Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7
|
Our Price: $16.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $5.75 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7
Free Music Review: A committed reading in muddy sound
Hit: 4 Stars
The only reviewer to rate this CD of the Shostakovich Seventh below five stars comments on the low-level, muddy sonics, and he's right. I played the new Gergive recording side by side with Bernstein's famous account on Sony with the nY PHil. from 1962, and the older recording has far more impact, clarity, and detial. Perhaps th Philips engineers were constrained by the double orchestra (the Kirov and Rotterdam Phil.) that Gergiev emplys; whatever the reason, the microphone placement is fairly distant.
At its 1941-42 premieres around the world Shostakovich's Seventh was hailed as a testament "against the forces of darkness" (i.e., Nazis), but its signature "invasion march" in the first movement was not conceived to be specificaly about the events of the German invaison of Leningrad in 1941, and leaving that bombastic portion aside, nonoe of the other music in this massive work is programmatic. The overall tone is mostly elegaic and often melancholy until the brash and rather exhausting trimphalism of the ending. The typical listener, once past the blockbuster march (a kind of anti-Fascist 'Bolero'), loses interest in the diffuse three movements that follow.
Gergive is very good at the lyrical, inward parts, but he doesn't skimp on the crash-bang of the march -- I imagine that was his chief rationale for using two orchestras. The first performance in Leningrad, soon after the siege was lfited, invited any spare musicians in the city to come and join in. This live 2001 performance has some of that "People's Symphony" feeling. I think there are a few flaws here, though. Gergive's slow tempo in the last two movements drains the music of coherence, and one is aware of many lax moments when it's hard to pay attention.
I won't engage in the time-honored debate over whether the Shostakovich Seventh is banal claptrap -- the rep it had for forty years after its wartime fame -- or a resurrected masterpiece. It seems to me that the latter opinion is far from univresal, but with time the music seems less banal than it once did, in large part because exceptional musicians like Bernstein, Gergiev, and Temirkanov have found a way to imbue it with their own eloquence.
Free Music Review: Arising From the Ashes
Hit: 5 Stars
There can't be a more inspiring story than that of the residents of Leningrad (or a host of other cities, to be sure) burrowing in and starving and freezing out the Nazis during World War II. Before knowing the outcome of that struggle...but knowing the resilience or possibly stubbornness of his neighbors...Dmitry Shostakovich composed this symphony. Sixty years later--about a week after 9/11, to be precise-- the symphony most associated with that city (now of course known by its Tsarist name) and its rock star conductor, together with another of his gazillion orchestras, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, made this recording.
Knowing that I have a definite soft spot toward Gergiev, I have waited a while before reviewing this disk. I've read many other reviews (not just those here, and not all positive) and listened to other recordings of the 7th. I still think this is a fine recording. And the key seems to be in the dual orchestras. The depth that they give, particularly in the first movement, is striking. It is in this movement we begin hearing---at around 7:00--the eerily sarcastic march of the enemy (the Nazis? Stalin's henchmen? both?) which seems to go on forever. The snares, the woodwinds and the strings are all so clear, so elucidated, it's like they've been recorded on their own channel (and I'm not listening to SACD, either!). And it goes on from there. The mournful third movement, the triumph that slowly arises out of the fourth movement....this is a recording that seeks to capture emotion, and in spades.
In "Shostakovich vs. Stalin", a DVD Phillips put out to accompany some of these "war symphonies", a musician from that era tells viewers that when Shostakovich finished this symphony, just before he and his family fled Leningrad, most of the Philharmonic was gone; either dead or having left the country. Some of those left were quite ill or wounded, but they loved Shostakovich and the Philharmonic. So they all gathered in the Great Hall of the Conservatoire, half an orchestra, to play it for a radio show to be broadcast across the country.
I love that story. Even though those players are multiplied fourfold on this disc, the music itself keeps alive their memory, with its laughter in the face of repression, empathy, and triumph.
Free Music Review: OK, but nothing to get super excited about
Hit: 3 Stars
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 very clear sound.
So I consider this an ECCENTRIC performance with some interesting bits, but far from a top standard of interpretation and the sound placement is very strange (particularly of the side drum).
So ignore the super hype of all the other reviewers about it being best ever, etc.
Free Music Review: fantastic new account of the famous wartime symphony
Hit: 5 Stars
This live performance and recording of Shostakovich's 7th Symphony is superb -- Gergiev conducts the combined Kirov and Rotterdam orchestras, live in Rotterdam just a week after 9/11/01. It has been widely acclaimed as the definitive recording of the 7th, as Valery Gergiev continues to establish himself as the leading contemporary interpreter of the Russian repertoire. Shostakovich's 7th symphony was an international sensation when it arrived in the West during WWII -- the composer made the cover of Time Magazine, a drawing of him in his fireman's helmet -- but it suffered a decline in reputation thereafter as it quickly came to be seen as "banal and bombastic," in the critics' accepted terms, applied to the first and fourth movements respectively. It is true that it is not one of DSCH's best symphonies -- those would be the 4th, 5th, 8th and 10th. But it is a fine work, and as others have noted, the two central movements have many lovely moments. Personally, I find the gradual transformation of a light-hearted theme into a menacing fortissimo (the "invasion theme") in the first movement to be a quite effective use of banal material -- I think DSCH knew exactly what he was doing. Compare the heavy-handed grotesque dance in the second movement of the 5th, and hear a similar sensibility. To my ears, it is the triumphant ending that sounds forced, and seems likely to be the result of a compromise with political exigency.
The 7th Symphony has become embroiled in controversy, along with Shostakovich's entire life and work. It might seem obvious that it portrays the Nazis as the evil force in the "invasion theme," but according to Volkov and others, it actually represents the rise of Stalin's terror and the gradual perversion of the high ideals of the revolution. The cover art for this CD captures this ambiguity by depicting Gergiev holding the score in front of him, as if to say "here is what Shostokovich wrote -- listen to the music, and decide for yourself what it means." Compare this to the painting of wartime devastation on the cover of the Bernstein recording, reflecting the official account, to see how the understanding of Shostakovich has changed since his death. As I listen to this work, it seems less obvious that it is about war than the 8th Symphony, with its manic allegro non troppo battle scene. I am inclined to think that the "holy fool" view of Shostakovich is true, that he was spitting in the eye of Stalin by portraying evil and allowing the attribution of that evil to be officially misinterpreted. (If Hitler is evil, and Stalin fights Hitler, that does not mean that Stalin is not also evil... )
The package for this recording is brilliant. The disc itself as well as the inlay under the disc shows a photo of Soviet troops seizing a German position. The back of the booklet is a detail from a Soviet painting/poster/mural showing resolute soldiers in a row on a red backdrop. The official account is thus part of the presentation, which is only fitting since it is if nothing else an inextricable part of its renowned history.
Free Music Review: The Definitive 7th
Hit: 5 Stars
Valery Gergiev continues to document on recordings the stature he has gained in conducting not only his own Kirov Orchestra but as guest conductor of the major orchestras of the world. At first the idea of pairing the Kirov with the Rotterdam Philiharmonic Orchestra seems a bit of overkill for establishing Gergiev's interpretation of this most famous of Shostakovich's fifteen symphonies. But then when it is made clear that this CD is the product of live performances in September of 2001 in Rotterdam it becomes clear that the decisions were wise. The control and overall scale of this performance is undeniably among the great moments in recorded history. Gergiev finds the fear, the fight, and the tenderness in this epic work. The sound is huge and lush and well produced. Yet it is in those tenderest moments of this massive symphony that Gergiev seems most wise. Was there a bit of response to the USA 9/11 incident influencing this performance? You be the judge. Others have described this recording splendidly and to say more would be mere homage. This is a very important recording - for technical reasons, for interpretive and performance reasons, and more importantly for reasons of the soul. Highly recommended.