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4.0 out of 5 stars
what you need to know about this set of Mravinsky-conducted Shostakovich performances, January 28, 2011
This review is from: Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, Song of the Forest - Yevgeny Mravinsky (6 CDs) (Audio CD)
Here is what you need to know about this set, which the other reviewer doesn't tell you, and the product info harldy.
The box is Melodiya 10 00770. It contains five volumes and 6 CDs, numbered 6 to 10 (it was part of a Mravinsky 100th anniversary edition), and label number is 10 00771 to 5.
Song of the Forests: 1949 (on volume 6, where it is paired with the 5th Symphony). This is the only Mravinsky recording of the piece. The same disc can be found individually under
Yevgeny Mravinsky. Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 - Song Of The Forests Op.81. or
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5, Song of the Forest - Yevgeny Mravinsky. Volume 6.
Symphony No. 5. Melodiya says it is from 24 April 1954, but Kenzo Amoh's Mravinsky discography (available online, although not updated since 1999) dates it from April 3. Anyway, it is Mravinsky's third extant recording (studio or mostly live) out of more than 10. I have it on an early Japanese Melodiya release, VDC-25004 (which Amoh lists as JVC), paired with Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy. Just listen to the scherzo (Mahler is alive and well in the Soviet Union): it is a performance of extraordinary vigor and pungency. It is also on volume 15 of BMG's previous Mravinsky edition, B000025LJL on the European sister companies (apparently it isn't listed here), paired with a real curio: the fake Symphony 21 by a Nikolai Dmitrievich Ovskyaniko-Kulikovsky, in fact a hoax by the librarian of the Odessa Conservatory Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein.
Mravinsky made the premiere recording of Symphony No. 5 in March-April 1938, and BMG-France has published that recording on CD in 2000 (not listed on Amoh's discography, who lists a similar Japanese release): "interdit à la vente" says the back cover (not for sale), no bar code, 74321 583252, I recently found it on an online website sold by someone who obviously didn't realize its value and I am a lucky collector. But apparently Doremi has reissued it, see under ASIN B00006YXAA ("Yevgeni Mravinsky Conducts 2"). The convenient Erato disc,
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, is a performance from April 4, 1984, the same as on Leningrad Masters, (ASIN B000002XF5) and as on Icone (ASIN B00000K2O4). The one on Russian Disc,
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Symphony No. 6 [The Mravinsky Collection], is a live performance from 24 November 1965. The one on... Russian Disc,
Salmanov: Symphony No. 2 / Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 is another live performance from 1966, and the one... on Russian Disc,
Mravinsky Live - Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet No. 2 / Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, is another live performance from June 29, 1973.
Symphony No. 6 (on vol. 9, with No. 10) is from 27 June 1972, the last of three recordings left by Mravinsky. You can also find it individually here:
Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 6, 10 - Yevgeny Mravinsky. Volume 9 (CD), or on BMG's previous Mravinsky edition, vol. 9, with the same pairing of Symph. 10 (ASIN B000001HCF), or with the 1965 5th on Russian Disc mentioned above (ASIN B000001LN4). It has also been collected on a clever Scribendum 3-CD set with other Mravinsky recordings from the same year, B0009TRHYY. It is the same performance that is on Praga, B000005W1C or B00004YL75, but faked with added audience noises and deceptively attributed an invented date of 21 May 1955 (and the paired 12th is equally faked, see thereafter)
Go to the French sister company and search ASIN B00004VT4I and you'll find the first one from 1946 - and be prepared to break your piggy bank if you want to buy the only copy sold right now. There is another one from 1965, which I have reasons (the couplings) to believe is the one listed here under ASIN B003TMQ3KC; it is also on another clever Scribendum 4-CD set with Mravinsky's recordings from 1965, B0009TTLH0.
Symphony 7 (vol. 7, how dainty). That's an easy one, there is only one Mravinsky recording, from 26 February 1953, so any Mravinsky 7th you find on this website will be that one.
Symphony 8 (vol. 8 of course) from 25 February 1961, one of four. You can also find it individually here:
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8 - Yevgeny Mravinsky. Volume 8. The earliest one is from 1947 and it is the one you find on vol. 17 of Melodiya's previous Mravinsky edition from 1996-7, volumes 11-20 are listed here under ASIN B000001HCN, and the specific vol. 17 under ASIN B0016MJ25A, and on the European sister companies under B000025M06. There's the one from 23 September 1960 on BBC Legends, ASIN B00000I9W8. The ones on Russian Disc (B000001LN7), Icone (B00000IAKI) and Regis (B000GPI27M or B000J10JWO) are the same as the one originally published by Philips, from March 1982 (B00000E3VW). According to the reviewer of the Russian Disc release, the Philips issue runs a semi-tone too high, the Russian Disc is pitch-right - but unavailable at the time of writing.
Symphony 10 (vol. 9, paired with 6) from March 31, 1976. It is the same performance that you find on BMG's previous Mravinsky edition vol. 9, ASIN B000001HCF (paired with the same 6th as on this set), on Leningrad Masters, ASIN B000002XFG. Unlike what the other reviewer claims, it is NOT the same performance as the one on Erato, ASIN B000005E83 (now also on the budget line Elatus, ASIN B00013UTC0), which is from March 3 of the same year. The Erato comes in much better sound (this one from Melodiya is in frustrating mono). Other Mravinsky performances include his first and studio recording from 24 April 1954, published on LP then CD by Saga, B00008FQC1 or B00000E7NT (and it is NOT "live" as the latter entry has it), and one from June 3, 1955 which, according to Amoh's discography, is the only Praga Mravinsky Shostakovich release that is not a fabrication: ASIN B000005W02. All the rest - symphonies 5, 6, 11 & 12 are recordings originally from Melodiya or BMG, to which Praga has added fake audience noises and attributed false dates to pass them off for concert recordings from the Prague Festival. See my comment under Santa Fe Listener's review of the Praga recording of Praga's box, B00003GPPT.
Symphonies 11, 12 and 15 come on the last volume and double-CD. It can be found individually under
Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 11, 12, 15 - Yevgeny Mravinsky. Volume 10 (2 Cds). The 11th is the widely circulated version from Feb. 2, 1959. It is the same as on Russian Revelation, ASIN B000006BB1 (incorrectly dated 1959/11/2). Only the Russian Disc CD, B000001LOS, is another and earlier performance, from Nov. 3, 1957. The Praga release, B00004YL76 (and apparently B000005W1D) is another of their frauds, the 1959 version with added audience noise.
Symphony No. 12 is a studio recording from October 1961. I have it on a 1986 Japanese Melodiya, VDC 1122, for once listed here, B0016BV1SW. It is the same, but faked, that is paired with the 6th on the Praga release referenced above. And it is again the same that is on Urania, B000VLVDQ8, fakely claimed to be the recording of the premiere performance. Fraudsters fraudsters fraudsters. The Erato version, B000005E84, is a later live recording from April 29 or 30, 1984, and Mravinsky's last recording. The same performance is on Russian Disc, B000001LN5.
Melodiya tells you here that Symphony No. 15 is a studio performance from May 26, 1965. Sure, you bet! The symphony was composed and premiered in 1971... What is the problem of all these labels with dates? More likely it is the widely circulated live performance from May 26, 1976. There is another Mravinsky recording from May 5, 1972, which was made available on LP by Melodiya in 1982; but it was in mono sound and was soon superseded by this stereo recording, first published by Melodiya in 1983. According to Amoh it was never reissued on CD, although that may have changed since 1999 (last update). Anyway the later version is the one you are likely to find on CD. I have it on an early Olympia release (paired with Stravinsky's Agon), B002QPKRSW (listed here in the books section, God knows why). The same is on BMG/Melodiya's previous Mravinsky edition, vol. 3, B000001HC9, with Agon also, and on an early Japanese Victor/Melodiya, VCD-1123, B000MVVDNK, with no pairing.
This same Melodiya box has another entry on this website,
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15; Song of the Forests (Box Set) [Box set], although it is offered on neither at the time of writing. But it does appear regularly on the famous auction site, and can be obtained not too expensive. That said, approach with some caution. These are not necessarily the most preferable Mravinsky versions if you have only one of each. It is better to get the later and/or stereo (Erato for instance) versions of Symphonies 5, 10, and possibly of 8 and 12 as well.
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