Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 [Import]

Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Mstislav Rostropovich (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich
• Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich
• Audio CD (February 8, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Lso Live UK
• ASIN: B0006OR0EO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,096 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a gorgeous, powerful performance, May 29, 2005

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

This is the third recording Mstislav Rostropovich has made of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, and of the three it is the most beautiful. The LSO's musicians are superb, and Rostropovich, who knew Shostakovich and knows what the symphony is about, leads them in one of the best performances available. Why then only 4 stars? The problem is, Rostropovich is competing against himself. His first recording with his National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. in 1983 is the most powerful performance of the many I have heard. It is not beautiful, but given the nature and subject of the work, beautiful is not the most important attribute -- what it has is relentless momentum and streamlined power. It is the most complete realization of Rostropovich's vision of the 5th. Unfortunately that DG disc is out of print.

Of the currently available recordings, this one, live in July 2004, takes its place as one of the finest, along with Mravinsky, Haitink and Gergiev (see my reviews). If you have not heard the 5th, or if you are collecting superior versions, do not hesitate! So far, Rostropovich and the LSO have brought forth great Shostakovich in the LSO Live series -- their 11th Symphony is one of the finest ever (see my review). In July we have their latest, the 8th Symphony, to look forward to!

See my SHOSTAKOVICH: A LISTENER'S GUIDE for more on the great Dmitri Shostakovich.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favorite recordings!, November 11, 2006

By 

E Boomer "EBB" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

This recording impeccably expresses all of effects and affects in this work: joy, wit, fear, sadness, sarchasm, and bitter irony. Many other interpretations seem to treet this piece more as a collection of melodies, but this interpretation expresses the sinister sneering of the lower octaves of the piano in the first movement, and the epic rises and falls between trebble and bass, the infectuous fun of the second movement's dancing up and down the octaves, the brooding of the third movement, the signaling of the fanfare of the typical Beethovenian finale, the changing of tone as this falls to the sneering of the bass, and the sarchasm of the timpani in the final cadential notes of the piece, ending the piece on more of an uneasy question mark than on the forced exclamation point heard in other interpretations.
The tempo is very natural; it never feels rushed, and yet the music keeps flowing steadilly. I have 4 complete recordings of this work: this one conducted by Rostropovich, the one from the Kondrashin set, the one from the Barshai set, and the one by Bernstein that seems to get the best reviews. I am also an audiophile and have a decent system, decent enough to be dissapointed int the recording quality of many of my classical recordings - in particular, many digital recordings tend to sound irritatingly dry and glassy. This recording is among the absolute best I have in terms of sound quality; sound quality really doesn't get much better than this, it's lucious. Unless there is something faily specific you're looking for in a recording of this work, you will not be dissapointed.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Rostropovich's Best Recordings, April 30, 2006

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

Acclaimed cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich leads the London Symphony Orchestra in a vibrant performance that should be regarded as distinguished for the conductor's emphasis of the score's rich architecture, via somewhat slower tempi than similar recordings I have heard from the likes of Leonard Bernstein and Bernard Haitink. Still, Rostropovich manages to capture the spacious, almost Mahlerian, quality of the symphony's first movement. The symphony's second movement sounds like some crazy dance mixed with drunken waltz and march rhythms, with less than a brisk Allegretto tempo than I have heard elsewhere, but under Rostropovich's superb conducting, it still sounds quite credible. For me, the most viscerally moving movement is the symphony's third movement, a Largo which is emphasized via Rostropovich's slow tempi, accentuating the score's pathos and despair. The symphony's fourth movement is a dazzling rush of sound, with an ending that sounds most reminiscent of the final notes of Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra. Composed in 1937, Shostakovich's 5th Symphony was his understated tribute to fellow Soviet citizens ensnared by the deadly bureaucracy of Stalin's dictatorship. Needless to say, Rostropovich has led the London Symphony Orchestra in a quite moving, dramatic performance of this symphony that has been recorded well by the LSO Live sound engineers. Indeed, without question, this splendid performance is Rostropovich's dignified musical tribute to his late friend and mentor, Dmitri Shostakovich.