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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8- Stalingrad

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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

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.

P.S. 2012 - Looking back, I feel like a Muscovite who had only heard Russians play Gershwin. Previn's Shostakovich 8th seems like a fish out of water once we got to hear Petrenko and Gergiev, among others. I'll let the review stand just to remind myself of backward scenery.

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.

Deutsche Grammaphone has captured the London Symphony in a spectacular recording using its 4D technology. Unfortunatley, this is all it is. Previn's earlier Shosty's, the 5th with the Chicago Symphony and the 13th with this disc's ensemble, were superb. This 8th suffers from vastly overstated musical ideas, superficial lines and terribly slow tempi. Although the orchestra plays with exceptional virtuosity, the intensity is totally lacking. The opening figure has too much breadth, is too slow and, unfortunately, is reinforced thoughout with much predictability. Although the march is somewhat spirited, Previn undercuts its overall scope but sucking the breath out of it. By the time I reached the third movement climax, I stopped the CD player, exasperated from the incredibly banal experience.

Previn has become notorious in his later years for charging exhorbitant fees and less than exemplary recordings. His concert appearences fare much better, but after studying quite a number of accolades for this 1994 release, and buying and listening to it, I was terribly dismayed. Great recordings are becoming just that, marvels of aural engineering and nothing much else and this 8th, far surpassed in breadth, scope and nuance by Previn's former orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony on EMI, is or has become another forgettable addition to the classical CD catalog. If you don't care about solid interpretation or profound music making, but just a good sonic, digital recording, this is a good buy.

This is one of my absolute favorite pieces of music and André Previn introduced it to me in the early '70s with his outstanding recording heading the London Symphony Orchestra (Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8) -- but this is not that recording. This one was recorded in 1992 and presents an entirely different perspective on this most powerful of 20th Century symphonic masterpieces.

Here we have wartime tragedy (or abject totalitarianism, as has been suggested in recent biographies) depicted as austere resignation to a far-flung nightmare instead of immediate visceral horror; a subdued despair as rendered in extremely expansive tempos and the rounded crests of orchestral swells. The opening adagio movement is stretched to nearly twenty-eight minutes of orchestral strain, but the tension is more suggested than directly felt. The allegretto second movement and allegro march aren't the usual overt political head-banging and martial arrogance, but here are played as respites from the unbearable bleakness in which war casts all earthly pursuits. The symphony winds down in what has to be the most inhibited and restrained manner I've heard in this work, leading to its closing quietly optimistic notes hovering above a delicate cloud of underlying strings.

I didn't take to this interpretation at first; Previn seemed to have eschewed a formal Russian idiom for a more polite Western one. However, the LSO plays splendidly for their erstwhile music director and the performance receives an outstanding recording in Deutsche Grammophon's 4D technology. In my opinion, the likes of Haitink and Mravinsky are still preferable for a first-time listener to this music; or one might try Previn's early-'70s recording now that it's available again at a bargain price. Recently, others on a classical music board I frequent have written glowingly of recordings from Kondrashin, Barshai, and Rozhdestvensky, all of which I've yet to hear.

Sometimes music this powerful is more easily digested when delivered in the manner of this later Previn recording, but only as an alternative, lest the horror of war (or totalitarianism) be politely forgotten.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

The first time I heard Previn conducting anything was in the soundtrack to the original "Rollerball" film back in the 1970s. This symphony is about oppression of the individual, and when I listen I try to imagine what it would be like to exist under the conditions of a person living in Russia at any time during the first part of the 20th century. I think Previn does an amazing job at capturing that music. What some may find bland, I believe to be a sense of emotional detachment in the interpretation that portrays a sense of numbness. Numbness that you must have required to survive. But that's just part of the palette, and I think there's a lot more to this. You also get the violence, and ominous sense of power that the composer was attempting to portray. It's as if the symphony is laid out - Sense it Coming, Know Its Coming, See It Happen, I Am Still Here, Get Ready to Live With It. The London Symphony never sounded better. You do get the characteristic slickness of Deutsche Grammaphone recordings from this era, but I am a huge fan of the recordings they turned out in the seventies and eighties. I do find this recording to be far superior to Haitink's version with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. I personally find Previn's interpretation to be more lyrical when the score calls for contrast, and that his use of dynamics serves the material better.

I am not in position to say what's the best version for your money. But this and the Fifth are my two favorites by this composer. I am extremely happy with this version, and highly recommend you take a listen.

DG has once again ruined great Russian music with a trusted name. Jarvi and Shostakovich is also pretty much a blanket keep away also.

What is wrong with this Shostakovich 8th? In short it lacks tension and four out of the five movements are based on a certain amount of tension. This is the worse Shostakovich 8th on the market. Ironically the same symphony orchestra the LSO led by the same conductor Previn have the best performance of this work recorded back in 1973 and rereleased on EMI which I highly recommend.

If you must have an all DDD digital recording get Haitink or Jarvi. I suppose I would side with Haitink if only because it is recorded with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in their famous resonant hall.

Signed. The World's Greatest Shostakovich Fan

This is not my very favorite symphony by Shostakovich, but it is still good. (The Leningrad Symphony is my favorite so far. I only heard very few symphonies.)

Shostakovich's eighth symphony was one of the three special symphonies mainly mentioning about war. This was probably the least known of the three war symphonies, and also the most grim and most violent of all the musical works by Shostakovich. If you want to hear this music, I assure you to listen to Andre Previn's recording with the London Symphony Orchestra. This recording is better than other recordings of Shostakovicn's eighth I heard. Besides, I claim that CDs from the Deutsche Grammophon company give excellent sounds. For people who collect Shostakovich-ian music, this CD is perfect for the collection. And when you listen to the music, feel the terror, the panic, the pain, and the relief meaning peace at the very end of the music.