{"id":25876,"date":"2023-04-02T23:26:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=7212"},"modified":"2023-04-03T00:33:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T22:33:39","slug":"five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors\/","title":{"rendered":"Five of the best Shostakovich conductors"},"content":{"rendered":"

History’s finest interpreters of Shostakovich’s ever-absorbing, endlessly varied symphonies <\/p>

By Freya Parr\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 02 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The 15 symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich traverse a huge emotional and musical terrain, from the youthful fireworks of Symphony No. 1 via the defiance and bleakness of numbers 7 and 8, onto the strange death music of number 15, his last.<\/p>\n

Read conductor Vasily Petrenko\u2019s guides to all 15 Shostakovich symphonies<\/strong><\/a> on our website.<\/p>\n

Who are the greatest Shostakovich conductors?<\/h2>\n
Which conductors have best realised this strange and absorbing music? Here are our top five Shostakovich conductors.<\/p>\n
Which is Shostakovich\u2019s best symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-88)<\/h3>\n
Mravinsky gave world premieres of seven of Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s symphonies: 5, 6, 8 (which was dedicated to him) 9, 10, 11 and 12. Though the composer\u2019s favourite interpreter for many years, his refusal to conduct Symphony No. 13 \u2018Babi Yar\u2019 caused a permanent rift.<\/p>\n
Recommended recording:Symphony No. 8: Leningrad Philharmonic\/Mravinsky<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Alto ALC1150<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-shostakovichs-symphony-no-5\/"\"><strong>The best recordings of Shostakovich\u2019s Symphony No. 5<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Kirill Kondrashin (1914-81)<\/h3>\n<p>When Mravinsky refused to conduct the Symphony No. 13, Kirill Kondrashin stepped in, though his recording has the sanitised text that Yevtushenko was forced to rewrite. Kondrashin\u2019s performances of <a href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/dmitri-shostakovich"\"><strong>Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a> were famously harrowing, although all his Soviet recordings were withdrawn when he defected to the West in 1975.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording:<br\/><a href=\""https:\/\/www.prestomusic.com\/classical\/products\/8040361--shostakovich-symphony-no-13-babi-yar"\">Symphony No. 13 \u2018Babi Yar\u2019:\u00a0 Vitaly Gromadsky (bass); Yurlov Choir, Moscow Philharmonic\/Kondrashin<br\/><em>Praga DSD350089<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Shostakovich\" symphony=\"\" n=\"\" moscow=\"\" po=\"\" kondrashin=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z-n9NRTZkXM?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-shostakovichs-symphony-no-7\/"\"><strong>A guide to Shostakovich\u2019s Symphony No. 7<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010)<\/h3>\n<p><a style=\""font-size:\" href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/dmitri-shostakovich"\"><strong style=\""font-size:\">Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0admired Barshai, originally violist of the Borodin Quartet. On hearing his conducting of the \u2018Eroica\u2019 Symphony he is reported to have said, \u2018We haven\u2019t heard Beethoven like that since Klemperer.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Barshai conducted the premiere of Symphony No. 14 in 1969. He founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and made the famous arrangement of <a href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/dmitri-shostakovich"\"><strong>Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s String Quartet No. 8 for string orchestra.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording:<br\/><a href=\""https:\/\/www.prestomusic.com\/classical\/products\/8030059--shostakovich-complete-symphonies"\">Symphony No. 10: WDR Sinfonie Orchester\/Barshai (from complete symphony set)<br\/><em>Brilliant Classics 6324<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Rudolf\" barshai=\"\" talks=\"\" about=\"\" shostakovich=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W4EcS_Zf2i8?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/11-important-shostakovich-quotes"\"><strong>11 important Shostakovich quotes<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Leonard Bernstein (1918-90)<\/h3>\n<p>Bernstein was a passionate advocate for\u00a0<a style=\""font-size:\" href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/dmitri-shostakovich"\"><strong style=\""font-size:\">Shostakovich<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s music at a time when he was deeply unfashionable among the Western avant-garde. He approached the music as a great <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-mahlers-symphony-no-5\/"\"><strong>Mahlerian<\/strong><\/a>, creating indelible interpretations which breathe a very different air than those of his Russian contemporaries. No. 7 with the Chicago Symphony contains perhaps the most shattering slow movement committed to disc.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording:<br\/><a href=\""https:\/\/www.prestomusic.com\/classical\/products\/7964618--shostakovich-symphonies-nos-1-7"\">Symphonies 1 & 7: Chicago Symphony\/Bernstein<br\/><em>DG 427 6322<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Shostakovich:\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jiaiS4nupYc?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/best-recordings-shostakovichs-symphony-no-7-leningrad"\"><strong>The best recordings of Shostakovich\u2019s Symphony No. 7 \u2018Leningrad\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (1931-2018)<\/h3>\n<p>Rozhdestvensky conducted many of Shostakovich\u2019s works, perhaps most memorably the Western premiere of the Symphony No. 4 at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival. He edited volume 2 of the collected works, including Symphonies 3 & 4.<\/p>\n<p>He brings a hypnotic focus to the phantasmagorical Fourth in this recording from 1984 of the soon-to-be-dismantled USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended recording:<br\/>\nSymphony No. 4<br\/><span style=\""font-size:\">USSR Ministry of Culture SO\/Rozhdestvensky\u00a0<\/span><em style=\""font-size:\">Olympia\/Melodiya MCD 156<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Gennady\" rozhdestvensky=\"\" conducts=\"\" prokofiev=\"\" symphony=\"\" no.=\"\" video=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JtYsLe4oCcQ?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" web-share=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<ul><li><a href=\""http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/six-best-lesser-known-works-soviet-composers"\"><strong>Six of the best lesser-known works by Soviet composers<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> History’s finest interpreters of Shostakovich’s ever-absorbing, endlessly varied symphonies <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25877,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors.jpg",625,350,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors-300x168.jpg",300,168,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors.jpg",625,350,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors.jpg",625,350,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors.jpg",625,350,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/five-of-the-best-shostakovich-conductors.jpg",625,350,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"History's finest interpreters of Shostakovich's ever-absorbing, endlessly varied symphonies","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}