Shostakovich - Complete Symphonies |
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Average Customer Rating: 
List Price: £62.99
Our Price: £50.11
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 4600317010653
Format: Box set
Label: Melodiya
Manufacturer: Melodiya
Number Of Discs: 11
Publisher: Melodiya
Release Date: 2007-01-15
Studio: Melodiya |
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Stepan Razin Revived!, 2007-04-11
The description of this item on Amazon is incomplete in that it includes several major works apart from the symphonies, not the least of which is the astonishing Execution of Stepan Razin. This recording has been languishing in the wilderness for many years and at last sees the light of day. No other recording of this work has come near to this one in intensity, passion and authenticity. Vitali Gromadsky is the definitive Stepan Razin and Kondrashin's recording is staggering.
What about the symphonies? The recordings are often flawed musically and technically but the performances are superb. The sound is unmistakably Russian, at times acidic, brutal, grim, cold. Perhaps the best example of all of these qualities lies in the eighth symphony.
No Western recordings can compare with these. If someone wanted to buy just one set of the symphonies, this is it!
Remastered masterpieces, 2008-11-05
I purchased this set for one reason - it included the definitive recording of the 4th Symphony. The 1966 recording was originally released on vinyl in UK by RCA. I later purchased the Melodiya LP reissue in the 1970s. Both of them - and indeed this CD - have the same 3 or 4 "wobbles" in the 3rd movement. Obviously, the master tape is damaged - and there is no other copy. Never mind - this is the 4th as DS intended - and the remaster is astonishingly good - clear, crisp, raucous, loud - an amazing performance.
The CDs arrived today - and I am only up to No 6. All I can say so far is - excellent. Highlights so far are obviously No 4 - but No 1 is great - and the accelerando in the 4th movement of the 5th has to be heard to be believed. Kondrashin was a master!
What a revelation. Buy this quick - before it disappears from the catalogue again.
WOW, 2009-01-04
Amazing performances - I've heard no western recordings of the same works that come close. Essential listening.
The Best Shostakovich Cycle On CD, 2007-02-27
Melodiya whetted our appetites with its box-set of Mravinsky recordings - Nos 5-8, 10-12 & 15, etc - but here is the best buy of all.
The reissued Kondrashin set recorded in Moscow during the 1960s-70s has all fifteen symphonies, October, Violin Concerto No 2 (Oistrakh) and Stepan Razin, plus some piece about the Motherland (or was it Fatherland?) After Mravinsky, Kondrashin was a conductor favoured by DS, who gave the first performances of Nos 4 & 13. These two, the first three, plus Nos 8, 14 & 15 are given outstanding performances. The others, if not wihtout formidable competition, are projected with maximum intensity, beyond what Western orchestras or maybe what any orchestras today, can rise to.
I think if DG/Chandos joined forces to issue a box-set of Neeme Jarvi's DS cycle at budget price, that would provide serious competition. As things stand, or should that be regardless, Kondrashin's Melodiya recordings must be acquired by anyone seriously interested in Shostakovich's fascinating musical world.
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