Shostakovich Symphonies - Page 28

Regis CD rerelease of Mravinsky's 1982 concert version of Shost. Symph. #8

I have received a reply from Regis who inform me that the pitch has been corrected, and to Russian concert pitch which is slightly sharper than Western concert pitch.
I read in Gramophone magazine a while ago the reviewer of the Regis CD stating it was a recording of a different concert, owing to the slightly longer performance times. Well, longer duration is a consequence of reducing pitch with a tape that was originally played at too fast speed for the initial Philips CD mastering, thus I am confident that Regis have informed correctly.
I am surprized the reviewer didn't notice whatever extraneous noises are common to both recordings !
Really, I wonder how thorough some reviewers are ..?.. it is good we have theses discussion forums to sort these things out in !

Conductors...

I heard Jarvi's of #8 several years ago and thought it was quite good, but it did not captivate my attention the way Haitink's version had -{the first version I had heard, and subsequently bought, of this Symphony}.
As my Haitink is on vinyl LP and in storage elsewhere I cannot compare it now to the Mravinsky/BBC, though my memory of it is still that it is very good.
It may be the best of Haitink's cycle, though I also have and like his of #9 and #15. I did not like his of #5, even after a second playing another day.
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Celibidache - what a great conductor !
If you like Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, "Pathetique", then I strongly recommend you hear Celibidache's recording of this !!
There may be 2 recordings - that is, from 2 different concerts, or it may simply be 2 different Companies' releases of the same version - I wil have to check that.

Kondrashin's Moscow recording of 4th Symphony.

Thankyou indeed Dark Angel for taking the time to check that section in the Aulos issue - I am very grateful !

From your description it seems there is much less fault in the transfer to the Aulos production master than Melodiya have managed for their more recent issue - given the reviewer's description which I included on page 19 of this thread in post #378 there.
Perhaps the original tape has deteriorated more in the interim period ...


Please will owners of the Venezia set, and of earlier CD issues of this performance comment on what they can hear happen at that point, from 15:50 to 15:52 and immediately next.
It should be quite audible through headphones, but also via speakers in a good quality Hi-Fi system.

MONO or STEREO ?

The BMG licensed CD from Melodiya of Kondrashin's Moscow recording of Shostakovich's Symphony #4 was apparently in Mono.
The new Russian Melodiya Kondrashin Shostakovich box set apparently has this same performance of Symphony #4 in Stereo.

Is Symphony #4 in Mono or Stereo in the Aulos box set ? ,

and in the Venezia box set ??

I am a bit lost with the Kondrashin sets. I have the one from 'Le Chant Du Monde'. There is a Melodia logo on the back.

The recording dates are :
1 - 1973
2 - 1972
3 - 1972
4 - 1962
5 - 1964
6 - 1967
7 - 1975
8 - 1961
9 - 1965
10- 1973
11- 1973
12- 1972
13- 1967
14- 1974
15- 1974

Would that be the most recent recordings he did ? I think I read in the thread that there is 2 recordings. But I am not sure which one this one is (although I read a couple of time already the thread).

There is no extras (the symphonies only).

Thank you guys !
Lionel

PS - Starting with shosta now, with the 5th that I have by haitink and kondrashin.
Previously I was listening only to some quartet, the piano quintet (Richter version) and the concertos (Mullova).

PPS - By the way, the booklet says for the 7th : "This symphony is reraly played today, its topical message having lost its interest". I am not shota aware (and will never be to the extent you guys are), but isn't this comment pure BS (Excuse my french ;-) )
Lionel

For the Venezia set, I have:

1 1973
2 1972
3 1972
4 1962
5 1968
6 1967
7 1975
8 1967
9 1965
10 1973
11 1973
12 1972
13 1967 and 1962
14 1974
15 1974

So most, but not all the same. The dates attributed to Soviet recordings are often suspect though, so I wouldn't place too much reliance on them.

I suspect (not having read through this whole thread) that it's misleading to think of one or two 'sets'; these are simply collections of live recordings, from over quite a long period, that have been put together in various combinations. And since there aren't that many recordings around, most of them have the same contents.

Some recordings that definitely are different are the ones Kondrashin did with the Concertgebouw - I know of a number 6 and a 9, and there may be others.

I believe that the recordings in the Aulos Kondrashin set are all in stereo, and they were all originally Melodiya studio recordings, with the exception of one or two live ones. I also have a live Concertgebouw 6th and a studio 13th with the Bavarian Radio Symphony which were both on Philips. (I don't think that 13th has ever made it to CD.)

Meanwhile, that comment about the 7th being topical may have seemed true twenty years ago, but the work has made a comeback, which was sparked by Bernstein's DG recording of it in the late 80's. Now it seems like a new recording of it pops up every month, and the piece has received a reappraisal. It still isn't DSCH's greatest, but it is far more than just a "news report" about World War II.

Mark

Recording hiccup / Kondrashin 5th ?

I hear some sort of slight hiccup or shift in the 4th movement of the 5th by kondrashin. Around 9:10. Do you guys have something like that as well ?
Thanks
Lionel

I don't hear anything I'd describe as a hiccup or shift in the recording there, if that's what you mean, though there is a ritenuto and a change in the time signature. Maybe the simplest way to check if they're the same performance is to check the movement timings? My Venezia recording is:

13:36
5:15
12:07
10:46

It's stated to be from the 27th March 1968.

Thanks for checking.
Ah mine is
13:36
5:14
12:05
10:43
Stated to be recorded July 1964, Recording : Igor Veprintzev

Does anybody else hear something ?
thanks
Lionel

Kondrashin's Shost. #4s - audible faults, and other recordings.

The correct text of this Post appears below,

Chris.

Kondrashin's Shost. #4s - audible faults, and other recordings.

Hi Lionel,

as you will have read in the Posts above, there are the later Kondrashin Shost. recordings released on Philips of Symph's 6 ; 9 ; 13 .
At this time of Posting these recordings seem to not be available, but there is a recording of Kondrashin conducting #9 with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, released in December 2003 on the Berlin Classics label.
It includes a work by each of Lutoslowski ; Ronnefield ; Stravinsky ; Zimmerman also, yes all are 20th Century Composers.

There has now been released a recording in Mono from a 1961 Concert of Kondrashin conducting the 4th Symphony with the Staatskapelle Dresden {Orchestra}.
It was released in November 2006 on the Profil label.
This was the first performance of that Symph. in Germany, and had followed shortly after Kondrashin gave the Premiere performance of the work itself in Russia.

There is also a live Concert recording of Kondrashin conducting the 4th with the Concertgebouw Orch. in the 70s - 1977 I think.
This recording has just been released, but only in a 14 CD set of live Concerts of various works with various Conductors with the Concertgebouw, and is Volume 4 of this live Concerts series, and sold from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra web-site.

Is your Chant Du Monde recording of the 4th Symphony in Mono or Stereo ?

And, does the sound change in any noticeable or peculiar way between the loud passage at 15 minutes 50 seconds and 15 minutes 52 seconds into the first movement ?

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Hi Henry,

in your Venezia set is the 4th Symphony in Mono or Stereo ?

And is there any noticeable or peculiar change in the sound quality at about 15' 52" into the 1st movement ?
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Thankyou Mark for posting that the Aulos set's #4 is in Stereo.

Some Companies have released #4 in Mono, apparently to reduce the audible effects of faults that developed on the original tape as it aged, and the major audible fault is apparently the one I asked about above.
The degree of audibility seems to be different in different Companies releases.
I suppose it will get worse as the tape ages further for when-ever next it is transfered from, but the engineer(s) for the new Melodiya 11 CD box set have probably kept a Digital back-up copy of their work from the tape.
Digital tape copies deteriorate in storage also, though what-ever may be the Hard-Disc format now may not deteriorate if it is not phsically mishandled or subject to excess heat and partially melted, etc ...

Chris.

It's in stereo: I can see the logic of a mono release instead though, because at 15:56 the right channel cuts out almost completely. It's very noticeable.

Yes the recording is in mono.
here is an exptract, starting around 15:40 (not sure how accurate the splitter is) : http://www.lionelm.us/HeadFi/ShostaKondraS4Mvt1ext.mp3

Copy of the booklet for the 4th :


I hope this helps
Lionel

Got a splitter, so I thought I would post a 20s extract of the part of the recording that disturbs me a bit.

Here is an extract of that piece, from 9:00 to 9:20 : http://www.lionelm.us/HeadFi/ShostaKondraS5Mvt4ext.mp3

between 10 and 11s from the beginning of that extract, I get the feeling of a little 'shift'. Something incorrect in the recording. Or maybe it's that climaw that throws my mind off, but it does not sound right to me.

thanks
Lionel