# Shostakovich - 4th Symphony - good recordings?



## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

I'm a big fan of Shostakovich's 4th. Symphony -

but I haven't found "the perfect recording" (according to my own taste, of course!)

Can anyone help with good suggestions?!

I have the following recordings of the 4th:

-Kondrashin's recordings with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Moscow Philharmonic.
-Barshai
-Jansons
-Previn
-Haitink (London and Chicago)
-Järvi
-Slatkin

I have also heard Gergiev, Rattle and Salonen's recordings, but to me they seem to lack genuine depth. 

All of the above are obviously very good performances - but I'm missing that elusive and magical recording where a conductor completely connects with the music and seems to capture the "soul" of the piece.

Like Kleiber in Beethoven, Celibidache in Bruckner, Gould in Bach, or Kurt Sanderling in Shostakovich's 15th Symphony. 

What I (and it's only a personal opinion  find fault with in the above recordings are two main points:

-Kondrashin, Previn, Järvi and Slatkin seem too rough and brutal to my ears. Too much force and not enough poetry.

-Haitink seems a little "bland". It's well-thought out and very well considered, but to me it lacks genuine depth.

-Jansons seems to strike the best balance between the two - both passion and poetry - and it's therefore my preferred recording to date. 

But I still feel there might be other recordings of the 4th where the conductor connects even deeper with the music (like Kleiber, Celibidache, Gould etc. as mentioned above)...and so captures the soul of this symphony. 

Has anyone got some good suggestions (also of more obscure recordings and perhaps less well-known conductors)?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Shostakovich wrote his 4th Symphony when he was 30 years old. That's the same age as Beethoven when he wrote his 1st Symphony. How much "depth" can you reasonably expect?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Despite the rawness of the sound quality on both accounts of the Fourth Kondrashin is the Ultimate for me, no one conects deeper with this symphony! (I have the three commercially available, Moscow, Dresden and Concertgebouw)

You could try Roszdestvensky, especially his 1985 cut with USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra on Victor/Melodya (his best, there are atleast five other live cuts with Rosz! The one's on Brilliant and Russian Disc are the one's closest to this studio version). Ormandy's CBS/SONY version with the PhilOrch is less aggressive in my mind, fine but no match to Kondrashin. If sound quality is a major issue, Kitaenko on Capriccio may be an attractive alternative, for me personally, the Köln Orchestra fumbles a bit even if Kitaenko saves them on the whole.

/ptr


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## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

Thank you for your recommendations, ptr!

I will try Roszdestvensky on Victor/Melodya. And I'll give the Ormandy recording another listen. 

Any thoughts on the recordings by Ashkenazy, Inbal, Judd and Botstein? 

I haven't seen them recommended anywhere (maybe for a reason...?) - but I wonder if they're worth listening to?

I forgot to mention that I've also heard the versions by Sinaisky and Wigglesworth, but I didn't quite "click" with them.

I do wish someone like Kurt Sanderling, Rafael Kubelik or even Celibidache had recorded the 4th.!


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Welcome! 
Ashkenazy, Ok, has points, but as often with VA's conducting he gets a bit hazy loosing focus on the larger picture.
Inbal & Judd, utterly run of the mill
Botstein, never turned up on my radar.

I agree on Sinaisky and Wigglesworth, on paper Wigglesworth has some very good ideas, he just seems incapable of communicating them to an orchestra. 

I woulda' loved a Four with K Sanderling and that some one like Neeme Järvi could have recorded it with a Great Slavic orchestra, I have an aircheck (1977) with him and the Swedish RSO that is brilliant!

/ptr


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## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

Okay, I'll stay away from Ashkenazy et al. for the time being.

Concerning the Roszdestvensky recording - is this the best CD to get:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shostakovic...373186748&sr=8-1&keywords=shostakovich+4+ussr

It's quite expensive, but I read that the (cheaper) CD issued by Praga - apparently with the same performance - has an audience-and-cough track added to it (?!)


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

apbsen said:


> Okay, I'll stay away from Ashkenazy et al. for the time being.
> 
> Concerning the Roszdestvensky recording - is this the best CD to get:
> 
> ...


Yes, but I would not know about the Praga, I have been avoiding them since their reputation is littered with doctored discs of dubious heritage. FWIW; I have it on a Melodiya LP and a CD bought from HMV in Japan, unfortunately the single CD I have issued by Victor seems OOP, but it may be available from the label *Venecia* as a complete 16 CD RoszDschBox.
Those old BMG/Melodiya transfers were not bad at all and has been the source for most later reissues of RoszDsch Symphonies!

/ptr


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

KenOC said:


> Shostakovich wrote his 4th Symphony when he was 30 years old. That's the same age as Beethoven when he wrote his 1st Symphony. How much "depth" can you reasonably expect?


As much as you find in Schubert's String Quintet....

Anyway, the OP was asking about depth of interpretation, not questioning the piece itself.
GG


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## HvS (Feb 26, 2014)

*I just heard an interview with Stanislav Skrovachevsky about his friendship to Dmitry Shostakovich in which he revealed that he estimates the 4th as the best of all 15 Symphonies. So I think that he would be the ideal conductor for this - but up to now I could not find a recording with him conducting the 4th (only several recordings of the 5th)! * 
*Skrovachevsky talked about a Warsaw concert in 1947 in which he conducted the 5th symphony and was afterwards thanked by Shostakovich who was present in the concert and praised the interpretation as absolutely adequate to what he himself intended...
But then, asked if he estimates the 5th as Shostakovich's best symphony, he replied that he would favour the 1st and the 4th, especially the 4th. The only reason for him conducting mostly the 5th was that rehearsing for this symphony was much easier for him as a visiting conductor, because better known by the orchestras and not needing extra instruments as the 4th would require...  *


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bernard Haitink is a safe middle of the road choice for Shostakovich symphonies.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Why do people regard Haitink as 'safe'. In the the days when Bernstein, Solti and Karajan discs were celebrated events, Haitink was somehow regarded as the poor cousin. Yet his Mahler and Bruckner cycles for Philips were among the best. 'Meticulous' is to my mind a far more apt adjective to use for Haitink unlike some of his more vainglorious contemporaries.
His Shostakovich 4 is undoubtedly above MOR.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Polyphemus said:


> Why do people regard Haitink as 'safe'. In the the days when Bernstein, Solti and Karajan discs were celebrated events, Haitink was somehow regarded as the poor cousin. Yet his Mahler and Bruckner cycles for Philips were among the best. 'Meticulous' is to my mind a far more apt adjective to use for Haitink unlike some of his more vainglorious contemporaries.
> His Shostakovich 4 is undoubtedly above MOR.


In fact, quite a few people have regarded his Shostakovich symphony cycle as the best integral cycle available for may years. That may change shortly, of course.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

Maybe you should try Petrenko's. I haven't heard it yet, but it has good reviews at Amazon and the other records of Shosty's symphonies of Petrenko that I listened are quite good.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Polyphemus said:


> Why do people regard Haitink as 'safe'. In the the days when Bernstein, Solti and Karajan discs were celebrated events, Haitink was somehow regarded as the poor cousin. Yet his Mahler and Bruckner cycles for Philips were among the best. 'Meticulous' is to my mind a far more apt adjective to use for Haitink unlike some of his more vainglorious contemporaries.
> His Shostakovich 4 is undoubtedly above MOR.


Because he doesn't do anything unexpected. Middle of the road tempos, great orchestra. Good enough for me.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

HvS said:


> *I just heard an interview with Stanislav Skrovachevsky about his friendship to Dmitry Shostakovich in which he revealed that he estimates the 4th as the best of all 15 Symphonies. So I think that he would be the ideal conductor for this - but up to now I could not find a recording with him conducting the 4th (only several recordings of the 5th)! *


I quite agree, it is a pity that he has not recorded all the Shostakovich Symphonies! I have tickets to hear him conduct Bruckner's fifth in Gothenburg next Saturday and if I can get back stage (have some friends in the orchestra) I'll shout loudly that they should bring him back next year to conduct the DSCH fourth!

/ptr


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Rostropovich and Washington's National SO

The DSCH Journal was very favourable. I can't speak of tempi, depth of interpretation, focus, etc., but it is a fine recording and the only one I know.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

*Shostakovich IV*

Best-in-Show for merciless ferocity and for recording quality:










Honorable mention in the same categories:


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2014)

Don't anyone look, but "some guy" just got something useful out of a "what's the best this or that" thread.

Cripes!

Anyway, it has somehow escaped my attention that the "turns everything he touches into gold" Myung-Whun Chung had ever recorded the Shostakovich 4th. That will be my next purchase.


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## Sudonim (Feb 28, 2013)

some guy said:


> Don't anyone look, but "some guy" just got something useful out of a "what's the best this or that" thread.
> 
> Cripes!
> 
> Anyway, it has somehow escaped my attention that the "turns everything he touches into gold" Myung-Whun Chung had ever recorded the Shostakovich 4th. That will be my next purchase.


Careful there, some guy. Next you'll be posting a poll ("Best Myung-Whun Chung Recordings").


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2014)

Hahaha, it's true.

Starting with Shostakovich's _Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District._

Followed by Saint-Saens' _Samson et Dalila._

(Don't ever let science see this post.)


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