Stalin Archive
SHOSTAKOVICH: Sym. No. 10; encores – Texas Music Fest. Orch./ Mei-Ann Chen – HDTT
Written just after the death of Stalin, the composer stated that this symphony is about the Stalinist era, but others disagree. SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10; AN-LUN HUANG:: Sebei Dance No. 2 “Lantern Festival”; RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; CHOPIN: Etude Op. 27/7 – Texas Music Festival Orch./ Mei-Ann Chen; (Extras:) Moores School Sym. Orch./Franz Anton Krager/ Kenneth Broburg, p. – HDTT multichannel Pure Audio Blu-ray (5.0 or 2.0) 24/96 (Rec. 2013 & 2014) ****: Although Shostakovich said his Tenth Symphony clearly is about the Stalinst era in the Soviet Union, critics disagree and say it was an example of Shostakovich’s synthesis of allusions to the symphonic tradition on the one hand, and encoded references to his own particular time and place on the other. It was premiered under Mravinsky in December of 1953. The first movement is in a rough sonata form. The short scherzo movement is the second, full of syncopated rhythms and furious sixteenth note passages. The third movement is a moderate dance-like suite which the composer called a nocturne. It uses two musical codes: the DSCH which represents the composer, and the Elmira Theme – representing a student of Shostakovich’s with whom he fell in […]
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4; SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 – Leningrad Philharmonic Orch./ Yevgeny Mravinsky (1955) – Praga Digitals
Two Mravinsky performances from the Prague Spring 1955, of which the Shostakovich seems “definitive.” BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60; SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in e minor, Op. 93 – Leningrad Philharmonic Orch./ Yevgeny Mravinsky (1955) – Praga Digitals PRD 350 115, 79:28 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Praga Digitals restores two performances from the 3 June 1955 Smetana Hall concert of the Prague Spring Festival, here featuring the esteemed Russian conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988). Already known for the intense discipline he instilled into the Leningrad ensemble, Mravinsky gleans alert responses from his woodwinds – especially his principal flute and bassoon – for the opening Adagio – Allegro vivace first movement in the Beethoven B-flat Symphony. No less commanding, Mravinsky’s tympani reveals the new power Beethoven had brought to the percussion of the Classical symphony. Once the mysterious and even ominous b-flat minor Adagio passes us, the ensuing Allegro assumes frenetic and unbuttoned energies, volatile as they are irreverent. The capacity for direct lyricism in Mravinsky’s color arsenal reveals itself in the Adagio second movement, a fervent song in sonata-form, sans development. Winds and strings converge in massive – although not particularly warm – harmony. What makes […]
Maria Yudina, A Great Russian Pianist = BEETHOVEN, STRAVINSKY, BARTOK – Praga Digitals
A concise portrait of the iconoclast Maria Yudina, who championed modern music. Maria Yudina, A Great Russian Pianist = BEETHOVEN: Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major, Op. 35 “Eroica”; BERG: Piano Sonata, Op. 1; STRAVINSKY: Serenade in A Major; Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments; BARTOK: Mikrokosmos, Bk. V-VI: excerpts – Maria Yudina, piano/ USSR Radio Sym. Orch., Moscow/ Gennady Rozdhdestvensky – Praga Digitals PRD 250 342, 75:28 (9/30/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: Maria Yudina (1899-1970) studied at the Petrograd Conservatory under Anna Essipova and Leonid Nikoayev. Her advocacy of modern Western music would often result in her dismissal from various institutes. Despite her iconoclastic nature, she remained Josif Stalin’s favorite artist. Her criticism of his regime including her reading the poetry of Boris Paternak as an “encore” to a recital. Her prodigious concert career was denied any recordings by the official censors, so little exists of her collaborations. Sviatoslav Richter called her playing “prodigious and immensely talented,” in spite of the fact that her favorite composers – Krenek, Hindemith, Bartok, Stravinsky – had been officially banned from public performance. What has survived of her recorded legacy often originates with pirate or “underground” recording sources, not always of superior […]
SHOSTAKOVICH: The Execution of Stepan Razin; The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland; The Song of the Forests – Soloists/ Narva Boys Choir/ Estonian Concert Choir/ Estonian Nat. Sym. Orch./ Paavo Jarvi – Warner Classics
Excellent performances of questionable music…with one exception. SHOSTAKOVICH: The Execution of Stepan Razin; The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland; The Song of the Forests – Alexi Tanovitski, bass/ Konstantin Andreyev, tenor/ Narva Boys Choir/ Estonian Concert Choir/ Estonian Nat. Sym. Orch./ Paavo Jarvi – Warner Classics 0825646166664, 79:52 [Distr. by Naxos] ***1/2: The Execution of Stepan Razin is a masterpiece. Composed to a libretto by Yevgeny Yevtushenko in 1964, the composition considers Stepan Razin, a Cossack leader who headed a major uprising (1670–71) against the nobility in southern Russia. The piece is pure later Shostakovich, wonderful melodies and brilliant harmonies that are striking and dramatic. Of the three works here, it is by far the less egregious politically—unless you are a Tsarist. The other two works, considered important by conductor Jarvi, who supposedly had to hire bodyguards when giving these works in Estonia four years ago, so sensitive is the subject, are far less important, and quite frankly, rather banal, especially when taken in the light of the composer’s greatest works. Both were the result of an official slap down, the response of the composer to “just criticism”, and both had their intended effects. [No wonder the Baltic states hate […]
SHOSTAKOVICH: Complete Symphonies and Concertos/ Valery Gergiev – Blu-ray (2015)
Essential. Nothing else to say. SHOSTAKOVICH: Complete Symphonies and Concertos – Valery Gergiev, Blu-ray (2015) Performers: Orch. and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre/ Valery Gergiev/ Alena Baeva, violin/ Vadin Repin, violin/ Mario Brunello, cello/ Gautier Capucon, cello/ Denis Matsuev, piano/ Danil Trifonov, piano/ Timur Martynov, trumpet/ Veroinika Dzhioeva, sop./ Mikhail Petrenko, bass (Live from Salle Pleyel, Paris, 2013-14 Producer: Torsten Bonnhoff Director: Don Kent Studio: Arthaus Musik 107552 (Four Blu-Ray Discs) [Distr. by Naxos] Video: Full HD 1080i 16:9 color Audio: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 Subtitles: German, English, French, Korean, Japanese Length: 970 min., 58 min. introductions, 58 minutes doc. – Dmitri Shostakovich – A Man of Many Faces Rating: ***** This is, by Gergiev’s accounting, his second complete live traversal through the Shostakovich Symphonies and Concertos, the first being a number of years ago with the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. These were filmed and recorded in France, which surprised me since most of their recordings have been at their home base in St. Petersburg. To get one controversy out of the way: there are listener reviews on Amazon and in Britain complaining of so-called “compression” in the sound of the releases. Honestly, I don’t hear it, as I […]
Cultural Death: Music under Tyranny = Works ov BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, BERLIOZ – Munich Philharmonic & USSR Sym. – Arbiter
Arbiter celebrates three musical personalities who flourished, then perished within the autocratic bounds of fascism. Cultural Death: Music under Tyranny = BEETHOVEN: Leonore Overture No. 2; BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83: Allegro non troppo; BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique, OP. 14a – Munich Philharmonic/ Oswald Kabasta (Beethoven)/ Alfred Hohn, p./ Leipzig Radio Orch./ Reinhold Merten (Brahms)/ USSR State Sym. Orch./ Oskar Fried (Berlioz) – Arbiter 162, 78:43 (10/16/15) [Distr. by Albany] ****: Extensive documentation complements this fascinating release, part of which – the Oskar Fried Berlioz inscription from 1937 – has had CD incarnation prior. Allan Evans has created a kind of musical liturgy for three artists who perished as a result of the rise of fascism in Germany and the USSR: Oswald Kabasta (1896-1946), Alfred Hoehn (1887-1945), and Oskar Fried (1871-1941). Each musician, in his own way, suffered under the regime of National Socialism; although in Kabasta’s case – unlike Herbert von Karajan – his opportunism led to a personal catastrophe rather than a case of political redemption. Oswald Kabasta, a protégé of Karl Muck, assumed authority with the Austrian Radio Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, and the Munich Philharmonic. His power-base, once established, even permitted him […]
SHOSTAKOVICH: The Symphonies (Complete) – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch./ Vasily Petrenko – Naxos
Magnificent, thrilling performances given expressive, idiomatic readings by a formidable young conductor.
SHOSTAKOVICH: Passacaglia from the Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk / Symphony No. 10 in e minor – Boston Sym. Orch. / Andris Nelsons – DGG
A stirring performance of the 10th Symphony with a recording to match.
Richter: The Enigma: A Film by Bruno Monsaingeon (1998/2014)
Bruno Monsaingeon addresses the mystery of Sviatoslav Richter, the pianist Glenn Gould called “a direct link from the composer to his listening audience.”
The Dance of Reality, Blu-ray (2014)
Typical Jodorowsky but perhaps not his masterpiece.
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6 – Valery Gergiev, Mariinksy Orch. – multichannel SACD Mariinsky (2 discs)
Committed performances and fine recording of these three symphonies from a chaotic period for the composer.
MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG: Complete String Quartets – Quatuor Danel – CPO (6 CDs)
One of the great quartet cycles of the 20th century receives definitive performances.
SHOSTAKOVICH: The Song of the Forests; The Sun Shines Over the Motherland; Ten Songs on Words of Revolutionary Poets – Vladimir Ivanovsky, tenor/ Ivan Perrov, bass/ Boy’s Choir of Moscow State Chorus/ USSR Academic Russian Choir/ Moscow Philharmonic Orch./ Yuri Ulanov/ USSR Sym. Orch./ Konstantin Ivanov/ Leningrad Radio and TV Chorus/ Grigori Sandler – Praga Digitals
Some fascinating Shostakovich exotica, with historical interest as well.
Khachaturian (2003)
A fascinating first-rate documentary on the Armenian-Russian composer.
PROKOFIEV: Cantata; SHOSTAKOVICH: The Sun Shines over our Motherland – RSFSR Russian Chorus/Boys Choir/Moscow Philharmonic/Kirill Kondrashin – Melodiya/HDTT
HDTT resurrects two Stalinist political hymns from Prokofiev and Shostakovich; more musical curios than testaments of faith in a dubious regime.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
