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Early Mravinsky

John Fowler Wyman | urbana, illinois | 09/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This valuable collection is a souvenier of the Stalin era. Mravinsky made these recordings between the ages of 34 and 47. Much earlier than the elderly Mravinsky most of us are familiar with. The set includes several works he never recorded again. Contents:



Brahms Symphony 1: 1949 (only recording)



Weber Invitation to the Dance: 1951

Oberon Overture: 1951



Shostakovich Symphony 5: 1938 (Mravinsky's first recording)



Tchaikovsky Symphony 6: 1949

Serenade for Strings: 1949 (only recording)

Capriccio Italien: 1950 (only recording)

Francesca da Rimini: 1948



Mravinsky left many concert recordings of Brahms Symphonies 2 through 4,but the First just didn't appeal to him. Its actually a nice, dramatic performance in surprisingly good mono sound. Melodiya made good use of captured Nazi recording technology.



The Weber performances are OK. He left more exciting live performances from 1954 and 1959, that were once available on Russian Disc. He then apparently dropped these pieces from his reportoire. The only Weber overture he conducted with regularity was Euryanthe.



The Tchaikovsky performances include two works he conducted a lot, and two orphans: The Capriccio Italian and Serenade for Strings are nicely done, but not really exceptional. Francesca da Rimini and the 6th Symphony were Mravinsky specialties, and are given stunning performances, though not necessarily better than his later stereo recordings.



This recording of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony is a document of immense historical importance. The 33 year old Mravinsky conducted the world premiere of this 20th Century warhorse in 1937. The following year he was appointed conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic. The Shostakovich 5th featured in his inaugural concert, and this recording was made shortly thereafter. He went on to perform it hundreds of times over the next 50 years (he died in 1988).



In all honesty, this is not his greatest performance of the symphony. It's slower than all his later performances,and the orchestral playing is pretty hit and miss. The worst thing about it is the sound of the timpani in the 4th movement. Instead of the crisp, dramatic sound Mravinsky and everyone else came to adopt, the drumming is flabby, boomy and totally ineffective.



But none of this really matters. This is what Shostakovich heard at the premiere. Like Koussevitzky's broadcast premiere of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, it sounds "different". There was no performance history, no template of what the music should sound like. Fascinating.



The set comes with a nice 6 page biography of Mravinsky, and the price is right. The only thing I don't like is the shape of the box;

5" wide by 10" high. It doesn't fit on the shelf with the rest of my CDs.





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