Search - Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Mravinsky :: Mravinsky Edition 3

Stunning Live 'Agon'; Best Shostakovich 15th Symphony

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 06/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yevgeny Mravinsky was a more-or-less well-kept secret in the West in the early Soviet years. I can still remember the first time I heard a tape of him conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic in a live performance of the Shostakovich Eighth Symphony (which, as it happens, had been dedicated to Mravinsky by the composer). It was like a bolt of lightning, that recording, and set me on a long course of seeking out his recordings, which were scarce in those days. There is a two-box set of CDs of his recordings available from Melodiya and this single CD is part of that set, but it is available separately, deservedly so because these celebrated performances deserve to be in any serious music-lover's collection.



Stravinsky's ballet 'Agon' was premièred (and recorded) by the composer in 1957. Although Stravinsky was not particularly in favor in the Soviet Union, in 1965 Mravinsky conducted this live performance of the work in the Grand Hall of the Philharmonic, the first time, I believe, it had been played there. The musical language of 'Agon' is generally considered to be astringent, spare and indeed it is mostly twelve-tone in origin (although there are tonal passages along the way), something of a departure for Stravinsky in his later years. This sort of music was not familiar to the Leningraders and indeed Mravinsky's performance is different from any I've heard of the ballet in that it is more, how shall I say, 'human' than any I've heard. In contrast to Stravinsky's own rather dry recording, this performance is full of juice. One can visualize not only the esthetic effect of the dancers but almost feel the movement of bone and muscle, the pumping of their hearts, the sweaty bodies. No one could call this performance abstract or astringent, it lives and breathes. The most stunning performance of the ballet I ever heard. Sound, for a 1965 live recording from Russia, is excellent, if just slightly glassy at times. This is a cherishable recording.



Shostakovich's Fifteenth Symphony, his last, has made many people uncomfortable with its seemingly awkward juxtapositions of Rossini and Wagner et al. with some of the most angst-ridden music Shostakovich ever penned. Stravinsky's son Maksim conducted the works première but only a few months later Mravinsky gave it its Leningrad première to a rather puzzled reaction from the audience. He makes no effort to meld the disparate strands of Shostakovich's musical discourse but, rather, lets each stand out as a sort of commentary on the proceedings. The grotesquerie implicit in these disjunctive gestures, particularly coming from the dying Shostakovich, were and are still interpreted as his sardonic commentary on Soviet life. The journey toward the symphony's tragic ending is subtly inexorable in Mravinsky's hands. This is a great performance of a great symphony, led by a great conductor who had molded, in his 40+ years as its leader, a great orchestra. One really must own this recording. And, as a bonus, it is at mid-price.



Scott Morrison"