Search - Shostakovich, Bernstein, Nyp :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7

SPECTACULAR SHOSTAKOVICH!!!

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 12/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A truly exceptional reading of the massive "Leningrad"--- Bernstein, at his absolute zenith here, and the NY Philharmonic playing fervently for him, penetrates and clarifies this most monumental of symphonic works. The sheer concentrated intensity, for example, of the nearly thirty minute first movement Allegretto, alone, silences criticism by the strength of its grip. The Adagio, too, with its emotionally soaring strings and ominously portenteous flutes, becomes, under Bernstein, an unparalled descent into an acutely unsettling psychological maelstrom. Here's a work teeming with every orchestral dynamic and nuance in the book. A thirty-four-year-old Shostakovich inspiredly unleashed. And Bernstein pays tribute to the composer with this recording. The brilliant brasswork, remarkable woodwind playing, absolutely voracious violinry and complete unison of the NY Philharmonic is ravishing, sumptuous, unbelievably exciting. The sound (from 1962) belies its age well: it is full, rich, detailed.



[Running time: 75:03]"

A classic recording that redeemed a lost symphony

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of Leonard Bernstein's special talents was to take a neglected or even derided work and find gold in it. By Oct. 1962, when this recording was made, the Shostakovich Seventh had worn out its fund of good will as an anti-Nazi poster from WW II, sinking into both neglect and derision. But Bernstein earned raves for this performance on LP, and one can see why.



The NY Phil. plays like a band of virtuosos; in terms of sheer performance skill it would be hard to imagine this work done with more elan and conviction. This is all the more amazing because the Seventh contains 74 min. of often leaden, banal, rhetorically inflated music, among the least inspired that Shostakovich ever put into a major symphony. Bernstein conducts with such care and sensitivity that he finds emotional validity in the stiffest passages.



The reviewers who dislike this reading have distorted the facts. This isn't a slow performance. In fact it's faster in every movement than the classic 1953 performance under Mravinsky and faster in 3 out of 4 movements than the recent, very good Temirkanov recording on RCA. The original sonics on the LP were spectcular and continue to be on the CD--it's impossible to tell that this recording is more than 45 years old. Altogether, Bernstein has achieved almost a miracle of renovation in a work that needed a lot of renovation to begin with.



P.S. -- The program notes inform us that the Seventh is Shostakovich's best-known symphony, a surprise to anyone brought up on the once ubiquitous Fifth. Apparently my doubts about the score's quality isn't widely shared. Bernstein made a better-sounding remake with the Chicago Sym. for DG, and most critics prefer it to the first recording. I don't, on the grounds that Bernstein overcomes th score's hollowness here, while in the remake he flows with the rhetoric and puffs it up."

Bernstein Conducting Shosty's "Leningrad" Symphony

Shota | Torrance, CA | 12/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lenny seems to perform great amount of enthusiasm in Shostakovich's music, as much as he did to Mahler's. The Leningrad Symphony is one of my favorite symphonies by Shosty, lined with the fifth. It is the first of Shosty's "Three War Symphonies". Although the recording sounds tiny bit uncomfortably old and poor, the music is overall so good, you don't have to worry at all. The New York Phil sounds marvellous and crisp in rather exciting sections, and wonderfully grave and eerie in slow and quiet sections. You may feel Lenny's enthusiasm over this music if you listen to this CD. You will like the performance if you like Shostakovich."