Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 ("The Year of 1905")

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This is one of the most distinguished work of Shostakovich, and tells about "1905 Revolution" (09.01.1905).
This symphony required a large orchestra (ex. 23 winds, large percussion section including bells, gong, snare drums etc., 4 harps and about 80 strings...)

And this record really good... Ladislav Slovak already recorded complete symphonies of Shostakovich (these symphonies available in box set) and he stutied with Shostakovich and Mravinsky...
His tempi are normal, neither very slow nor very fast in 2nd movement (The Ninth of January) and at massacre scene his tempo is slow. This is not bad, but in Mariss Jansons' excellent recording (in EMI) he taked fast tempo and this version (of course) more impressive.Even, in Neeme Jarvi's recording (in DG) he taked faster (about Presto) tempo, and this is unbelievable.
But this Slovak recording still good and reliable. And I suppose, he added some echo effects at 4th movement and he obtained very impressive influence...

At this price, you can buy this CD without hesitate, and you won't be dissapointed. Highly recommended...

After reading reviews of other performances of Shostakovich's symphonies by Slovak, I hesitated about the quality of this one. The others seemed to be very mixed, some good but others very bad.

However, after picking this CD up I had no hesitations. It captures the essence of Shostakovich's music beautifully, and one can immediately imagine what he is getting at in his music. The agony, the death, the aftermath all are here in full clarity. Both the recording and the conducting are top notch.

Don't hesitate to add this to your collection, it is certainly worth more than its price.