# SS 07.03.15 - Shostakovich #7 "Leningrad"



## realdealblues

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)*

Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 "Leningrad"

1. Allegretto
2. Moderato (poco allegretto)
3. Adagio
4. Allegro non troppo

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues

I couldn't say which Shostakovich symphony is my favorite but this one is up there. I need to go back and spend a month or two really concentrating on Shostakovich's symphonies again. Anyway, looking forward to hearing this work again. I was going to go for a new recording this weekend but I changed my mind and decided to listen to my favorite performance.

View attachment 65614


Leonard Bernstein/Chicago Symphony Orchestra


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## elgar's ghost

I hardly ever listen to a Shostakovich symphony in isolation, so I know in advance what most of tomorrow's listening is going to consist of!

As for the 7th, I'm going to give Haitink a breather and choose one of my other two:


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## csacks

What a strong piece for the week end. I started listening to Shostakovich because of this forum, and this 7th symphony reflected so well my idea about Stalingrad´s terrible episodes that it caught me. I will listen to Kurt Masur and New York Philharmonic






.


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## shadowdancer

I will listen to Bernstein's NYPO







I also have the Haitink's cyle. Maybe a nice contrast. Let's give both a try


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## hpowders

realdealblues said:


> I couldn't say which Shostakovich symphony is my favorite but this one is up there. I need to go back and spend a month or two really concentrating on Shostakovich's symphonies again. Anyway, looking forward to hearing this work again. I was going to go for a new recording this weekend but I changed my mind and decided to listen to my favorite performance.
> 
> View attachment 65614
> 
> 
> Leonard Bernstein/Chicago Symphony Orchestra


I have this recording and for me, it's as good as it gets for this symphony.


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## ptr

Even if Shostakovich is one of my solid top ten composers, the seventh is not one of my favourites among his symphonies.. I'll still join in this Saturday!







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Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest onder leiding van Rafaël Kubelik (Recorded 9 February 1950)

/ptr


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## MagneticGhost

ptr said:


> Even if Shostakovich is one of my solid top ten composers, the seventh is not one of my favourites among his symphonies.. I'll still join in this Saturday!


Fully in accord with your thoughts there Mr ptr.

Will listen to Petrenko as I've heard good things about his Shosty but never heard any of the performances


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## JACE

I'll likely go with either *Rozhdestvensky/USSR Ministry of Culture SO* or *Kondrashin, Moscow PO*.


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## MagneticGhost

Where did you get your boxset of Rozhdestvensky from JACE. Had them all on Vinyl and have been looking to get the CDs but have had no luck?


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## JACE

MagneticGhost said:


> Where did you get your boxset of Rozhdestvensky from JACE. Had them all on Vinyl and have been looking to get the CDs but have had no luck?


I found a reasonably-priced set on ebay a few years ago.

I got lucky. It seems to be fetching really high prices now. For example, the one set now available on amazon (through a reseller) is priced at $172!


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## MagneticGhost

Yep -- just found it at £80 on Amazon. When I've searched Rozhdestvensky and USSR it didn't come up. So all this time I've presumed they hadn't been transferred onto CD. 
I just searched using Symphonies 1-15 - then I found it.
Oh Well - I can but put it on my wishlist and wait for someone to sell their's at a sensible price


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## JACE

One other thought:

Melodiya has been reissuing many recordings in their back catalog over the last couple years. I bet they'll eventually get around to Rozhdestvensky's DSCH.


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## GioCar

Rudolf Barshai/WDR Symphony Orchestra for me


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## D Smith

Ha ha, I just listened to this a couple weeks ago, but once again won't hurt me. Masur/NYP


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## Art Rock

The disc form the Barshai box, and also:


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## brotagonist

I'll give my Rostropovich/National SO album a rest, since I played it recently, and go with this one:

Gergiev/Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Live at the Konzerthaus Wien, 4.12.2010


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## Mahlerian

Probably won't listen to it after this for quite a long time...it's not a work I'm fond of.


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## techniquest

I'm going to have to do a 'Sunday Symphony' for this one as I'm busy all day tomorrow. However, I shall really enjoy this weekends' listening as it's a symphony I've loved for many years. I shall opt for these two recordings:


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## Marschallin Blair

techniquest said:


> I'm going to have to do a 'Sunday Symphony' for this one as I'm busy all day tomorrow. However, I shall really enjoy this weekends' listening as it's a symphony I've loved for many years. I shall opt for these two recordings:
> View attachment 65650
> 
> 
> View attachment 65651


I love the hammer of the Bournemouth/Berglund in the last movement- "Victory"- of the _Leningrad Symphony_.

The Jarvi is my favorite _Leningrad_ overall- for the positively fierce last movement and great horn build up at the end.


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## Delicious Manager

elgars ghost said:


> I hardly ever listen to a Shostakovich symphony in isolation, so I know in advance what most of tomorrow's listening is going to consist of!
> 
> As for the 7th, I'm going to give Haitink a breather and choose one of my other two:


The alto CD is interesting as it is a recording that was never made. Konstantin Ivanov never recorded the _Leningrad_ Symphony. This recording is, in fact, the one by Kirill Kondrashin with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra - a version I know intimately and rank as one of the finest _Leningrad_s on disc. I wonder how it got to be labelled so wrongly?


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## brotagonist

I have just listened to it. I admit that I was somewhat distracted, so I didn't give the work my undivided attention. I heard it a few weeks ago. Mahlerian had said that it was not great, so I wanted to relisten. I gave it a relatively critical listen, with dimmed lights, sprawled on the floor, all ears. At the time, I rather liked the bolero-like climb, but it did seem lengthy. Nevertheless, I found it to be enjoyable. Shostakovich has a good sense of instrumentation, I think, and I always enjoy hearing his ideas. Today, however, albeit somewhat distracted, I found it lengthy and aimless. I asked myself: This is a war? Where's the action? It's odd how different psychological states of attention and inattention can affect one's perceptions.


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## Balthazar

I will be listening to Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic from 1962.


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## elgar's ghost

Delicious Manager said:


> The alto CD is interesting as it is a recording that was never made. Konstantin Ivanov never recorded the _Leningrad_ Symphony. This recording is, in fact, the one by Kirill Kondrashin with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra - a version I know intimately and rank as one of the finest _Leningrad_s on disc. I wonder how it got to be labelled so wrongly?


Well, apart from thanks for the info I don't really know what to say other than the liner notes mentioning that Ivanov disliked the process of recording in the studio, but I would have had no idea at all that this recording may have been made by someone else!


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## Skilmarilion

Mahlerian said:


> Probably won't listen to it after this for quite a long time...it's not a work I'm fond of.


Credit to you for listening anyway. :tiphat:

I am also not a fan, but will give the Jansons a spin, with the Leningrad Philharmonic. If I get restless, I may skip the first movement before the invasion theme!

(the slow movement is a quite enjoyable, it has to be said)


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## elgar's ghost

Mahlerian said:


> Probably won't listen to it after this for quite a long time...it's not a work I'm fond of.


You'll soon feel better afterwards knowing that you took one for the team. :tiphat:


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## Skilmarilion

btw, how did #7 make it into the top 100 and yet #15 didn't make the list at all?

Can we re-do the symphonies list?


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## D Smith

Skilmarilion said:


> btw, how did #7 make it into the top 100 and yet #15 didn't make the list at all?
> 
> Can we re-do the symphonies list?


I agree with this. His Symphony 15 is a unique masterpiece. I think I'll listen to it today, too!


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## Triplets

I am on vacation so I listened to Barshai on my phone. I had downloaded the complete set for about $15 but had not listened to 7 for the fist time.


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## Mahlerian

Skilmarilion said:


> btw, how did #7 make it into the top 100 and yet #15 didn't make the list at all?
> 
> Can we re-do the symphonies list?


I'm wondering how #7 is nearly 30 places above #4, which the composer himself acknowledged was a far superior work.


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## brotagonist

Skilmarilion said:


> btw, how did #7 make it into the top 100 and yet #15 didn't make the list at all?


Well, some of us like the Bolero-like movement, you like the slow one (I take it you mean the third), so we'll put our heads together and vote... and another masterpiece is born


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## GreenMamba

I'm going to give Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Orchestra a chance to win me over on this one.


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## Mika

Gergiev & Mariinsky Orchestra


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## Skilmarilion

brotagonist said:


> Well, some of us like the Bolero-like movement, you like the slow one (I take it you mean the third), so we'll put our heads together and vote... and another masterpiece is born.


Well, the jury's still out on movements 2 and 4. Lets say movements 1 and 3 cancel each other out. No signs of a masterpiece here, I'm afraid. 

It's not even the first movement that I don't like, it's simply 5 mins of it, which in this performance is from about 13:00 to 18:40:






The rest of the work has some strong moments (those violins in the adagio are lovely and the music either side of the invasion theme is quite enjoyable). But those 5 mins ... 

I think a listening of the 15th is in order.


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## Vaneyes

Recorded in the Caird Hall, Dundee, Scotland, February 22, 23, 1988. Recording Engineer: Ralph Couzens.


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## Haydn man

GioCar said:


> Rudolf Barshai/WDR Symphony Orchestra for me


Bit late this week but I shall try this version


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## MoonlightSonata

There's a rather good book about this symphony and how it was written - Sarah Quigley's _The Conductor_. It is fictionalised, but still very interesting.


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## TurnaboutVox

I'm still fond of this symphony, probably because I discovered it when I was about the age MoonlightSonata is now. I got the Berglund / Bournemouth SO version out of Aberdeen's splendid record library and recorded it on a C-60 cassette some time in the '70s and I've been kind of hooked ever since (on the 'invasion theme' movement especially). The cassette is long gone, lost in multiple moves over the decades.

I have two versions now, the Jaarvi / SNO on LP and a newly acquired Petrenko / Royal Liverpool PO CD on Naxos, and that's what I went with today. It's still a very enjoyable work.

*Shostakovich
Symphony No 7 'Leningrad', Op. 60*
Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Phil. Orchestra [Naxos, 2013]


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## Autocrat

I listened to Haitink/ London Philharmonic Orchestra via Spotify.









Recording was very good quality, performance seemed good but I find this symphony underwhelming.


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## hpowders

If you haven't yet done so, give the Bernstein/Chicago Symphony "live" performance a listen. Overwhelming!


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## MagneticGhost

hpowders said:


> If you haven't yet done so, give the Bernstein/Chicago Symphony "live" performance a listen. Overwhelming!


It's on my list Good Sir!


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## brotagonist

MoonlightSonata said:


> There's a rather good book about this symphony and how it was written - Sarah Quigley's _The Conductor_. It is fictionalised, but still very interesting.


That does sound interesting.

I think I am underestimating this symphony. There's definitely something there I'm missing. I am not saying I am averse to it, but parts sound fabulous and other parts seem confusing. I just can't seem to make sense of it.


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## techniquest

I listened to the Kitajenko recording with the Gurzenich-Orchester Koln on Capriccio from the box set of complete symphonies. I know this symphony well having been listening to it since I was in my mid teens and I find it's a very difficult one to get right on a recording, maybe because it's so long, or maybe because it involves so many players.
This recording is rather an odd one. The opening sounds light and Kitajenko makes a point of clipping all the notes so that there are forced little rests between them. I don't have the score, so I don't know if this is what the composer intended, but it's an effect that I don't recall hearing with this intensity anywhere else. Being that it's up-to-the-minute digital recording, I expect there to be a a good sound - and there is - but there are some other little annoying things: at the very start of the invasion theme, you really need to turn up the volume to hear anything at all; keep it like that and by the end of this part the walls will be crashing down around you - especially considering how the bass drum is recorded in the last variation/verse/round of the theme. Also, where is the tambourine in one of the later variations of this theme? Still in the percussion cupboard methinks.
The middle two movements fair best for me on this recording, though the first half of the finale is also very good. In conclusion, this is not a recording I'd go for if I were going out to buy a 'Leningrad Symphony'. I would on the other hand most definitely go for the Berglund / Bournemouth SO recording on EMI Classics 'double fforte'. This blistering rendition has all the soul and depth that's missing from the Kitajenko, plus it's coupled with Berglund's magnificent recording of the 11th. The only problem is, it's a bit of a tough one to find.
On the budget side, I'd recommend going for Petrenko's new recording for Naxos rather than the Barshai one on Regis, as the latter is one of the few weaker readings in the otherwise superb cycle.
By the way, another book worth reading is "Leningrad - Siege and Symphony" by Brian Moynahan.


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## Lord Lance

This live performance from Jansons and his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Although I cannot make much of the work itself - it seems like a big Russian mess to these untrained ears - the performance itself is absolutely recommendable.


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## Lord Lance

Mahlerian said:


> I'm wondering how #7 is nearly 30 places above #4, which the composer himself acknowledged was a far superior work.


Populism? The work is much more appealing because of its "epic length" and the invasion theme. Not to mention the bombast.


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## manyene

I missed the 'Saturday listen to the Leningrad Symphony' feature but would have put up the Petrenko version. I had the good fortune to hear the live performance of this three years ago in the Philharmonic Hall, and was nearly convinced: the final movement with its augmented brass (deployed across the back of the stage) was quite an experience, but sober reflection afterwards and the appearance of the rest of the cycle put it back in its rightful place in my estimation above the 3rd but a long way behind the 4th, which has been the subject of recent discussion on this forum.


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## techniquest

I'd just like to quickly mention another Naxos recording of this symphony; no, not the old CSRSO / Slovak one, but the Russian Philharmonic / Yablonsky recording on SACD and audio DVD from 2003. This is a really good reading of the work and it is also very nicely recorded. If you have the opportunity to listen to it, give it a try.


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## Zarathustra

Kondrashin Moscow on the weekend and Mariss Jansons St Petersburg today.


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## Shostakovichfan01

My number 1 = Jewgeni Swetlanow; Staatliches Sinfonieorchester der UDSSR (State Symphony Orchestra of the Soviet Union); on vinyl // in a box with all symphonies by Shostakovich (Kondrashin, Mrawinsky and Swetlanow)


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## hpowders

I still prefer Bernstein/Chicago "live".


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## jdec

hpowders said:


> If you haven't yet done so, give the Bernstein/Chicago Symphony "live" performance a listen. Overwhelming!


YES, Totally true.


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