Shostakovich Symphonies 1 & 6
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Dmitri Shostakovich
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 6/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 425 609-2DH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 1 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Symphony No. 6 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Dmitri Shostakovich
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 6/1990
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 425 609-4DH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 1 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Symphony No. 6 |
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer
Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, Conductor |
Author: Michael Oliver
The First Symphony sounds a good deal better, and as a performance it can withstand high comparisons. It is a pity that Ashkenazy (like Jarvi but unlike Haitink) takes the scherzo's contrasting idea a bit too fast for its mysterious remoteness to be fully distilled. Conversely the finale's meno mosso is too slow for its surely underlying feverishness to be apparent, but then both Jarvi and Haitink do much the same. For this coupling Jarvi strikes me as clearly preferable, as he would if the Sixth Symphony were your primary concern (Haitink's very fine Sixth is awkwardly and not very generously coupled on a two-CD set with the Eleventh Symphony and the light-weight Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Themes). Haitink's First is coupled with an impressive account of the Ninth Symphony. One final grouch about Decca's recording for Ashkenazy: surely it is possible to avoid picking up (late in the First Symphony's finale) the ugly sound of timpani being damped? And if not, why is the low harp note in the Largo of the Sixth (Shostakovich marked it ff) almost inaudible?'
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
SubscribeGramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.