# Recommendations: Shostakovich - 4th Symphony?



## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

What are some great recordings of Shostakovich's 4th symphony?

I have recordings by Kondrashin and Barshai, but I'd like to hear other (great) versions too.

Any suggestions, both of older and newer recordings?


----------



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Ormandy and Haitink are the two that come to mind for me. Ormandy's is probably my favorite; that was the first one I heard.


----------



## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Andre Previn made a well-regarded recording with the LSO on EMI. Also, if you can find it, BBC Music released a superb live recording from the Proms in 2000 with the BBC Philharmonic under Vassily Sinaisky. It will also be well worth hearing the Petrenko recording on Naxos when it's released as part of his superb ongoing cycle.


----------



## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

Thank you so much for your replies. This forum is a wonderful help!

Has anyone heard the recordings of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony by:

-Slatkin
-Ancerl
-Caetani
-Rostropovich
-Rozhdestvensky

Any thoughts on these versions?

Also, are there any more "obscure/less well-known" recordings of Shostakovich's 4th that are noteworthy - ie. not the well-known recordings by Janssons, Järvi etc.?

Does anyone know of any hidden treasures of this symphony...?!


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Definitely give Rattle, Previn, Caetani, and Salonen a listen. These are all fine accounts. Chung also has a good one as well with the Philadelphia Orchestra.


----------



## chalkpie (Oct 5, 2011)

I cut my teeth on Gergiev/Kirov, and I know he is a total wildcard in terms of consistency, but I personally couldn't without this version now, and I own probably around 6 or 7 now. Barshai doesn't suck either.


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

chalkpie said:


> I cut my teeth on Gergiev/Kirov, and I know he is a total wildcard in terms of consistency, but I personally couldn't without this version now, and I own probably around 6 or 7 now. Barshai doesn't suck either.


Kudos for mentioning this performance. It's been quite some time since I've listened to it. I bought Gergiev's whole _War Symphonies_ box set a few years ago.


----------



## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Definitely Ormandy


----------



## wzg (Jun 17, 2013)

Rattle's is just exhilarating...


----------



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Kondrashin's RCO recording (which is probably not the one you have?) and Rozhdestvensky are my favorites, but I like Jarvi too, as well as many of the others mentioned.


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

wzg said:


> Rattle's is just exhilarating...


Indeed, a fantastic performance that really opened my ears up to this massive work.


----------



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Neo Romanza said:


> Indeed, a fantastic performance that really opened my ears up to this massive work.


Why then I must have that too!


----------



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> Why then I must have that too!


You will definitely have to listen to this performance at some point.


----------



## apbsen (Jun 14, 2013)

Again, thanks so much for all replies and great suggestions.

Cheyenne - no, I've never heard (of) a Kondrashin/RCO recording before. I've now searched, also on Amazon, but it's not listed anywhere.

Can you provide a link?

My Kondrashin recording is by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. 

I'll be receiving his version with the Staatskapelle Dresden any day now - hopefully the sound will be a bit better than the Moscow recording.


----------



## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

The 1962 Kondrashin studio performance with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra retains the searing intensity that must have accompanied the much-delayed first performance in December 1961 and remains a benchmark recording, despite its 51-year age. <ake sure you get a stereo pressing though, as there are quite a few mono ones about (the mono master tapes were in much better condition than the stereo ones, which had a few isolated examples of fall-out, corrected in most modern digital transfers).

You won't, unfortunately, find the the Kondrashin Concertgebouw live recording (from 1971) on Amazon because, at the moment, it is only available as part of a large boxed set of Concertgebouw historical recordings. However, there is an upload on YouTube:






Rozdestvensky's studio version with the USSR Ministry of Culture is too full of weird quirks, but his live version with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra (available on Russian Disc if you can find a copy) is tremendous, while the same conductor's UK premiere performance with London's Philharmonia Orchestra from the Edinburgh Festival in August 1962 on BBC Legends is also a valuable historical recorded document.

For a performance with modern sound I would recommend Barshai's bargain recording, that by Mark Wigglesworth and the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra from their much undervalued (but critically acclaimed) Shostakovich series and a recent recording by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Andrei Boreyko.


----------

