Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 9 & 12 [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD - DSD, Import]

Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Mark Wigglesworth (Conductor), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth
• Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich
• Audio CD (September 25, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD, Import
• Label: Bis
• ASIN: B000VKKV3U
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,675 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70: 1. Allegro

2. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70: 2. Moderato

3. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70: 3. Presto

4. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70: 4. Largo

5. Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70: 5. Allegretto - Allegro

6. Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112 (The Year 1917 - in Memory of Lenin): 1. Revolutionary Petrograd

7. Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112 (The Year 1917 - in Memory of Lenin): 2. Razliv

8. Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112 (The Year 1917 - in Memory of Lenin): 3. Aurora

9. Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112 (The Year 1917 - in Memory of Lenin): 4. The Dawn of Humanity

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great 12, and a very good 9, October 12, 2007

By 

A. Vetter "dschlver" (NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 9 & 12 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

I really enjoyed the "Babi Yar" from these same forces. It is a whirlwind recording that competes well with Haitink's 1980's version. With bated breath, I ordered this and now don't regret it. The sonics are excellent. Percussion is present, winds are strong and the strings are excellent.
The 12th is outstanding. While not on par with the emotional depth of other symphonies, when played this well, it is a great experience. The only other versions that can compete are Haitink, Mravinsky, and Jarvi.
I am truly looking forward to the newest releases in this series.
Kudo's to the engineers, players, and Mark Wigglesworth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Throughly excellent, but a game of two halves, July 15, 2010

By 

J. S. Bower "Jon Bower" (England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 9 & 12 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

This is an intriguing and thoroughly recommendable coupling of two very different Shostakovich symphonies.

The 9th is a small (but definitely not minor) masterpiece; the 12th is, despite Wigglesworth's earnest defence and reading of the piece, a piece of hackwork - the sort of thing Shostakovich had to resort to from time to time, when things got rough, to placate Stalin and his court philistines.

The 9th almost got Shostakovich in deep water; composed just after the war, and following the epic 8th and 9th symphonies, the apparat expected a like-minded, vast, noisy paean to victory in the Great Patriotic War. Instead, they received this short, lightweight Haydn-esque symphony. And, this being Shostakovich, the ambiguity and anguish behind the forced gaiety of the last movement is not difficult to discern. This was risky stuff; however, Shostakovich got away with it, and for the usual reason; the officials were too stupid to recognise the ambiguity, or simply found it more convenient to accept the shiny, happy facade and ignore the darker depths of the symphony.

Wigglesworth gets this double-meaning just right; this is a near perfect and superbly played performance- one of the very best 9ths I have heard- and I have heard quite a few, live and recorded. The grimace and tears behind the high jinks are not rammed down our throats, but they cannot be ignored. We will flog you until you dance...

And what are we to make of the 12th? I feel Shostakovich may have been telling us something by writing his weakest symphony for the 'successful' 1917 Revolution; by contrast, his take on the failed 1905 Little Revolution produced incomparably greater music. Go, figure. This shouldn't take too much brainpower, though...

As with this entire cycle, Wigglesworth's reading is direct, considered and thoughtful. However, it cannot hide the vacuum behind the bombast.

Like his previous Shostakovich recordings on BIS, the sound on both these symphonies is simply stunning; transparent, vivid and explosive. Well done, BIS engineers!

And now a surreal aside for you. Notice how the main motif of the first movement of the 12th, which returns at the end of the finale (at around 110 decibels) is based on the great Goodies rendition of 'I have a ferret sticking up my nose'. Yes, really. Nice post-modern irony, Dmitrij Dmitrievic ! And who would have thought that repeats of 'The Goodies' were available on State TV?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give the 12th Symphony a Chance, May 16, 2010

By 

Martin R. Lash (Sister Bay, Wisc) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 9 & 12 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

It is very fashionable to trash Shostakovich's 12th Symphony. True, it is no masterpiece but with repeat hearings I find it to be not that bad. OK, it does not have the depth of the 8th or 10th or the mystery of the 15th but it has good moments and I wish people would give it a chance. It has the composer's characteristic big statements, especially in the first and fourth movements. The 12th proves that Shostakovich's "worst" is much better than the best of other Russian composers such as Khachaturian or Myaskovsky. The performance here by Wigglesworth is astonishing and has BIS' amazing sonics. That percussion really leaps out. Try this CD. You will not be disappointed.