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Looking for a complete set of 15 Shostakovich symphonies on CD. An Amazon search shows that such exist conducted by Kondrashin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Slovak, and in combined performance sets by Kehr, Munchner, Faerber, etc., on Naxos and other labels.Can anyone suggest a decent set?
These are pricey, so I'd like to get as close to a definitive set as possible in one shot in both performance and sound quality. Thanks.
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...the Shostakovich symphonies. Some I love tremendously while others don't do it for me, such as the 1st. Makes me think an integral recording is not ideal as they are so varied.Thoughts?
as everything that follows. These early symphonies are works of exuberance, youth and almost a party-like atmosphere. Yes, I listen to them less often. I prefer to go to the Concertos (the Cello C's in particular...but also the Piano C's) for the same energy without the flippancy. I think the Violin Concertos are more serious works. Beginning with Symphony 4 things get more seriously dramatic (Jansons is outstanding here, as is Gergiev) and, gradually, darkness sets in with the later works. This is all brilliant music, to me, but different. Behind the first three, the 14th I listen to least, followed by the 11th, followed by the 15th. Everything else gets regular play. My "favorite" Shostakovich Symphony is 13, mostly because the inclusion of the text accentuates the depth of the music, adding literal context to the objective of the piece. When done right, words AND music a very powerful -- synergy. Think Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs.The nice part about an integral set is that you've "got it all" for reference. So, you make the statement that "Symphony 1 doesn't do it for me". Well, you must have HEARD Sym. 1 to make that call. Good luck finding it on the radio! Yes, you might borrow a friend's recording. Then again, you may discover (with time) that you begin to like it. Shostakovich, in particular, is "like that". Works that I didn't enjoy early on, I've learned to enjoy greatly.
...at about $41 (not including VAT) from MDT in the UK. Haitink on Decca is also a good all-around choice. Of really recent sets, I'm making my way through the recent Caetani SACD set on ARTS (got the box set for about $95 at a local store), and they're proving to be really terrific performances in great sound. I really like the 8th on this set--it's perhaps the best new recording of this work I've heard in a long time (and I've heard Rostropovich, Berglund, Kofman, Wigglesworth, and Kitaenko, to name the more recent ones).Russell
the Jansons box set. Great performances in modern sound. Under $40 at Amazon. That said, you'll DEFINITELY want to hand pick your "second recording" for almost all of these symphonies. as there are some real historic gems from past Russian conductors out there.
I've been liking the Jansons quite a bit, too, and could easily see it as a first purchase. Interpretively, it's a nice middle ground between the more over-the-top readings we have from Kondrashin and other old Russians and the sometimes straightforward to a fault Haitink and Barshai.Barshai's a bargain, but it's one of those sets where everything is good, but nothing outstanding, IMO. Haitink at least is nice to have in terms of hearing these works played as beautifully as possible--which of course is both a plus and a minus in these works. I haven't heard the full Kondrashin set, though I have most of it on old lps. Jansons has good sound, and at least a few of these recordings would be among my top two or three. (He's really great in 7, 13, and 14--right up there with the best, IMO, and his 5, 8, and 10 are pretty distinctive if maybe not completely first rate. The only misfire, to me, is 1).
Anyway, glad to see MJ getting some love. I much prefer him to Barshai, who seems to be the standard recommendation these.
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