Search - Shostakovich, Lgn, Mravinsky :: Symphony 7: Leningrad

Another Mravinsky triumph

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"People that only want to hear this music in DDD can stop reading now and return to the negative review from earlier.



People that want to hear the authentic voice of Shostakovich through the conductor and orchestra that understood him best, and often premiered his works, should continue reading.



No Shostakovich "Leningrad" symphony anywhere, at any price, recorded anytime, is superior to this reading. For me, the recording is not a hindrance. The 24 bit resurrection brings forth plenty of treble with bass response that is a bit muddy. You can hear all the instruments all the clear with reasonable clarity and frequency response.



This mono recording originally released in 1957 will not compete with Gergiev's recording made two years ago. But it delivers musical messaging that is superior to Gergiev, Haitink, Jarvi, Bernstein and all the other better-recorded "Leningrad" symphonies of recent times.



Mravinsky makes more of the up and down thematic development throughout the lengthy treatise than most conductors, who tend to dwell on the big moments and wallow in insincerity in the quieter periods. Mravinksy tends to moderate the differences between the two extremes in this recording. That also could also be related to Sony's 24 bit reconstruction, I suppose. In either case, the moments of distraction I've found in most readings of this work do not exist here.



While Mravinsky would never allow sentiment or pathos to seep into his recordings, he takes an unusually meditative and melancholy view of the string theme that opens the third movement "Adagio". This is a voice different and superior to other readings.



This famous lengthy symphony will not come easily to beginners in the world of classical music. However, this recording sets forth both the architecture of the music and the emotions of the Germans invading St. Petersberg in 1942 in equal measure.



Yevgeny Mravinsky is typically considered the most authoritative Shostakovich conductor in history and everything in this recordings helps fit that reputation in concrete. This is an interesting recording of often windy music that is delivered in good sound for its time and place.



Unless you are wedded to sound over musical communication, you need not worry about this recording. Buy it now and remember it alwasy."

The True Faith

Howard G Brown | Port St. Lucie, FL USA | 04/10/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I can't be objective about this recording. I saved my money back in my high school days to buy the lps -- a 2-record set on Vanguard that also included Kondrashin conducting the 1st Symphony. To me, this is how the 'Leningrad' should sound: often harsh, never pretty, ultimately heart-rending by virtue of the great adagio's whispered poetry.I give it four stars to warn of the dated sonics -- mono, of course, and more constricted than the Ancerl/Czech Phil. recording that was released a few years later. But Mravinsky was the conductor who brought his orchestra closest to the heart of the music, by Shostakovich's own admission.Hear, and believe."

A great performance of a great work

Jeffrey Lee | Asheville area, NC USA | 10/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In this, my favorite Shostakovich symphony, Mravinsky shows immediately that he means business by plunging into things full bore. We quickly realize this is not going to be a perfunctory reading of this marvelous magnum opus. As Mravinsky proceeds through the first movement's variations, the effect shifts from intoxicating to anguishing. I've never heard any other conductor deliver here with such charged emotionalism. The level of expression becomes almost terrifying. There are times when I find myself preferring an antidote like the relatively less jarring but extremely well played and recorded Haitink version on Decca. But Haitink doesn't bring tears to my eyes the way Mravinsky does in his restatement of one of the main themes close to the 24 minute mark of that opening movement. Listen too how he adroitly captures the composer's contrasting moods in the marvelously characterful poco allegretto. While he may not quite reach the degree of overall intensity achieved by Bernstein in the adagio, ( Some of this might actually have to do with the less than fine quality of the recording.) he seems to match him in wistfulness. It is in this third movement however, as well as the final movement, where the relative drawback of this recording becomes especially obvious---distortion at higher dynamic levels. Nonetheless, I'm not greatly annoyed by this. In portions of the last movement Mravinsky is appropriately thrusting, headlong and exciting. The troubling nature of the middle section is most effectively communicated as is the more exultant tone of the peroration. If excellent sound considerations are not a sine qua non for enjoyment, this trenchant, telling performance by the greatest of Russian conductors will surely not disappoint. Though discontinued, Shostakovich fans are strongly encouraged to seek it out."