# Best Version of Shostakovich's 6th Symphony?



## iracema1 (Mar 2, 2011)

Hi Everyone:

For my very first posting I wanted to ask people which version of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6 the like best? Franz Welser-Most and the Cleveland Orchestra are going to be performing it here in SF on Sunday night...and I would love a good basis of comparison...according to the knowledge and experience of the people on this list! Thanks in advance!

andy


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Samurai,... 

Just getting into them now, I look forward to hearing more about this myself.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Me too. I'm not an expert, but so far, personally, I like Kondrashin and the Moscow Phil. But that may be a personality quirk in me; I tend to like how Shostakovich sounds recorded by the old Russian studios. 

Dominy Clements says of the last movement, "It is that sensation of having climbed out of a deep gloomy cave into a mad festival of absurd and colourful cavorting that makes this recording immediately memorable."


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Well, I just heard a rendition on *Spotify *by the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein of the *6th* *Symphony *and it was pretty good; I'll have to listen to some Russian conductors as well before I can really say which one is "definitive", if that's even possible! But if you have access to *Spotify *where you are, you could compare versions and hear which one best suits your taste.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

Definitive or best is quite subjective but my favorite recordings of the Shostakovich symphonies are those with Vladamir Ashkenazy conducting. A twelve CD set collects all his recordings together or you can buy just the 6th symphony paired with the 1st. Samurai mentioned Spotify and it is a very good resource for hearing various version and the Ashkenazy set is available on there.



















Kevin


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

@ KP, Thanks for mentioning that; I am about to explore the Ashkenazy Cycle on* Spotify* during the course of the next few weeks or so. At my age, what once took days now involves weeks instead.


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