Track Listings (4) - Disc #1| All Artists: Dmitry Shostakovich, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra Title: Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 5 Members Wishing: 0 Total Copies: 0 Label: Berlin Classics Original Release Date: 1/1/2008 Re-Release Date: 2/1/1994 Genre: Classical Styles: Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Symphonies Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC: 782124206321 |
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Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra :: Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 5
 | Dmitry Shostakovich, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra Schostakowitsch: Symphony No. 5 Genre: Classical
There's a fascinating controversy surrounding the finale of this symphony. For years it was considered a fitting (if bombastic) triumphant procession in the classic "socialist realist" manner. Then Shostakovich's memoirs... more » |
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Amazon.com There's a fascinating controversy surrounding the finale of this symphony. For years it was considered a fitting (if bombastic) triumphant procession in the classic "socialist realist" manner. Then Shostakovich's memoirs were published, in which he called the ending a "celebration for idiots," a hollow victory. It all boils down to how fast you play the ending--the slower it goes, the more agonized it sounds. Sanderling, a personal friend of the composer, is a major proponent of the heavy suffering school. In his hands, the symphony acquires a tragic intensity unmatched by any other performance. It's certainly not the only way to play the music, but it forces you to listen with fresh ears to music which for many years was taken for granted as the "official" Soviet symphony. It's so much more. --David Hurwitz Similar CDs
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CD ReviewsOne of the best...but with a major flaw! John Grabowski | USA | 04/19/2000 (4 out of 5 stars) "This is the greatest *conception* of DSCH's Fifth I've ever heard. But the disc gets (barely) four stars anyway, and maybe just three (three-and-a-half would be perfect), simply because the Berlin Symphony (and NOT, note, the Berlin Philharmonic, in whose hands this would have been a five star disc) simply isn't up to the challenge technically. They are a weak orchestra, and in the fierce, savage sections they cannot do the work justice, especially the anemic brass. But Sanderling makes up for it in THE most stunning, spooky slow movement this symphony has ever received. I was actually creeped after hearing it for the first time, and kept looking over my shoulder. I suddenly understood the meaning of this enigma: the ghost of Stalin haunts Dmitri everywhere in this movement; there is no respite, no escape. I was made aware for the first time how terrifying it must have been to live in Russia during those mad years. Shostakovich had to live that way every day. This movement demonstrates the strain that inevitably caused. Hurwitz's above comments about the ending are correct, but I will add that that is hardly "news" and most people who come to this symphony will probably be aware of the "meaning" of the coda. In short, no duh, Dave, do you ever have an insight? For people who know this work through the loud and fast (but ultimately, I think, shallow and showoffy) Bernstein will find a whole new world here, one deeper and more "inward" than in the Lenny recording. This and Haitink's magnificent collaboration with the Concertegebouw are the two top recordings of this work for me. Haitink doesn't quite penetrate the depth like Sanderling does, but he is gifted with a far better orchestra and recording venue. Both discs are worth having in any collection of Shostakovich's music."
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