"It's like someone beating you with a stick and shouting, 'Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing'", and you walk off, shakily, muttering 'Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing'". – Shostakovich on the 5th's finale (according to "Testimony").
It was this version by Sanderling that revealed to me all the innuendos that Shostakovich's post-1936 work could contain. When I hear this coda from the Finale, I can't help but think of the courage it took for the composer to dare write this when he was physically threatened. Sanderling makes this weight of threat felt with such force that listening leaves me exhausted every time.
Kurt Sanderling conducted a devastating performance of the Babi Yar symphony with the Boston SO back in the '80's, if I'm remembering correctly. It was a broadcast, and it was my first brush with that amazing piece, and after it was over, I just sat there dazed for a good half-hour. I'll definitely seek out his Shostakovich Fifth.
In August of 1985, Maxim Shostakovich came to Blossom Music Center to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra. After terrific performances of the Tchaikovsky Suite from Romeo & Juliet and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 (a BIG fave of mine!), he came out after the intermission, held up his hand to the audience and said:
"Last Friday was the 10th anniversary of my father's death. I dedicate this performance to his memory."
He then turned to the orchestra and proceeded to play THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of his father's fifth symphony. He took the coda in the fourth movement slower than I had EVER heard it and MADE it make sense!
I don't know about Sanderling, though I may give it a look, but that one time, Maxim took Dmitri's work and OWNED IT.
Listen also to Sanderlings Shostakovich 15, same Berlin orchestra, which is as dark and grotesque as it should be and can get, dying quietly in its percussions with a last weak Pling.
Excellent comments David, very informative. Kondrashin too was of the slow coda persuasion. I remember how shocking it sounded at first when used to the triumphant coda. Kondrashin may even take it slower than Sanderling. The effect is totally crushing and leaves one stunned.
Pardon the numbers here, but they can be fun: Yes, Lenny plays the finale fast at 9 minutes, but there's a 1946 Rodzinski that comes in at an uproarious 7'40. And as slow as K. Sanderling is, Kurt Masur on an LPO SACD has a finale at… over 13'40. You can take nap between all those final chords! Quite a variety.
Agreed. This recording rocked my world when I first learned about it from you. Absolutely searing finale, but I find so many wonderful things about it while listening to the score. Sanderling seems to be (from the five or six recordings I have of his) a most conscientious interpreter of the score.
That ending sounds like the Soviet police hammering the citizens into happy submission. The other astonishing Sanderling moment is the dissonance in the first movement of Mahler 10. It's brutal.
Shasta's happiest ending appears at the end of the TENTH, where the composer is personally dancing on Stalin's grave. There, too, the thing is not exactly what it seems.
I have too many recording of this symphony! There are three I keep finding myself playing more regularly, Sanderling, early Bernstein and Haitink. So yes, Sanderling's could be considered first among equals! For me, getting the low breathy flute and the violin glissando at the end of the first movement spot on in order to get on the preferred recording play list.
An indication of the composer´s intention can be traced in the quiet part of the finale, where Shostakovich quotes his own work, romance "Rebirth" from Op. 46 (note that 5th is Op. 47), with words from Pushkin´s poem about barbarians destroying a beautiful painting.
Lucky me, when I discovered Shostakovich in my late teens, the first thing I bought was a Sanderling Berlin box containing this exact 5th. I liked it, a lot, and kept coming back to it… I always believed it was mostly just because it was my "first". The middle section of the first mvt, starting with the piano entrance remains one of the most anguish-filled music I ever came accross!
Definitely a great recording. It is interesting that some pieces of music, a small percentage, are chameleons, they can transform into a different and equally viable pieces if you change some of the parameters of performance, especially tempo. I have always felt this way about the Prelude to Bach's first cello suite, which can sustain equally good performances in vastly different tempos.
Playing this with the Columbia Orchestra next month. Such an amazing work.
"It's like someone beating you with a stick and shouting, 'Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing'", and you walk off, shakily, muttering 'Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing'". – Shostakovich on the 5th's finale (according to "Testimony").
It was this version by Sanderling that revealed to me all the innuendos that Shostakovich's post-1936 work could contain. When I hear this coda from the Finale, I can't help but think of the courage it took for the composer to dare write this when he was physically threatened. Sanderling makes this weight of threat felt with such force that listening leaves me exhausted every time.
I've stopped the video at 1:15 for your expression 🙂
Kurt Sanderling conducted a devastating performance of the Babi Yar symphony with the Boston SO back in the '80's, if I'm remembering correctly. It was a broadcast, and it was my first brush with that amazing piece, and after it was over, I just sat there dazed for a good half-hour. I'll definitely seek out his Shostakovich Fifth.
Just listened to it. You are not wrong!
In August of 1985, Maxim Shostakovich came to Blossom Music Center to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra. After terrific performances of the Tchaikovsky Suite from Romeo & Juliet and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 (a BIG fave of mine!), he came out after the intermission, held up his hand to the audience and said:
"Last Friday was the 10th anniversary of my father's death. I dedicate this performance to his memory."
He then turned to the orchestra and proceeded to play THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of his father's fifth symphony. He took the coda in the fourth movement slower than I had EVER heard it and MADE it make sense!
I don't know about Sanderling, though I may give it a look, but that one time, Maxim took Dmitri's work and OWNED IT.
Listen also to Sanderlings Shostakovich 15, same Berlin orchestra, which is as dark and grotesque as it should be and can get, dying quietly in its percussions with a last weak Pling.
I’ve been listening to Kurt Sanderling’s Mahler 9th 10th & Das Lied von der Erde they are great.
Excellent comments David, very informative. Kondrashin too was of the slow coda persuasion. I remember how shocking it sounded at first when used to the triumphant coda. Kondrashin may even take it slower than Sanderling. The effect is totally crushing and leaves one stunned.
Pardon the numbers here, but they can be fun: Yes, Lenny plays the finale fast at 9 minutes, but there's a 1946 Rodzinski that comes in at an uproarious 7'40. And as slow as K. Sanderling is, Kurt Masur on an LPO SACD has a finale at… over 13'40. You can take nap between all those final chords! Quite a variety.
Agreed. This recording rocked my world when I first learned about it from you. Absolutely searing finale, but I find so many wonderful things about it while listening to the score. Sanderling seems to be (from the five or six recordings I have of his) a most conscientious interpreter of the score.
I’ll need to hear this version.
That ending sounds like the Soviet police hammering the citizens into happy submission.
The other astonishing Sanderling moment is the dissonance in the first movement of Mahler 10. It's brutal.
Shasta's happiest ending appears at the end of the TENTH, where the composer is personally dancing on Stalin's grave. There, too, the thing is not exactly what it seems.
My choice: Haitink with his Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A very first class one. Good sound and astonishing performance.
I own 5 recordings of the 5th (love them all), but the Bernstein is always at the top of my list.
I have too many recording of this symphony! There are three I keep finding myself playing more regularly, Sanderling, early Bernstein and Haitink. So yes, Sanderling's could be considered first among equals! For me, getting the low breathy flute and the violin glissando at the end of the first movement spot on in order to get on the preferred recording play list.
An indication of the composer´s intention can be traced in the quiet part of the finale, where Shostakovich quotes his own work, romance "Rebirth" from Op. 46 (note that 5th is Op. 47), with words from Pushkin´s poem about barbarians destroying a beautiful painting.
This one is absolutely epic! I still remember the first time I heard it years ago, shattering experience.
Lucky me, when I discovered Shostakovich in my late teens, the first thing I bought was a Sanderling Berlin box containing this exact 5th. I liked it, a lot, and kept coming back to it… I always believed it was mostly just because it was my "first".
The middle section of the first mvt, starting with the piano entrance remains one of the most anguish-filled music I ever came accross!
Been listening to this for two days and can’t stop. Mind-blowing. Thank you!
Definitely a great recording. It is interesting that some pieces of music, a small percentage, are chameleons, they can transform into a different and equally viable pieces if you change some of the parameters of performance, especially tempo. I have always felt this way about the Prelude to Bach's first cello suite, which can sustain equally good performances in vastly different tempos.