On Fri, 30 Jul 2021 11:58:57 GMT, "Chris J."
<chrisj...@mailservice.invalid> wrote:
>Allways useful to read several reviews of a recording (or none at all!),
>but it can be confusing.
There are more differences of opinion elsewhere...
Hurwitz cites Bernstein's Columbia and DGG recordings of the
Shostakovich 1st as "reference." American Record Guide in their
overview of the composer (Nov./Dec. 2009) agrees with the Columbia one
("effervescent and among the best ever made") but they are not crazy
about the DGG/Chicago one: "overdone ... not the sparkling student
symphony, but the dreary, tragic piece Shostakovich might have made it
a dozen years later. It really drags the music out, but some will find
it a moving experience nonetheless."
ARG and Hurwitz are in agreement with the 14th (Rostropovich/Melodiya,
now Warner, I think) as the best.
However, in the 15th, ARG's choices are Kurt Sanderling, Lopez-Cobos,
Ormandy, Jarvi, Kitaenko and Solti. Hurwitz likes Haitink (London
Philharmonic, Decca), but ARG says, that performance is "bland"
compared to Jarvi, as well as "slower, more subtle, more subdued. The
refinement of the London Philharmonic and the beauty of Decca's sound
save Haitink here -- as they often do in Shostakovich. The English
orchestras make the Russian ones sound so crude."