Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 5 and 9
Conducted by Leonard Bernstein
with the New York Philharmonic

Sony Classical reissue of archival recordings from 1959 (for the 5th) and 1965 (for the 9th)

Dimitri Shostakovich was perhaps the greatest Russian composer of the Twentieth Century. As may be expected, he suffered great indignities at the hands of the Stalin regime being accused of various crimes against socialism. It is to Shostakovich's credit that he was able to create some of the grandest music of all time under those conditions.

One of his most well known symphonies, the No. 5 in D minor, Op 47, has been interpreted with varying emotional styles over the years but perhaps the most dynamic of all interpretations were by Leonard Bernstein in the 1950's. Bernstein injected his own powerful emotionality in to Shostakovich's work to bring out an explosion of power and grace that went beyond the usual for this piece. In 1959, during the Krushchev years, cultural exchanges were taking place between the US and the USSR in an attempt to thaw the confrontational politics of the Cold War. Part of that exchange was a trip by the New York Philharmonic to Moscow to perform the 5th for a Russian audience, including the Soviet composer laureate himself, Dimitri Shostakovich. By this time Dimitri was officially recognized in the USSR as the great composer he was. It was said that when Dimitri heard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic's performance of his 5th that he wept openly to show his appreciation for the greatness of this performance.

The 5th is in a minor key and thus has a certain plaintive emotional theme that returns.

The symphony is in four movements;
I. Moderato
II. Allegretto
III. Largo
IV. Allegro non troppo

The Moderato starts out with powerful string punctuation and strong notes. The first and second strings call out and respond to each other as the sound bounces from right to left and back again. It then builds from low to high tones setting the stage for the tumult to follow. The name Moderato is really a misnomer as there is nothing moderate about this movement except the tempo..

The Allegretto starts with the lower strings rumbling a gruff statement. Lighter sounds lift the mood. Tympani adds to the full sound as the music dances furiously across your soundstage and grand dynamic contrasts play with your emotions. If you listen real carefully you can hear the conductor grunting during the strenuous parts. The music builds slowly with wind instruments adding contrast to the full string sounds and then the strings plucking during gentle parts. Horns and tympani come in to punctuate the sound at critical times.

The Largo is a slow and painfully beautiful movement set to a the minor key and lulls you in to a semi blissful and relaxed state to set you up for the stirring finale.

The frenzied Allegro non troppo comes blasting in after the peaceful serenity of the Largo like a five alarm fire. It builds climax upon climax and ends in an explosion of force that relieves the tension built up gradually during the preceding movements. It leaves me shaking every time.

I first heard this recording when I was a teen in 1963. I was given the recording by a neighbor as payment for shoveling his driveway after a big winter snow storm. My experience with classical music at the time was limited to some Tschaikovsky from the Reader's Digest recordings my parents had in the house. Needless to say, I was unprepared for the No. 5. I had just put together a stereo system with headphones that year and brought home my treasure, put on the headphones, turned off the lights, and prepared for a new musical experience. It was such an exhilarating experience that my fifteen year old brain was forever transmuted by the experience. To this day, I still get a thrill each time I hear this piece. Somehow, other interpretations of this piece just don't have the effect on me of Leonard's 1959 version.

My old vinyl recording has long been unusable due to wear but thank goodness for CDs and reissues of the old master recordings. Sony Classical now owns the Columbia Masterworks library of old master tapes and has reissued this amazing performance along with a 1965 recording of the 9th on the same disc. I don't have the same sort of emotional attachment for the 9th as I do for the 5th. Maybe some day but I doubt it. I loved this version of the 5th the first time I heard it and the 9th just has not had that sort of effect on me. I'm listening to the final movement of the 5th right now as I type this and am blissfully enjoying the familiar sweeping emotional ride once again as the music swirls out of the speakers.

I hope someone reads this and can get the jist of what I'm trying to say. It would really make my day if someone feels intrigued enough by my review to actually take a chance and try this recording for him or herself. If you are the one, let me know. Soaring, flying, grinning, POW! A burst of wonderful excitement!


Note 1: I wrote this review a couple of years ago for the now defunct Themestream. The review was owned by me and I chose to republish with Epinions. DC

Note 2: I could not choose any of EP's categories of Great Music to Play While:

Going to Sleep
Waking up
Driving
Getting Ready to Go Out
Exercising
At Work
Hanging With Friends
Reading or Studying
Cleaning the House

This music is none of the above. It is too intense and too personal to listen to in any other way than full attention.

I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 due to technical limitations to the recording technology and carelessness in the staging of the 5th recording session. The 5th exhibits some tape noise and a certain over brilliance to the strings, an artifact of the kind of analog tape machines available in 1959. There is a lot of grunting audible from the conductor during strenuous passages if you listen very carefully, kind of a cool thing that makes it more immediate and real but some may be startled by hearing such a thing on a session recording of the NY Philharmonic. You can also hear the orchestra members shuffling pages, scuffing their chairs, and mumbling to each other at times. Totally unprofessional and unacceptable nowadays but Lenny's orchestra was known for being somewhat unruly back then. There is also some very low level rumbling that sounds suspiciously like truck traffic outside the recording hall, an unimaginable thing to tolerate nowadays but it was 1959 and who would have heard it on playback on the kind of gear available back then. But it is there and may cause purists to balk.


Recommended: Yes