Dmitry Shostakovich Valery Gergiev StPetersburg Kirov Orchestra - Shostakovich Symphony No 8 (5 tracks) +Album Reviews

Intensely beautiful

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 08/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Written in 1943, this is an astonishing symphony. The opening movement, an adagio that is over 25 minutes long, was described by Serge Koussevitzky as music "which by the power of its human emotion surpasses everything else created in our time". With an almost constant tension in the strings, there are echoes of his 5th Symphony throughout this movement, but the themes are taken a step further.It's a symphony with a wide range of sounds, from the tenderest of pianissimos, to complex, boisterous sections that will knock your socks off. Denounced at one time in the Soviet Union as being "ultra-individualist", it started to receive international acclaim after a BBC airing in 1959.Valery Gergiev, a master at interpreting Russian music, is at his best here. He captures the intricacy of its many moods, and its fervent soul...and leads the Kirov Orchestra with brilliance. Recorded in 1994, the sound is good and the total time 63'21.I'm surprised this recording isn't getting more attention. Of all my Shostakovich CDs, this one is my favorite."

A Compelling Performance of this 20th Century Masterwork

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 04/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shostakovich is finally gaining the frequent performances of his entire symphonic output that he so justly deserves. As the Cold War tainted so much of our Western thinking about things Russian the public was hesitant to hear Shostakovich's works as anything but propaganda. How wrong could we have been! Since the publication of his TESTIMONY we now know that this was a man tortured by the political quagmire of dictatorship and it was only in his composing that we can understand the toil of the human heart repressed by corruption. Coming to the Symphony No. 8 at this particular moment in history, as the clouds of war hang heavily over the globe yet again, bears witness to the universality of Shostokovich's symphonic statements. The 8th draws heavily on the desolation and moral vacuum that war creates, but it also speaks to the ultimate survival of the human spirit. As in all of his symphonies the 8th abounds in wondrous orchestration: he masses his large orchestral choirs in massive outbursts and yet also finds inner conversations between such diverse instruments as piccolo and bassoon/bass bassoon, between triple-tongue flutes and tutti violas full stringing a harshness that is near unbearable (as in the opening of the third movement). Gergiev finds all of the subtleties and all the grandeur of this majestic work. His control of his forces is shatteringly impressive. Though I still return to old recordings such as the Rozhdestvensky/Melodiya which opened the flood gates of the Russian repertoire years ago and still remains a remarkable experience and the brooding Kurt Sanderling/Berlin Philharmonic recording from 1977 for emotional reasons, this Gergiev recording ultimately surpasses them all."

Very fine but no Mravinsky

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In a London radio broadcast, now on BBC Legends, Gergiev's mentor Yvgeny Mravinsky conducted a Shostakovich Eighth for the ages, a feat nearly duplicated on his commerical recording for Philips. We also have exceptional Eighths from Bychkov and Previn, two in the latter's case. So this good but not superlative reading enters excellent company, where it stands as a junior partner. Gergiev seems to be a bit uninvolved at times. He doesn't find great tragic depth in the first movement, and more importantly, he doesn't solve how to make the last two movements more than anti-climaxes. Thee should be more darkness and power to the fourth-movement Passacaglia, which here sounds timid, and the finale's intrusions of brass and percussion, set against the gray foreground of mumbling strings, need to be more shattering. The orchestra plays well, if a bit coarsely, and Philips doesn't help with its fairly harsh recording.

P.S.--My review earned me a flurry of negatives, but I am still not convinced that this is top-flight work from Gergiev. I recently heard him conduct the Shostakovich Eighth magnificently with the London Sym. in concert, and if he can remake his older recording with them, it will be a leading contender, as most of his other Shostakovich entries have been. Keep an eye on the LSO Live label."

Harrowing, haunting ...

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 02/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I must warn the reader that I am quite a 'newbie' to Shostakovich's symphonies, and have not heard all of them as completely and as intensely as, for example, Mahler's works, so I am quite unable to compare the many different recordings. For (mostly my own) convenience I would like to compare this recording by the Kirov Orchestra under Valery Gergiev with the one by the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Rudolf Barshai.

In fact, I have come into 'first close contact' so to say with Shostakovich' symphonies only a few years ago through the (to my ears) magnificent Brilliant Classics budget-box of all the symphonies by the WDR Sinfonieorchester directed by Rudolf Barshai. So actually, these Barshai recordings have formed my first impression, and they will to me - at least for the time being, and for better or for worse (?) - be a benchmark from which to appreciate other recordings of these works.

But my affections especially lie with the Eighth and Thirteenth Symphonies. And since I find Maestro Gergiev's recording of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony with the same orchestra (also on Philips) astounding, I was keenly interested in his recording of Shostakovich' Eighth Symphony, which is given such a harrowing and suspenseful interpretation (also helped by the wonderfully deep and clear sound-picture, the wide hall-acoustics providing a nice reverberation to the sound, providing the music with extra 'gravity') by Maestro Barshai.

But Valery Gergiev seems to invoke just that little extra bit of suspense, even if the sound-picture isn't as 'soaringly wide' as for Rudolf Barshai. As usual, maestro Gergiev coaxes the orchestra to give their all in colors and emotions, finely nuanced but with shattering power and conviction. At least, this is what I feel. The playing of the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Barshai sounds more 'soaring', especially the flutes and high violins (mainly the result of the recording venue?) but at the same time somewhat more 'relaxed'. The genius Valery Gergiev invokes just that little extra energy (which also characterizes his magnificent 'Tchaikovsky Six' with the same orchestra), with a certain 'rawness' of tone that lays bare all of the nerves. The orchestral sound is massive. I truly love the piercing, crisply articulated trumpet in the Allegro non troppo third movement. All of the playing is at a same level of acuteness and crispness. Under Valery Gergiev, this recording has come out as one of pure, unadorned beauty and often white hot intensity.

Just a little remark on the music itself, to get that off my chest. I think I have seldomly heard such haunting, harrowing music as by Dmitry Shostakovich - the suppression, loathing, fear and horror often truly leap from the music -, and especially this Eighth Symphony. I believe that Valery Gergiev is a master in laying bare all the angst and nervous energy of this flabbergastingly intense music. This album is not to be missed by anyone who loves Shostakovich' music (including, still more and more, I myself)."

Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, Valery Gergiev, St.Petersburg Kirov Orchestra :: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

CD Details

CD Reviews

	Dmitry Shostakovich, Valery Gergiev, St.Petersburg Kirov Orchestra Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 Genre: Classical Track Listings (5) - Disc #1 Sym No.8 in c, Op.65: 1. Adagio Sym No.8 in c, Op.65: 2. Allegretto Sym No.8 in c, Op.65: 3. Allegro non troppo Sym No.8 in c, Op.65: 4. Largo Sym No.8 in c, Op.65: 5. Allegretto
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