Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8- Stalingrad

Dmitri Shostakovich (Composer), Andre Previn (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Andre Previn
• Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
• Audio CD (July 18, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GJ5
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,901 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful performance of a Shostakovich masterpiece, July 21, 2000

By 

N. Daniele Pietro "hyperdanny" (Milano, MI Italy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8- Stalingrad (Audio CD)

When the 8th symphony came out, audiences & critics alike were admired but somewhat perplexed: two years after the 1941 "Leningrad"symphony , everybody was expecting something closer to a triumphal "Victory" symphony , but they got a very different thing. For sure the 8th is long&monumental, but it's a very dark, craggy monumentality indeed, complicately laid out in several movements. So, until recently , the 8th has been overshadowed in popularity by other Shostakovich "war" symphonies, sometimes understandably (5th), sometimes not (7th, which sounds somewhat dated nowadays). The I movement sets the tone: it's an immense , incredibly tense Adagio dominated by the strings, building up to a shattering, anguished climax. This movement also features the famous cor anglais solo, here beautifully played in all its desolate poignancy. The II mov. is spectral and menacing, something like a waltz genetically contaminated by a march. The III mov. is perhaps my all-time Shostakovich favorite highlight : it's a relentless, machine -like ostinato in the vein of the so-called "Nazi-march" of the "Leningrad", but even more inexorable and totally terrifying. With Shostakovichian dark humour, it leads directly to a grotesquely chilling Scherzo section , halfway between vaudeville and Greek Tragedy. The IV is a "suspension" mov. , delicately scored for woodwinds and strings, so providing the necessary repose for the long finale. This begins deceptively, in almost neo-classical gestures, but then it gradually builds up to a last series of clashing chords. After them, the hushed conclusion of the symphony is entrusted to ethereal but somewhat "exhausted" string textures. No final apotheosis, not even one of the very ambiguous kind that uniquely Shostakovich could write ( 7th, 10th). Just a hint of hope, maybe, but not for the present. Andre' Previn already made a milestone recording of the 8th with the LSO in the 70's and it's very good that he chose to re-record it in digital sound, because the results are striking. I've always regarded Previn's straighforward approach to Shostakovich as the best "non-Russian" approach to this music: polished without being superficially glossy, well aware of the anguished undercurrents without the anxiousness to find a portrait of Stalin every five bars . (a very common and annoying practice , these days). Also, the LSO plays superbly for him, with, for example, strings which display that "razor" quality normally associated with the best Russian orchestras. The DG sound is big and full, somebody could find it overbearing, but I think it's perfectly suited to the massive, block-like orchestration of this magnificent symphony. Also recommended: Shostakovich 10&13/Previn/LSO/Emi

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice surprise, but then, Previn excels in Shostakovich, September 23, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8- Stalingrad (Audio CD)

I am a non-fan where Previn is concerned, but he has made two very good recordings of the Shostakovich Eighth--this is the second, better played and recorded one; the first was for EMI. I decided to put this reading up against Gergiev's on Philips, expecting it to be no contest in A-B listening. In fact, Previn got better playing and more excitement out of the orchestra--is this really the usually laid-back Previn?--and darker colors from the music itself. For some listeners the fact that Previn is very slow and deliberate in the first movement--27 min. ocmpared to 25 min. for both Haitink on Decca nad Bychkov on Philips--may be a consideration. But he makes something tragic out of that marathon movement, as he does with every part of the score.

All in all, one of the best Eighths, even if no one has come close to Mravinsky in this work.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent performance, brilliant symphony, March 23, 2002

By 

Paul E. Harrison (Stuart, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8- Stalingrad (Audio CD)

Shostakovich's attack on war, Symphony No 8, is a profoundly disturbing piece of music. Written in a period of weeks after the composer had been whisked away from the danger in Leningrad, it was written at a moment when the composer thought it was safe to be more openly negative about the events unfurling around him. Alas, immediately after the war, this brilliant symphony was used as evidence of Shostakovich's disloyalty to the Communist Regime and tendency to "formalism" and he was blackballed by the Soviet musical establishment.

This is a symphony that attacks every aspect of war, from an initial, long, overview, through a vicious lampooning of the politics that lead to wars occuring, a graphic metaphorical depiction of the war machine as some unstoppable train, and a tremendously sad, hopeless ending. It's graphic, it's relentless, and it's a brilliant Shostakovich work.

Andre Previn conducts the LSO for this performance. It's played slowly and carefully and is a brilliant performance. My personal favourate is that of Bernard Haitink/Concertgebouw Orchestra (ASIN B00004WFQD), but this is a great alternative and worth having in your collection.