# Best Shostakovich 10th



## mohawk1975

Any recommendations for the best tenth????

Karajan seems to be popular choice and if so should I go for the 80's or 60's recording???

many thanks


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## david johnson

60s is great!

dj


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## Chi_townPhilly

I have three versions of DSCH 10... favorite among them is a 60s recording by Stokowski as part of a Chicago SO multi-disc set. I also have Slatkin/St. Louis (underrated, I think), and Haitink from the "Complete Symphonies" set. Really, all are good. The only Shostakovich interpretations I just couldn't "get" are those of Bychkov 

I'm curious what others think, too, since more than a few consider this to be Shosty's "magnum opus."


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## Rondo

The performance I have is Mravinsky/ Leningrad PO. 

Also have Karajan and BO-- Great one!


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## starthrower

Can anyone tell me if any of these Amazon listings is the 1966 recording?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...d-keywords=shostakovich+von+karajan&x=15&y=17


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## Polednice

I'm by no means a seasoned Shostakovich listener, but I've read that Vasily Petrenko's recent releases (the 10th among them) are supposed to be good.


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## TxllxT

If you want to spend your money only once I would advise to wait for Gergiev's interpretation with the Mariinsky Orchestra (on 'Mariinsky' SACD/Hybrid). I put the classic Mravinsky & Leningrad Philharmonic on ex aequo with the acerbic Rozhdestvensky & U.S.S.R Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, which is generously coupled with Hamlet-Musical Fragments op.32. Mariss Jansons is also a pupil of Mravinsky: 1995 with the Philadephia Orchestra. Non-acerbic are Haitink & Karajan.


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## Delicious Manager

Get Karajan if you want your Shostakovich sanitised, sterilised and with all the rough edges shorn off. There's no doubting that the Berlin Phil plays magnificently (especially in the 1966 recording), but it's not REALLY Shostakovich.

You should try to get the (also 1966) recording with Yevgeny Svetlanov and the USSR Symphony Orchestra - a red-blooded (rather than Karajan's blue-blooded) performance that pulls no punches. Also excellent, but with dodgy, artificially-highlighted sound is Rozhdestvensky's recording with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra.

The new Naxos recording (which DOESN'T 'suck') by Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is a complete bargain, although he plays the first movement a shade too fast for me.

The best Shostakovich 10ths, though, are Mravinsky's. He 'owned' this piece and, for all their flaws in recorded sound (either being 1950s studio or 1980s live recordings), the power and nobility of the performances shines through.

I have never been convinced by Gergiev's Shostakovich (he is brilliant in Prokofiev, but not in Shostakovich) and I personally steer clear of him in this repertoire.

Don't get Karajan!


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## Moscow-Mahler

Nobody mentioned Andrew Litton with the Dallas Symphony. Great orchestra, excellent recording quality, brutal second part.


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## kv466

I, too, am not overly familiar with different versions of his works but I have the Previn recording and I love it...it is rich and warm and perfect sounding...I would have to do some more searching but as I recall, this version is excellent.


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## Itullian

I love the Karajan. sorry


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## chalkpie

Moscow-Mahler said:


> Nobody mentioned Andrew Litton with the Dallas Symphony. Great orchestra, excellent recording quality, brutal second part.


Absolutely. A killer recording.


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## Guest

TxllxT said:


> If you want to spend your money only once I would advise to wait for Gergiev's interpretation with the Mariinsky Orchestra (on 'Mariinsky' SACD/Hybrid).


I hope it's better than the 11th, which sounds as if he phoned in his performance! I saw him perform it once, and it was staggering in its ferocity--not sure what happened on those nights it was recorded for SACD.


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## Jeremy Marchant

starthrower said:


> Can anyone tell me if any of these Amazon listings is the 1966 recording?
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...d-keywords=shostakovich+von+karajan&x=15&y=17


The ones with the DS in the clouds are definitely the later one.
I'm 99% sure that the one on the DG Galleria label is the older one.


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## Vaneyes

Make that 100%.


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## meaned

I must concur with the Mravinsky as a baseline. That said, the Kondrashin 1973 rec with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra is my favorite. It balances an urgent but secure performance with good sound quality. There is also a Karajan rec with the Dresden Staatskapelle off-air radio broadcast recording out there which compares very favorably with his official Deutsche Gramophon take. The live Dresden Karajan has more air, and the frisson you expect from being out of the studio.

And Ormandy's 1968 take with the Philadelphia is solid. It would make for a centrist selection for the library

Guillermo
http://statework.blogspot.com


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## Txitxo

Mravinsky with the LPO is miles above the others. He was a top notch director with a top notch orchestra and he had Shostakovich by his side when he rehearsed this symphony for its premier. Janssons comes from the Leningrad musical school and is a good substitute, with better sound. Kondrashin is a good choice too, but in my opinion he is not at the same level as Mravinsky in this particular symphony. Karajan...he cannot know what this music is about.


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## billeames

I would say several are needed. Kondrashin, Rozhdestvensky, Rostropovich (I have Warner Classics one), Karajan 1966 and 1982. The Russian ones more organic. I have Haitink, which is not as good as the others but its OK. Thanks. Bill


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## KenOC

Let's not forget the excellent recording by Frank Shipway. Who? Trust me, it's as good as the later Karajan, maybe a bit better.


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## nightscape

I'm a fan of Jansons with Philly


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## johntpt

My favorites are Mravinsky and both Karajans, despite being such different approaches to the music.

There are some other good ones worth a listen - Rostropovich with the LSO, Barshai in the Brilliant Classics box, and the live Stokowski CSO version. Petrenko sounds a bit lightweight to me, the 7th is better in that series.

For a really interesting CD check out the 2 piano version with Shostakovich playing one of the parts on the Monopole label.

I need to get that Svetlanov CD!!


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## 13hm13

Someone in my Shostakovich (intentionally ugly?) thread linked this YouTube video...






conductor - Pavel Kogan
Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (1990)
Gasteig Philharmonic Hall Munich

It's only avail on (rare) DVD to the best of my knowledge.

I like the recording** and performance. The video features good, balanced editing and effective camerawork.

** The recording seems to use multi-miked "spotting" technique. This gives a big, powerful sound which serves DS's music well.


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## Johnnie Burgess

I enjoy James DePreist, Helsinki Philharmonic recording.


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## Pugg

This one will do for me, not that much of a Shostakovich fan.


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## Heck148

Chi_townPhilly said:


> I have three versions of DSCH 10... favorite among them is a 60s recording by Stokowski as part of a Chicago SO multi-disc set.


I have to go with this poster from 2007....Stoki/CSO is tops, a great live performance, included on a CSO archival set <<CSO- First 100 Years>>
can't get into von Karajan at all - his whole musical approach was exactly opposite of what, for me, is required to perform Shostakovich...it's not supposed to be all smooth, rounded off, legato, "beautiful"....


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## Star

Karajan's digital version


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## KenOC

Most conductors of the 10th do pretty well, at least in their recordings. One that has really impressed me lately, though, is Andris Nelsons, from his in-progress cycle.


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## Triplets

The Nelsons and the Karajan both fill the bill for me, but I think I used to have a Barshai lp from Bournemouth that was pretty enjoyable


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