Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Cello Concerto No. 1

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 and the Cello Concerto featured here are great recordings, but I would suggest buying different CDs. First, I find the Bernstein Century version of the 5th Symphony to be superior in terms of emotional quality to this Bernstein version, and the Bernstein Century disc includes Shostakovich's 9th Symphony as well. However, you should be aware that the Bernstein Century performance is from 1959 (though it sounds amazing!), and this one is a digital recording from the 80s. In terms of the Cello Concerto, the exact same recording is available on a Yo-Yo Ma CD that couples the Shostakovich with the incredible Kabalevsky Cello Concerto. I know it costs more to purchase two discs than one, but the additional music is just so good you shouldn't skip it. Trust me, I bought this title first, then traded it in for the Bernstein Century and the Shostakovich/Kabalevsky. Don't repeat my mistake.

The 1979 Live Tokyo performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is the one I listen to the most. I know a lot of people prefer the 1959 performance (available on Sony coupled with the 9th) and say to avoid this '79 performance. I personally find both performances to be indispensable. The '59 is a classic and historically important performance with very contrasting tempos and moods, with a very nervous feel to it. This '79 performance is much grander and creepier, taking its time to let the terror and paranoia sink in. I find it to be the most frightening performance i have heard of this symphony. The final timpani and bass drum blows are as brutal as you can get.

I encourage you not to think in terms of which of Bernstein's recordings is "better". Instead, one should appreciate the drastically different approach he took with this piece 20 years after. I would get both, but if you can only buy one, you really can't go wrong with either.

This CD has the ultimate Leonard Bernstein performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. He paces the first movement slower than his overrated 1959 recording, giving it time to develop,making the sinister march sound very well integrated into the score and hence, much more menacing. The scherzo is paced and played flawlessly, correcting Bernstein's earlier romp. The Largo is played to maximum intensity and the finale is one of the best "triumphant" recordings out there. It's fast but not too fast and sounds all the more satisfying. The performance all around is very intense and not at all flaccid or plodding as the review below this says, it's just that Bernstein takes his time to develop the themes, with very rewarding results. The sound quality is superb, with great detail and massive brass.
The Cello Concerto no. 1 is played flawlessly by Yo-Yo Ma, under Eugene Ormandy's masterful baton, with excellent orchestral accompaniment.
In short if you were considering Bernstein's earlier performance on "Bernstein Century", skip it and get this one instead.

This is an exciting and well played recording of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Leonard Bernstein was one of the best interpreters of the Fifth Symphony. Even Shostakovich himself thought so. Yo-Yo Ma performs the Cello Concerto almost flawlessly.

This is an excellent interpretation of 2 of shostakovich's most wonderful works. The orchestra is so sensitive to the music, and it is truly moving, even on cd. Yo Yo Ma recording a not so often played piece is more than excellent, as he always is. Every cellist should own this!

Bernstein was one of the greatest Shostakovich conductor at the time, and for a while the 1958 recording had been my very favorite. The tempo was definitely at its most satiable, especially with the fourth movement. His anguisehd emotions were there, and so were his triumphant vigor. The bad news is that despite its intensity (and being overrated), the sound quality is poor and saps away the color of the instruments, making it sounds like some high school orchestra performance just playing music without music.... or in better terms, it's like dining a beef steak without its delicious juice.

I came to become much more satisfied when I heard this performance. The tempi wasn't as demanding, but it did give a much more refined, cleaner performance. The sound quality was much better at the time as well. The quality really gives out the emotions Bernstein could have really conveyed. I can consider this a fully-done recording, and Lenny, and the recording, has done a magnificent job.

I own several other versions of this monumental symphony and this one is my favorite. I also own an earlier Bernstein version that has inexplicably rushed tempo for the last movement, but he nails it on this recording. The ending in particular is great. The strings hit the defiant middle finger note over and over as if to say to the Soviet 'authorities,' "There. Is this simple enough for you?" And it is simple. Simply brilliant and wonderful.

Haitink's version is way too slow and ponderous even though he's one of my favorite conductors. Another live recording out there is not the best quality. So this is the one you should get.

Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 is transcendant. Mesmerizing. Haunting. Riveting. Resplendent. Beyond words.

Great performances here. Buy this recording.

This is a response to the previous review by Fazal Majid.

I couldn't possibly agree with you more. So slow, so dull. I had never heard another version before this one, and I thought that I didn't like the symphony. But actually, the symphony is very nice - it's Bernstein's rendition that I don't like. This symphony, like most of Shostakovich's work, needs a little speed to give it some life. I subsequenly bought the Ashkenazy 2004 live recording, whose timings by movement are almost identical to Mravinsky's. I'm waiting for it to be delivered now, and have high hopes for it. I already own Ashkenazy's recording of Shostakovich's 7th, and it's very good - fleet, unemotional, direct and exciting.

I've listened to my fair share of Shostakovich Fifths, among the better Stokowski and Gergiev. Even though those two versions are good and enjoyable, they simply don't make the same impact as Bernstein's interpretation. There's a reason Shostakovich said that Bernstein was his favorite American conductor for his music. It's because Lenny could bring out all the emotialism and chilliness at the same time. So while Stokowski is admirable, and Gergiev is more 'Russian', they are both too stilted in interpretation.

Bernstein and the NYPO bring out all the drama in the first movement, the macabre element in the second, the pang of despair in the third, and most importantly they raise the roof in the finale.

A young Yo-Yo Ma teamed with a great Ormandy & Philadelphia bring the Cello Concerto No.1 to life. It's almost a shame Shostakovich didn't write a third concerto for cello, because his often pessimistic tone in this one is a perfect fit for the instrument.

Both these performances are recorded live, but neither contains any coughing or hacking. The sound is so good that you won't even notice the fact that they were recorded live. You can also buy Bernstein's earlier reading of the Fifth (coupled with the Ninth) on Sony. But this one is just as good, and you get a great performance of the first Cello Concerto. All at bargain price (especially if you buy it used!)

After the well known public performance of Shostakovich's Fifth of those late Fifties, Bernstein never let of thinking about this legendary and emblematic Symphony. As a matter of fact, this live recording, that dates from 1979 at Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo I would dare to state this was perhaps more mature, sinister and better constructed performance respect the widely known version previously cited.

As I have commented in other reviews about Leonard Bernstein, his musical approach and even his inner vision about the music seemed to enhance, since 1971 when he had his first encounter with the Vienna Philharmonic.

The timings in general are more loaded of ferrous intensity, a major and zealous analysis of the weight and expansiveness of sound, much more deeper and sustained that conferred his performances of major solidity and full rounded specific weight.

For instance, if you remind the last movement of his previous version you must agree t was excessively fast until becoming hyper kinetic.

In this case, we have a fabulous recording with a director (who was by then in his 61) in the peak of his powers, making a superb performance from start to finish.

The Cello Concerto by Yo Yo Ma is fine but this version has a name and surname, Rostropovich in the magisterial version of the middle Fifties.