpretation.

Obviously, as the longest of Shostakovich's symphonies, this one can either mesmerize or bore the listener to tears. With a first movement whose main premise is a march of bolero-style progression (and rather silly and vulgar thematic material), Rostropovich does well in bringing the underlying satire and sarcasm that pervades Shostakovich's writing.

This recording comes at a great bargain price; a definite must for any Shostakovich fan.

the right background.......2006-01-17

Shostakovich started writing this symphony in July 1941, shortly after Adolf Hitler had invaded his native country the Soviet Union.

Half a year later things had taken a disastrous turn. The Germans had advanced before the gates of Moscow. They were robbing, looting and killing everywhere. They burnt houses, leaving its inhabitants unsheltered to the mercy of the Russian winter. It was a catastrophy the Russians hadn't experienced since the Tartar invasions ages before.

A Western observer at the time, Alexander Werth, wrote: "The anger and resentment against the Germans, mixed with a feeling of infinite pity for the Russian people, for the Russian land, defiled by the invader, produced an emotional reaction of national pride and national injury which was extraordinarily well reflected in the literature and music of 1941 and the early part of 1942."

Well, Shostakovich' 7th symphony is such a reflection - doubtless an excellent one. Its music symbolizes Leningrad's (nowadays St. Petersburg) persistence to resist the German invador. Inspired by its architectural splendor, as well as by its status as the cradle of Lenin's Socialist Revolution from 1917, Leningrad refused to surrender. Being surrounded, without any light and heating in the midst of winter, its inhabitants died by the thousands of cold and starvation.

Understanding these shocking, tragical backgrounds make you appreciate Shostakovich' 7th symphony correctly. Seen from this angle, its reflective capacity can hardly be overestimated. All bedded in a masterly composed piece of classical music, fully testifying about Shostakovich' genius.

From Leningrad To Washington.......2004-12-12

The Seventh Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich, named "Leningrad" in honor of the city where the composer was holed up in 1941 during the Nazi invasion of Russia while composing the work, is almost certainly the longest and largest symphony ever created by a Russian composer to occupy a spot in the orchestral repertoire. In its 72-minute running time, it is a great affirmation of the Russian people and their triumph over the forces of Hitler's evil, minus the propaganda and threats that the composer often had to contend with at the hands of Stalin.

Of all the many recordings that this work has received, this one made by the legendary cellist-turned-conductor Mstislav Rostropovich is about as incisive as any. Rostropovich knew the composer very well, and it is that experience that he brings to this recording with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., whose music director he was from 1977 to 1995. Often considered "The Nation's Orchestra" because of its locale, the N.S.O. has often been overshadowed by its far more illustrious neighbors to the north in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Under Rostropovich's precise direction, however, the orchestra makes the "Leningrad" shine in all its power, fury, terror, and triumph. Hugely recommended for 20th century classical fans in general, and 20th century Russian music in particular.

Shostakovich - Symphony 7 "Leningrad" / Gergiev (Multichannel Hybrid SACD)

Average customer rating:

An emotionally riveting performance
wish I could put 0 stars...
OK, but nothing to get super excited about
One of the Better Ones
Gergiev knows his Shostakovich

Shostakovich - Symphony 7 "Leningrad" / Gergiev (Multichannel Hybrid SACD)

Manufacturer: Umvd Labels
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 [Hybrid SACD]
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 [Hybrid SACD]
Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" / Kaplan, Wiener Philharmoniker (Multichannel Hybrid SACD)
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 [Hybrid SACD with CD-ROM track of Mozart's Original Manuscript]
Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues [SACD]

ASIN: B00008UAFX
Release Date: 2003-08-12

Customer Reviews:

An emotionally riveting performance.......2006-06-18

First off, I'm surprised by the number of reviews posted for this performance by Gergiev of Shostakovich's 7th Symphony which rank it as a "good" or "poor" performance. Of course, I had to laugh at the reviewer who states that Gergiev does not know his Shostakovich! It takes real audacity for some common music lover to say something like that against a trained conductor, especially when said common music lover has probably never in his/her life seen the score for the piece of music he/she is listening. Of course, that's the problem with much of classical music, as I see it: the first interpretation we hear of any piece often sticks in our minds as the paradigm and all subsequent interpretations must live up to such lofty expectations. It's very rare to find a performance that completely removes that paradigm from its pedestal.

With this performance in particular, Gergiev has done a phenomenal thing by combining the Kirov Theater and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. By doing such, Gergiev is able to produce a very texturally thick and cohesive sound, but it's not so thick that it begins to resemble molasses: it's an enveloping thickness that immediately grabs your attention and does not let go until the grande finale. And boy, what a finale Shostakovich's 7th Symphony has! It's difficult not to pay attention to the whole of this symphony because Gergiev's interpretation of it, with two orchestras, is so spellbinding and so emotionally intensive that, even without knowing the details of the Siege of Leningrad, anxieties are raised, tears and wept, and patriotic cries are unleashed! [At least, that's what this interpretation did to me!]

I've heard other interpretations of Shostakovich's tribute to "Leningrad," and though I, too, have never seen the score for this excellent piece of music, I find this version to be absolutely superb. Other interpretations do tend to sound more dismal which definitely keeps with the spirit of the Siege of Leningrad, but where other pieces fall short in the pronunciation of the patriotic spirit which Shostakovich definitely wished to convey. As a Russian, Gergiev understands this patriotism a little better than other conductors and definitely conveys it with his interpretation, but that does not mean that Gerviev sacrifices the more solemn aspects of "Leningrad" for this patriotism. Quite the contrary, Gergiev strikes a clean balance between the two and does so fantastically! I've never heard such a balance in all my years! I'm definitely looking forward to Gergiev's other interpretations of Shostakovich's symphonies.

Definitely pick up a copy of this album.

wish I could put 0 stars..........2006-03-18

I first heard this piece in when I was in high school. I heard it live at Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Israel Phliharmonic was conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, I went to every performance during the week it was played (I had a friend that allowed me to sneak in).

Needless to say this is one of my favorite pieces.

I own the following recordings of this piece:
Bernstein with Chicago Symphony, Haitink with the London Philharmonic, Masur with New York Philharmonic and my favorite Ashkenazi with St Petersbug Phliharmonic. All of those recordings are excellent. There is an authorative feel of drama, pain, struggle. The context of these pieces is apparent, and the conductors in those recordings made sure to offer this piece as a complete work. The orchestras are also engaged and inspired by these Maestros. I highly recommend those recordings.

Words cannot describe the disappointment I had from this 2-Orchestras-for-the-price-of-one recording.
It is shallow, out of context, detached. An insult to the listener's intellegince, the only struggle Gergiev has through this piece is probably how to make more money with his grandiose, bloated productions.

There was only one good thing in this piece: the timpany first drum roll in the first movement. But thats it. Even the wind solos were unimpressive and unengaged. This is the sloppiest recording of this piece I have ever heard, the fact that it is a 200 people orchestra is no excuse (I heard double orchestra concerts, live, with no hick-ups what so ever), on the other hand this behemoth of ensemble surprisingly lacked punch at the orchestral climaxes.

Just stay away.

OK, but nothing to get super excited about.......2005-11-03

I have about 10 recordings of this symphony.

Despite having 2 orchestras, the sound level on this recording is far too low. The start of the invasion theme was TOTALLY inaudible with my open headphones and standard background noise around me!

People rave about the sound of the 2 orchestras, but it's not a super clear recording and TOO QUIET in places. Strings are far too weak in places in the 1st movement; can hardly hear them when you should (as in other recordings).

The side drum in the invasion theme is far too close. Ridiculously, when we get the first real tutti (with the swirling horns), the side drum drowns out the trombones and other heavy brass!!! It is quite interesting to hear the side drum clearly in the big tuttis, but I don't consider it an UPFRONT soloist in the huge climax!

The top of the climax (when the side drum stops at 16:51) has a big bad DECCELERANDO which is VERY eccentric, not in the score and WEAKENS the climax in my view. The best point which I love about this normally is that the side drum hammers relentlessly at the same tempo to its very last beat at the climax. This slow down is inauthentic and WRECKS it!

Gergiev DOES NOT know his Shostakovich -- conduct as the composer wanted it (and knew best), please!!!

Some positives: 4th movement, at 5:01 onwards, I like the clear trumpets, side drum and strings. The climax of main theme of this movement at 5:49 is nice and clear on woodwind (which is rare; very often obscured). But timpani sound a bit out of tune at very end of symphony.

The Bernstein/CSO/DG recording is heaps better overall and if you want big clear sound go for it -- nothing approaches it for the 1st and 4th movements. Haitink/Conc/Philips is similarly good all round with ver