Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Conductors:
Kuchar, Theodore; Lyndon-Gee, Christopher; Slovak, Ladislav; Wit, Antoni; Yablonsky, Dmitry
Orchestras:
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Russian Philharmonia Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
Ensembles:
Eder Quartet, Stockholm Arts Trio, Vermeer Quartet
Choir(s):
Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
Artists:
Annette Bartholdy, Boris Berman, Julius Drake, Michael Houstoun, Ilya Kaler, Peter Mikulas, Konstantin Scherbakov, Dmitry Shostakovich
Label: Naxos
Released: 27 February 2006
Number of Discs: 2
ASIN: B000E8ZLU2
Tracks
CD 1
Prelude and Fugue in C,Op. 87 No. 1 4:46
Dmitry Shostakovich, piano
Recorded 6 December, 1951
Original cat. no. MK D873-74
Fantastic Dance in C,Op. 5 No. 3 1:07
Konstantin Scherbakov, piano 8.555781
Symphony No. 1 in F minor,Op. 10
Movement 1: Allegretto 8:11
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Slovak Philharmonic Chorus / Ladislav Slovák 8.550623
The Golden Age – Ballet Suite,Op. 22a
No. 2: Adagio 9:07
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / Christopher Lyndon-Gee 8.553126
The Bolt – Ballet Suite,Op. 27a
No. 8: General Dance of Enthusiasm and Apotheosis 3:25
Russian State Symphony Orchestra / Dmitry Yablonsky 8.555949
Prelude in E flat minor,Op. 34 No. 14 2:12
Konstantin Scherbakov, piano 8.555781
Symphony No. 4 in C minor,Op. 43
Movement 2: Moderato con moto 8:42
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550625
Symphony No. 5 in D minor,Op. 47
Movement 4: Allegro non troppo 11:29
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550632
Piano Quintet in G minor,Op. 57
Movement 3: Scherzo 3:23
Boris Berman, piano / Vermeer Quartet 8.554830
Symphony No. 8 in C minor,Op. 65
Movement 3:Allegro non troppo 6:42
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550628
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor,Op. 67
Movement 2:Allegro non troppo 2:55
Stockholm Arts Trio 8.553297
Symphony No. 9 in E flat,Op. 70
Movement 1:Allegro 5:16
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550632
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor,Op. 77
Movement 3: Passacaglia 9:57
Ilya Kaler, violin / Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra / Antoni Wit 8.550814
Excerpt from a radio address by Shostakovich 0:53
Leningrad. September 16, 1941
Original cat. no. 33 M 40-41705-12
CD 2
Prelude in F sharp major,Op. 87 No. 13a 1:55
Konstantin Scherbakov, piano 8.554745–46
Symphony No. 10 in E minor,Op. 93
Movement 4: Andante – Allegro 13:26
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550633
The Gadfly: Music for the film,Op. 97
Movement 3: National Holiday 2:42
Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra / Theodore Kuchar 8.553299
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F,Op. 102
Movement 2: Andante 6:38
Michael Houstoun, piano / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / Christopher Lyndon-Gee 8.553126
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor,Op. 110
Movement 5: Largo 3:43
Éder Quartet 8.550973
Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor,Op. 113 ‘Babiy Yar’
Movement 2: Humour 7:37
Peter Mikulas, bass / Slovak Philharmonic Chorus /
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550630
Hamlet: Music for the film,Op. 116
Movement 4: Largo 3:39
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra / Dmitry Yablonsky
String Quartet No. 12 in D flat,Op. 133
Movement 1: Moderato – Allegretto 6:37
Éder Quartet 8.550975
Symphony No. 14,Op. 135
Movement 9: O Delvig, Delvig! 4:49
Peter Mikulas, bass / Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.550631
Symphony No. 15 in A,Op. 141
Movement 1: Allegretto 8:24
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ladislav Slovák 8.55062460
Viola Sonata,Op. 147
Movement 1: Moderato 11:13
Annette Bartholdy, viola / Julius Drake, piano 8.557231
Fugue in D minor,Op. 87 No. 24b 7:27
Dmitry Shostakovich, piano
Recorded 5 February 1952
Original cat. no. PMC 105
TT 79:43
What the critics say
Hansen
American Record Guide, February 2007
Is this a CD set with substantially expanded album notes or a book with two accompanying CDs? The booklet contains an excellent monograph by Richard Whitehouse that concisely sketches the life, times, and art of the composer with insight and clarity in 92 jewel-casesized pages. References to the two dozen music cues on the CDs, drawn from Naxos’s vast catalog, are interspersed at appropriate spots in the narrative. The musical excerpts are not bleeding fragments but whole movements, so the listener at least gets to experience the logic and progression of largely self-contained musical units. Whitehouse does an outstanding job of packing the maximum of information into the short booklet; though, of course, he cannot explore the music with the same depth and thoroughness that David Hurwitz goes to in his excellent listening guide reviewed in this issue. The booklet also lists the catalog numbers of the Naxos releases containing the complete works to help the listener embark on further exploration of the music.
Frank Carroll (4 stars)
Sunday Herald, April 2006
Dmitry Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg on September 25, 1906. Naxos has marked the centenary of this most enigmatic of the 20th century composers with an impressive survey of his musical output. A gifted pianist, early indications were that his musical future lay in public performance. While he did achieve considerable success at the keyboard, by the time he was 16- studying composition with Alexander Glazunov at the Petrograd Conservatory- it became clear that a composer of exceptional talent was taking shape. Shostakovich’s First Symphony, completed in 1926 as his graduation work when he was still only 19, was acclaimed by musicians and audience alike. The piece was quickly taken up in the west by conductors like Bruno Walter and Leopold Stowkowski, and before long the composer was being hailed as the leading musical light of post-1917 Revolution Russia, the great hope of Soviet composition. Shostakovich’s fame, however, was constantly subject to bizarre and often conflicting pressures. Although initially writing from an apparent position of sympathy with the Soviet regime, there was a certain inevitability about his subsequent fall from grace. His symphonies, film scores, operas, ballets and chamber music increasingly required modification to conform to the distorted values insisted upon by the corrupt administration. Stalin’s denunciation of his opera, The Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, its removal from the stage and the subsequent withdrawal of his Fourth Symphony in 1936 while still in rehearsal, marked a period of self-doubt from which Shostakovich did not fully recover until after Stalin’s death in 1953. Arguments as to Shostakovich’s relationship with the Soviet regime, and how much sarcasm and irony is contained within his work, have continued since his own death in 1975. His creative survival was quite remarkable, his achievement immense, but clear and easy elucidation of music without the composer’s clarification as to its implications will always be problematical. This 2CD collection provides an interesting guide to the immense range of style and expression which Shostakovich developed throughout his 70 years. A detailed commentary by Richard Whitehouse, with supporting illustrations and photographs, adds enormously to the appreciation and enjoyment of the excerpts presented. The 26 tracks feature passages from nine symphonies, two string quartets, two ballet suites, the Second Piano and the Gadfly and Shostakovich himself playing Prelude and Fugue in C, Fugue in D minor and making a brief radio address from Leningrad in 1941. The performances throughout are of a high quality. If there is complaint, it would be that no space has been found for the songs and operas, and that such an extensive collection of excerpts can ultimately be a bit frustrating, precisely because they are excerpts. Highly recommended, nonetheless.
David Green
May 2006
Normally, I would be loath to even listen to someone’s mish-mash of “the best of,” especially a composer like Dmitry Shostakovich. It took years for me to begin to like any of his compositions, let alone enjoy them. However, it must be admitted that this two-CD collection works as a sampler. There are movements from symphonies and concerti, string quartets, and several solo piano pieces. Probably the selling point is the inclusion of some of Shostakovich’s movie music and lighter short works. Among them are his “Festive Overture in A Major”, saluting the Russian Revolution; “Tahiti Trot”, with its ribald variations on “Tea for Two”; “Fantastic Dances, Opus 5″; the “Saxophone’s Waltz” from “Jazz Suite No. 2″; and the “Romance” from “The Gadfly Suite”, which endeared itself to many as the theme for the old TV series, Riley, Ace of Spies. Excerpts from Shostakovich’s heavier works are nicely presented and might encourage some to further listening.
Jeff SimonMarch 2006
Naxos also released Dmitry Shostakovich: A Portrait, a collection of 26 tracks that feature Shostakovich playing his own works and an excerpt from a 1941 radio address. A richly-illustrated booklet containing a detailed essay by Richard Whitehouse accompanies the 2-CD set.
Jeff Simon, Buffalo News, 26 March 2006
Don’t reject this two-disc set out of hand. It’s true that, of all 20th century composers, Shostakovich may be the one who least tolerates being turned into snippets arrayed on CD in a sampler. If ever there was a composer whose works demand to be heard in full to get any understanding of their profound, secular, spiritual and epic drama, it is Shostakovich (much more amenable to piecemeal jukebox treatment, in fact, would have been his Russian contemporary Prokofiev). But these Naxos “portraits” are always very impressively done. This is a solid basic piecemeal presentation of the 20th century master who seems to be the modern composer who currently prevails in the 21st. More of the string quartet music would have been smarter but you’ll find the composer himself here in 1951-52 recordings of his solo piano works and a 1941 radio address from Leningrad.