Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
View the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
About the Artist
Vasily Petrenko has been awarded the prize of best male artist at the Classical Brits 2010
Product Description
Symphonie n°11 en sol mineur "1905" op.103 / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - Vasily Petrenko, direction
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Shostakovich symphony cycles are appearing in increasing numbers in response to continued public interest in a composer who, like Mahler, can be said to have summed up the human experience in the last century. This commencement to a new series with Petrenko and the RLPO makes a worthy addition to the catalogue, and I hope successors to it - the 8th was done live recently and the 10th is scheduled for next season - will not be far behind.
Of all what might be called his 'political' Symphonies, the 11th is the one describing events - the 1905 Revolution - that arguably were closest to the composer's heart. Revolutions that fail have an expectation, an innocence, that those which succeed - 1789, 1917 - tend to lose as the men of violence take the helm. The massacre of peaceful demonstrators outside the Winter Palace which triggered the abortive revolt of an oppressed people thus remained a pure expression of the popular will, untainted by later excesses. The 11th Symphony, with its revolutionary songs, is a tribute to the victims of Tsarist tyranny: in the second movement, the massacre is described; in the third - a heart-rending threnody, they are commemorated; and the last looks forward to a better future.
The present recording avoids some of the slow pacing that can make the work rather too long for the listener: at 57:37 it is at the faster side overall (Mravinsky is shorter still) and benefits as a result. The dynamic range is, if anything, extreme, and unless one has undemanding neighbours, volume adjustment will be necessary from time to time - but that is the way the symphonmy is written anyway.... Read more ›
Of all what might be called his 'political' Symphonies, the 11th is the one describing events - the 1905 Revolution - that arguably were closest to the composer's heart. Revolutions that fail have an expectation, an innocence, that those which succeed - 1789, 1917 - tend to lose as the men of violence take the helm. The massacre of peaceful demonstrators outside the Winter Palace which triggered the abortive revolt of an oppressed people thus remained a pure expression of the popular will, untainted by later excesses. The 11th Symphony, with its revolutionary songs, is a tribute to the victims of Tsarist tyranny: in the second movement, the massacre is described; in the third - a heart-rending threnody, they are commemorated; and the last looks forward to a better future.
The present recording avoids some of the slow pacing that can make the work rather too long for the listener: at 57:37 it is at the faster side overall (Mravinsky is shorter still) and benefits as a result. The dynamic range is, if anything, extreme, and unless one has undemanding neighbours, volume adjustment will be necessary from time to time - but that is the way the symphonmy is written anyway.... Read more ›
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By JayJayDee
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful symphony.
Since Stokowski released this onto the 'western' scene in the late 1950s (with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on the Everest label?) it has been beset by charges of agitprop. Such critics did not know their Shostakovich. He is Everyman's composer: compliant and critical. Cajoling and condemnatory.
The best performances of this symphony in the past have been from Mravinsky and Kondrashin. Their apparent attention to the party line caused a certain amount of disdain amongst the critics who were jealously guarding 'The Symphony' from an invasion of pictorialism (Did they know their Berlioz?). Those of us who always loved the theatricality of this symphony and also spotted a strength of line and intellectual argument in this music are absolutely thrilled by the amount of performances of this work that have been committed to disc. I just can't stop accumulating them.
Some performances seem either too plush, or they drag us through nearly seventy minutes of highly concentrated and sustained tension; without yielding a satisfactory denouement. Rostropovich's LSO Live performance has, perhaps, an even finer recording but is dogged by a metronomic efficiency of the percussive sections. This is not supposed to be measured or comfortable music. This is not for Classic fM's Smooth Classics Hour. It needs a touch of hysteria about it. This is for the radical philosopher amongst us and within us all.
Now Vasily Petrenko and Naxos have given us an even more modern candidate for a straight line to the heart of the piece in a lean but not hurried traversal of 57 minutes. The Liverpool players give this their best shot and sound absolutely convinced that this is the begining of a revolution against oppression.... Read more ›
Since Stokowski released this onto the 'western' scene in the late 1950s (with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on the Everest label?) it has been beset by charges of agitprop. Such critics did not know their Shostakovich. He is Everyman's composer: compliant and critical. Cajoling and condemnatory.
The best performances of this symphony in the past have been from Mravinsky and Kondrashin. Their apparent attention to the party line caused a certain amount of disdain amongst the critics who were jealously guarding 'The Symphony' from an invasion of pictorialism (Did they know their Berlioz?). Those of us who always loved the theatricality of this symphony and also spotted a strength of line and intellectual argument in this music are absolutely thrilled by the amount of performances of this work that have been committed to disc. I just can't stop accumulating them.
Some performances seem either too plush, or they drag us through nearly seventy minutes of highly concentrated and sustained tension; without yielding a satisfactory denouement. Rostropovich's LSO Live performance has, perhaps, an even finer recording but is dogged by a metronomic efficiency of the percussive sections. This is not supposed to be measured or comfortable music. This is not for Classic fM's Smooth Classics Hour. It needs a touch of hysteria about it. This is for the radical philosopher amongst us and within us all.
Now Vasily Petrenko and Naxos have given us an even more modern candidate for a straight line to the heart of the piece in a lean but not hurried traversal of 57 minutes. The Liverpool players give this their best shot and sound absolutely convinced that this is the begining of a revolution against oppression.... Read more ›
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By N. P. Smith
Format:Audio CD
This is the first release in a projected complete Shostakovich Symphony cycle planned for completion over 5 years.
No.11 may seem an unusual choice to begin a series with, but this work, which depicts the 1905 massacre outside St Petersburg's Winter Palace, enables the RLPO and Vasily Petrenko alike to give listeners a good indication of what can be expected from the cycle as a whole.
Great swathes of the music are of almost glacial stillness and dramatic tension, and Petrenko's ability to maintain this tension for extended periods is awesome. Successive dramatic climaxes, especially in the second movement "The Ninth of January", are built with a clear structure and the conductor takes care never to over dramatise music that could in other hands seem histrionic.
The third movement, "Eternal Memory", is as impassioned as Shostakovich gets, while the final movement builds to a searing finale and at the end we are left, quite literally, with the sound ringing in our ears, as the bells are left disappearing into the silence - a sound that would usually be drowned by audience applause at a live performance.
The Naxos engineers have captured the sound in Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall with a brilliance and clarity that we would expect from a full-price label, and at this price there is no excuse not to own this spectacular recording.
Recent live performances of other symphonies in the cycle, given in Liverpool by the same artists (Most recently No.8, being recorded in early April 2009), make us look forward with anticipation to the future releases in this set.
No.11 may seem an unusual choice to begin a series with, but this work, which depicts the 1905 massacre outside St Petersburg's Winter Palace, enables the RLPO and Vasily Petrenko alike to give listeners a good indication of what can be expected from the cycle as a whole.
Great swathes of the music are of almost glacial stillness and dramatic tension, and Petrenko's ability to maintain this tension for extended periods is awesome. Successive dramatic climaxes, especially in the second movement "The Ninth of January", are built with a clear structure and the conductor takes care never to over dramatise music that could in other hands seem histrionic.
The third movement, "Eternal Memory", is as impassioned as Shostakovich gets, while the final movement builds to a searing finale and at the end we are left, quite literally, with the sound ringing in our ears, as the bells are left disappearing into the silence - a sound that would usually be drowned by audience applause at a live performance.
The Naxos engineers have captured the sound in Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall with a brilliance and clarity that we would expect from a full-price label, and at this price there is no excuse not to own this spectacular recording.
Recent live performances of other symphonies in the cycle, given in Liverpool by the same artists (Most recently No.8, being recorded in early April 2009), make us look forward with anticipation to the future releases in this set.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews
3.5 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Very good performance from a good young Russian conductor. I strongly recommend this recording to anyone wishing to build up a collection of the Shostakovich symphonies.
Published 21 days ago by dip
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Real, Truly Powerful Symphony
With its title and description of actual events the Eleventh Symphony, especially with the, "Leningrad" Symphony acting as a previous model, was in serious danger of sounding like... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Mr. A. R. Boyes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Petrenko's impressive Shostakovich calling card
This very well recorded and dynamically wide-ranging disc from 2008 was Petrenko's Shostakovich calling card. It declared a number of things. Read more
Published 1 month ago by I. Giles
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something wonderful is happening in Liverpool
The Livepool Phil are certainly on the up.
This new cycle of the Shostakovich Sympohonies is shaping up to be somethimg very special. Read more
This new cycle of the Shostakovich Sympohonies is shaping up to be somethimg very special. Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2010 by K. Hicks
5.0 out of 5 stars
start of a Shostakovich cycle
The start of a new cycle of Shostakovich symphonies.This recording from a brilliant Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko with the Liverpool Phil Orchestra is an eye-opener. Read more
Published on 11 May 2009 by music fanatic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shostakovich, Symphony 11
Opening bars too ppp for my ears, but otherwise a superb performance on a well engineered recording from Naxos.
Published on 1 May 2009 by Wally
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
