Shostakovich Symphony No. 1

Posted by: AWS on 01 May 2012

I heard the Shostakovich symphony no. 1 for the first time and I really liked it. It was a live performance by the St. Louis symphony. Does anyone have opinions about the best recorded performances of this?

Thanks

Weldon

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by naim_nymph

IMHO, the Russian's seem to perform it the best...

All Shosta Symph's are brilliant works, why settle for one?

Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

Conductor - Kyrill Kondrashin

(Very fine recordings date from 60's or 70's)

Debs

Posted on: 01 May 2012 by mikeeschman

The 1st and 15th (first and last) are a lot more fun than the others.

Bernstein does a great job on the 1st, highly recommended.

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Bertie Norman

I would agree with Debs and go for a Russian conductor and orchestra where possible. But there are alternatives. Eugene Ormandy recorded the 1st symphony in the presence of the composer - Sony SBK62642 - well worth a listen.It was even better when first released on vinyl as the coupling was Cello Cto no1 with Rostropovich. Haitink is well regarded (Decca). For a bargain set of the complete symphonies the Barshai set on Brilliant is excellent value.