Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies [Box Set] [Box set]

Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Mstislav Rostropovich (Conductor), Choral Arts Society of Washington (Performer), London Voices (Performer), Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (Performer), Academic Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra [members of] (Orchestra), National Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Galina Vishnevskaya (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Choral Arts Society of Washington, London Voices, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Galina Vishnevskaya
• Orchestra: Academic Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra [members of], National Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich
• Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich
• Audio CD (January 13, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 12
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Teldec
• ASIN: B000005824
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,836 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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62 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good, but not great performances., March 26, 1999

By 

David Anthony Hollingsworth (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies [Box Set] (Audio CD)

Serious critics had deemed Nikolay Myaskovsky as the best of Soviet symphonists. His promotors included Alexander Gauk, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Konstantin Ivanov, Frederick Stock (music director of the Chicago Symphony until 1951) & Yevgeny Svetlanov. Shostakovich, however, was advocated & represented by a more internationally diverse conductors, artists, ensembles.

Mravinsky, & to some extent, Gauk, gave premieres of major & important Shostakovich works. The relationship between Shostakovich & Mravinsky are on a high & positive note, with the conductor being the dedicatee of the composer's Eighth symphony (Mravinsky conducted the premiere with the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1943). Mravinsky also began to record Shostakovich works with earnest after the 1950s.

However, composer &conductor relationship worsened. Mravinsky lessened the number of performances featuring Shostakovich symphonies. By 1962, Kyrill Kondrashin entered the scene in recording the symphonies with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Other conductors followed suit such as Haitink & the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdesventsky with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, Rostropovich with the London Symphony, National Symphony (Washington DC), & others.

Like Kondrashin, Rostropovich performances of the symphonies were uneven in quality. However, Kondrashin had the upper hand since his tempos were even & always consistent. He was not too draggy & spacious, but brisk and intense. Furthermore, his Moscow Philharmonic demonstrated its upmost familiarity with Shostakovich's scores, something not dublicated totally by Rostropovich's or Haitink's orchestras.

Rostropovich best recordings are Shostakovich's 2nd, 3rd, & 8th Symphonies. His recording of the composer's 14th with the Moscow Philharmonic, with Vainberg as pianist, Vishnevskaya as soprano (recorded by Melodiya CD) won him critical acclaim. Rostropovich was not able to dublicate the intensity, absolute refinement, & control in the later recording of the same work.

Strengths: commitment, energy, some excitement, familiarity.

Weaknesses: slow tempos, orchestras not totally refined & keen, could have used more intensity & emotionalism required by the score.

Rostropovich is not a masterful conductor compared to, for example, Kondrashin, or Svetlanov. He's an abled conductor, but not with a firmer hand. He had passion in performing the great Soviet composer's works, but not at the same level as the orchestras he directed.

Recommendable. But go for the Kondrashin, Mravinsky, Bernstein, Rozhdentvensky, Neemi Jarvi, Previn & DePriest recordings. They answered unmistakably to the weaknesses of Rostropovich recordings. Also the complete symphonies set under Kondrashin & the MPO is available (Melodiya 74321 19952-2). Should you decide to go for the set, My personal instinct is to get the Kondrashin set, although one has to contact Tower Records in Great Britain to special order it (it is not available in the United States).

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing performance of the 14th, August 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies [Box Set] (Audio CD)

I currently own 5 versions of the 14th symphony (Kondrashin, Bernstein, Barshai (a relay of the preimiere in Moscow), Haitink, and another Rostropovich version on the Russian Revelation label. The Bernstein is saggy and contrived, the Haitink fails to excite, the earlier Rostropovich is in terrible audio, The Kondrashin is excellent and full of white heat, and the Barshai is even more hair raising.

And where does this version of the 14th belong? Among the very best. This perfomance's soloists were the original soloists Shostakovich intended (Vishnevskaya and Rhestin). The orchestra though different from the primiere is still excellent. When listening to the Haitink, the orchestra plays with emotional reservation. Not the case here

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Historically Significant Box Set with Lasting Significance, October 2, 2004

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shostakovich: Complete Symphonies [Box Set] (Audio CD)

This set of 12 CDs is a recording of all fifteen symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich by the cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. Not only is this survey of Shostokovich's very important symphonic output one of the few times we are able to listen to all the symphonies with as few variables as possible, allowing us to truly hear the course of thought and creativity and turmoil of Shostokovich, but it also fulfills a promise between the composer and his pupil (Rostropovich) to create this project. Rostropovich premiered some of these symphonies and had direct instruction from the composer as to the interpretation of them all. All of these facts make this a compendium of recordings that belong in the libraries of music lovers devoted to the genius of Shostakovich.

Now if only the individual performances were as solid as the project itself! While we may be hearing these works with the knowledge that the composer sanctioned them, they are variable in success. Part of this is due to the variable quality of sound the conductor elicits from the three orchestras involved (the National Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Members of the Academic Symphony Orchestra Moscow). The tempi are less successful than those chosen by better conductors performing these works today, and the usual degree of excitement obtained by other batons is missing. But the performances of all 15 symphonies are never less than interesting and are indeed at times illuminating. In all, this is an important body of recordings and belongs in collections of all those who appreciate the significance of Dmitri Shostakovich.