Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 [Original recording remastered]

Dmitri Shostakovich (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Conductor), New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
• Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
• Audio CD (September 14, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000K4J7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,856 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. 1. Moderato

2. 2. Allegretto

3. 3. Largo

4. 4. Allegro non troppo

5. 1. Allegro - Leonard Bernstein

6. 2. Moderato

7. 3. Presto

8. 4. Largo

9. 5. Allegretto - Leonard Bernstein

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Headstrong, April 21, 2005

By 

D. J. Zabriskie "zabdart" (Park Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 (Audio CD)

Recorded immediately after the New York Philharmonic's triumphal tour of the Soviet Union in 1959, this remains the most controversial recording of this symphony extant. Bernstein eschews the sarcastic wit and self-satire that Shostakovich wrote into the score for an emotionalism that is so compelling, it just carries you along with it... even when you are questioning his choices.
The young Leonard Bernstein had three very different and very contradictory influences as a conductor. From Dimitri Mitropoulos he got a sense of music as drama, a contiunal ebb and flow of tension. From Serge Koussevitzky he inherited a deep-rooted feeling for the poetry of music. From Fritz Reiner he learned a classical rigor and and a comprehensive knowledge of the score. Bernstein did not so much combine these influences as he sythesized them into a style all his own, marked by a broad dynamic pallette, stark shifts of tempi, and an emotional content that few other conductors could match. At his best, Bernstein produced moments where he seemed to disappear from the podium and channel the composer directly. At others, he could be almost perversely headstrong, as he is here... but in this case, BRILLIANTLY so.
At the core of Lenny's reading of the Shostakovich Fifth is a sense of this music's celebration of the heroism of the Russian people. Whether that is an expression of their heroism in triumphing over Hitler, or surviving Stalin, or their belief in Marx is not clear. At any event, this is the most "heroic" performance of this symphony you will ever hear, and as such it stands out.
Bernstein's approach to this music owes a lot to the Mitropoulos version (which has better orchestral balances and more striking detail), but differs from it in significant ways. First of all,
Lenny's tempi in the 2nd and 4th movements are noticeably quicker. This makes the scherzo a riot of drunken excess, sort of like Fyodor Karamazov set to music, but also imparts a real sense of impending danger to the music. The finale is taken at almost twice the pace that Shostakovich indicated in the score, replacing the composer's mashochistic satire with a sense of the heroism of triumph through endurance. Shostakovich himself expressed his pleasure (not the same as his approval) of this unorthodox approach after a live performance in Moscow by the NYPO.
In short, Lenny's version of the Shostakovich 5th may be totally wrong-headed, but it is so brilliant and compelling in its vision, however headstrong it may be, that you cannot deny its power. This will move you as few other performances of this symphony can.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential, July 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 (Audio CD)

Whatever you may think of Bernstein's interpretations of this or any other composer, you have to hear this disc. The slow movement of #5 is absolutely stunning- you will, as the audience was, be afraid to draw a single breath for fear of disturbing the rapturous aguish filling the hall. Bernstein and his orchestra fully plumb the depths of poigniant sadness inherent in this (and so much of Shostakovich's music). This is one of those times that unannealed magic was caught on a recording. Don't go one more day without this recording.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moment in history, but not as riveting as before, November 11, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 (Audio CD)

From the mid-Fifties to the mid-Sixties Leonard Bernstein had a complete grip on any "young people"--he didn't call us kids--who wanted to fall in love with classical music. It's hard to turn your back on the influence that shaped your taste, and this Shostakovich 5th was for an entire geneeration the very first time they had heard the work, or any Shostakovich symphony.

The detractors here are right in some respects. The sound, though detailed, is thin and noticeably shrill in the upper strings at forte or louder (they should have heard it before Sony's remastering). There is no muddiness in the bass, however. Bernstein doesn't see this as a savagely ironic or menacing work. But he still conceives a full specturm of emotions: The first movement is lyrical and reflective before the sudden intrusion of a powerful but not threatening march. The Scherzo is paced at medium speed and crisply played but again without satire or menace--LB was almost always positive in this phase of his career, the "Joy of Music" phase.

The Largo is tender, almost dreamy, taken broadly but without a hint of inward grief or respite from the preceding eruptions as some conductors play it. The finale, the touchstone of this performance, is exuberantly fast and triumphant. It comes off as a fitting conclusion--the only possible conclusion--to Bernstein's whole approach. He had no intention of using the Shostakovich 5th as a jab against the Soviet regime, and there's a good chance that the composer didn't, either. This was the work, after all, that he presented to regain favor with Stalin and his apparatchiks.

I must admit that I've gorwn to admire more intensely expressed performances that cover the political ground with a range of bitter, sorrowing, and satiric emotions. Bernstein's vision seems more limited, the piece less significant in his hands. But this was a moment that I can't quite shake.