Shostakovich 13th symphony (part-1/7)

[js14352]

Victims of Babi Yar, rest in peace.

[alphabet661]

I would rather think this is for any oppressed community. Terrible what the those adhering to the Jewish fate underwent but let's remind ourselves of the Armenians, Palestinians (Christians and Muslims), African Americans who'd be killed if they used a white bathroom only a few decades ago in the South.

[khbgkh]

6:31 Cock Fondler

[jmfstbn]

Bravo Low brass ! Very good

[RolandRiopelle]

It is worth remembering that this musical criticism of Russian antisemitism was very nearly suppressed by the soviets, who threated the original bass singer so convincingly that he withdrew from the premier on the eve of the performance. Fortunately, Kyrill Kondrashian (a superconductor!) had surreptitiously lined up a replacement, and he (Kondrashian) refused to be intimidated into getting "ill" on the eve of the premier! Wonderful performance this!

[Gunfire4hire]

9:06 on is sooooooo badass

[hgjfkd12345]

is it just me, or does the singer look kinda like that guy from monty python

[gregapage]

@hgjfkd12345

It's just you.

[hgjfkd12345]

@gregapage yeah i retract my previous statement

[gydur1]

I love the male russian choir tradition...its really masculine and cool...:)

[whythewar1]

God! This singer is amazing, his voice, his facial expressions completely capture this piece!

[mjulla]

I think it's a bit fast. But it's still beautiful.

[boyspuros]

anne frank gets a shout out

[turandotcalaaf]

09:05 my GOD, this is unique, breathtaking!!!

[Halbwertszeit92]

Never heared more stringent and precise emotions than under his magic hands. We may call him the first Shostakovich conductor these days. And yes, London always stands up for Gergiev.

[LJBSasha]

Boy oh boy, an absolute masterpiece on Shostakóvich's part (and this applies to the entire symphony too!!). Obviously the authorities couldn't relax with the composer, given how powerful his message was. That they repeatedly persecuted him, especially in 1936 and 1948, but never truly letting up even after his death (at his funeral itself they made trouble!!), ought to teach us all about the sheer evil of any and all totalitarianism!!!

Great music by any and all standards, and great lyrics.

[LJBSasha]

This work ranks very close to his opera "Lady Macbeth of Mcjénsk District" in terms of expressivity (notably the bleak 4th act!). It has helped further cement my interest in this composer: his music deserves to be every bit as popular as anything from the 18th or 19th centuries!! Dmítriy Dmitrjévich Shostakóvich is definitely one of the very greatest composers ever, and most certainly a giant of the 20th century!!! How right Vishñévskaja was in devoting so much of her autobiography to him!!!

[ALRUSSAFI1]

hi guys! most of you doesn't speak russian,I suppose,so nobody has noticed, that gergiev shamelessly uses the second version of the text which was changed by Yevtushenko and Shostakovich didn't like it at all.But ,as if it was a joke, the subtitles in english are the translation of the "right",first version of the poem.Why did Gergiev use the new text ,the one Shostakovich disliked?Can anybody answer this?

[LJBSasha]

@ALRUSSAFI1: Thanks for alerting us to that - you're right!! Yes, it's 8 lines, but Jevtushjénko HAD TO expurgate/revise his own poem so that the work wouldn't be banned outright at the time. HOWEVER, now that the Commies have lost power in much of the Eastern bloc, there's no reason to use the politically-correct text in place of the even starker original!! [Unfortunately, the only other performance available on YouTube (in terrible sound from Moldóva or Ukraine) does the same thing!]

[LJBSasha]

Thank goodness that the English translation featured (after several lines got missed!!) is of the original instead of the expurgated text!

Indeed, why is the expurgated text used here? Could it have been a lack of preparation-time and/or access to the original text? [It's only in the last 3-4 years that Shostakóvich's works have been republished in a new authoritative edition - up to then, it was the revised text that was in print.] Also, the Commies haven't lost all their influence yet.

[ss4vingt]

@LJBSasha Who knows why Gergiev used the revised text. He ended up performing this symphony again in 2007 at Avery Fisher Hall with Kirov Orchestra and the Rutgers Glee Club, Kirkpatrick Choir, and Riverside Choral Society. In that performance, however, Gergiev used the original text and Yevgeny Yevtushenko read his poem aloud before the performance. I was lucky enough to be part of such a wonderful artistic experience and I'm still in awe of the sound that Kirov summons from this piece.

[LJBSasha]

@ss4vingt: if he did use the original text, it would be very good indeed!!! You would then potentially dovetail with my suspicion that he didn't have the unexpurgated text available.

However, are you really sure that the original text was sung/spoken IN RUSSIAN? Could you definitely vouch for that being the case? [It's one thing for the translation to be so (as happens here!), but I hope you could tell that it was the original text being sung, perhaps by knowing the Russian language...]

[ss4vingt]

@LJBSasha I am positive about that. You can also listen to the recording with Kurt Masur and the NY Philharmonic with the New York Choral Artists and Sergei Leiferkus as the soloist.  They also use the original text and it sounds remarkably different if you listen to both side by side. Also, I don't necessarily know the Russian language but we drilled the pronunciation so much, I still remember it to this day. The words we sang are not the words used in the video.

[LJBSasha]

@ss4vingt: I'm VERY glad that the American choirs DID sing the original text!!! I'm wondering if Communist politics could have pushed the Kirov-Mariínskiy Choir and Mr. Pjetrjénko to use the censored text... Who was the soloist in your concert in 2007 - was it the same one? [While we're at it, Vladímir Vladimírovich Pútjin may not have called himself - or even thought of himself as - a Communist, but he most certainly brought Russia back in many ways to its Communist self, alas...]

[DoeRan]

Is this available on dvd somewhere?

[nikolaos333]

@DoeRan Unfortunately there is no DVD.

[muzomanoz]

@nikolaos333 This is a shame. If it were a rock concert, it would be available everywhere!

[MRsounddude]

@DoeRan No=(

I checked it out on a very reliable source and this 1 was not recorded by any label.

It was probably on TV or something but this all.



[LJBSasha]

@MRsounddude: Almost certainly it's in the archives of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - if they wanted to, they almost certainly COULD issue it!!!

[Tzvia48]

@DoeRan There is a DVD. If you type in Babi Yar on the url search it will lead to the Royal Netherlands Philharmonic. On that site you can find a CD or DVD.

[saintsaens21]

Great singer too.

[ytnelsongn]

I think it is the most striking composition of XX century. Shostakovitch and Yevtushenko are heroes, and every performer is also a hero.

[classicalnut1]

ever heard of what actually happened at babi yar? truly sick and twisted! the nazis forced thousands of innocent families to the babi yar ravine by convincing them they were only to be 'relocated'. but before parents could save their children, they were stripped naked and chased through the ravine by firing sqauds. it was the largest single massacre in WWII. something like 33,770 people were killed within 2 days!

[dakwa1]

The power of this Symphony is amazing and so fitting to those it was written for.

[classicalnut1]

@dakwa1 isnt shostakovich awesome at depicting the horrors and channeling them through intense fear-ridden symphonies

[bckm54]

If this DOESN'T move you to tears, you have no soul.

[whythewar1]

as a jew I thank shostakovich for taking so many risks to write this piece , to bring the story of babi yar into light.

[theguyi26]

Glitch at 2:45 thought it was my computer buffering, but it's in the vid.

[franzfiguera]

para mi, nadie interpreta mejor shostakovich q Gergiev..

[shwedagonpaya]

The use of percussion really evokes the sense of terror.

[murozko]

Prom 48, Royal Albert Hall, 19 August 2006

Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor, 'Babi Yar'

Mikhail Petrenko- bass

Chorus and Orchestra of The Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov Opera)/ Valery Gergiev

[baldwalrus7]

Where did the lyrics go near the start?

[berlinerstrasse55]

traurig.

[wagneristhebest]

what is the opening instrument?

gong?

bells?

[allegrettus]

God.

[muzomanoz]

Tubular bells.

[majark4]

bells

[mdeonx16]

@wagneristhebest Tubular bells

[robinoi]

Who is the soloist? what a face.

What's his name, someone?

[Dissentient]

Mikhail Petrenko- bass

[1donpizarro]

The soloist is Russian bass Mikhail Petrenko, and although he's very young, he won many international prizes

[nenbran]

For good reason.

[shostaki]

Striking performance and echoes the essence of the Russian Spirit within a jewish text.

[Risenok]

@shostaki

text writer Yevgeny Yevtushenko the russian-german origin

[bckm54]

If you ever wondered what the world would be like without Jewish folks, listen to this symphony and see how much wonder, beauty, richness, perseverence, and passion you'd be missing. I am not Jewish, but there is some Jewish blood in my veins, and every time I listen to this symphony, it makes me cry for my relatives who lost their lives in the concentration camps..and all the other people of all the other families that did the same.

[whythewar1]

@bckm54 ...Jews are good because a whole bunch of us were killed for no reason and the song came out?..You know what this song is about right?

[bckm54]

@whythewar1 "as a jew I thank shostakovich for taking so many risks to write this piece , to bring the story of babi yar into light. 1 hour ago " The only difference I have with this quote is that I am not Jewish. But I also thank Shostakovich. We are on the same page; perhaps you misread my post, but we are on the same page...

[CinnAlla]

@bckm54 Neither the poet Yevtushenko nor the composer Shostakovich were themselves Jewish. This musical collaboration is their expression of solidarity with the mainly Jewish victims of the Nazi exterminations at Babi Yar and a call to Russian and Soviet people to live up to their internationalist ideals. This is a great 20c Russian work of art and a moving expression of common humanity.

[bckm54]

@CinnAlla  beautifully put! :)

[luoboeguy]

@bckm54 Did you know you are echoing the lines of the poem? "

In my blood there is no Jewish blood.

In their callous rage, all antisemites

must hate me now as a Jew"

[luoboeguy]

Note also that this is not the original text - some of it has been altered.

[DeutschlandRocks]

Bravissimo!

I believe, Gergiev is the best Shostakovich conductor today.

[majark4]

He is not at all, the best Shostakovich conductor today is by far Semyon Bychkov

[ftumschk]

Barshai, Berglund and Haitink are still very much with us, and there's the small matter of Järvi, Jansons and Kitajenko to consider, too. They'd all give Bychkov and Gergiev a run for their rubles in the Shostakovich stakes.

Not that I *want* to rank them, mind! They each have interesting things to say, and we should be grateful for that.

Ultimately, though, few (except maybe Barshai) have attained the standards of visceral grandeur set by Kondrashin and Mravinsky in this repertoire.

[LJBSasha]

@ftumschk: No question that Gjérgijev has much to say in this piece; and I also like Rostropóvich: he did excellent recordings of these symphonies plus of the opera "Lady Macbeth of Mcjénsk District" - in regards to the latter, Jansons isn't even fit to light a candle in front of the late Mstjíslav Ljeopóljdovich Rostropóvich!!! [Gjérgijev is definitely better in that work than Jansons, who just doesn't truly have the soul for Russian music!]

[kwakos22]

Too fast I think but very good!

[pierrot79]

Yes !!!

Why don't they sing this like a funeral match instead ?

This said, the soloist is excellent.

[zwieglupglup]

Magnifique interprétation.

[shragahaber]

A wonderful performance of one of the most moving works in the repertoire. An unambiguous criticism of Soviet antisemitism. The performance was banned after its first outing - Yevtushenko bottled out and withdrew his poetry. Shostakovich refused to withdraw a single note making him one of the most courageous human beings as well as an astonishing composer. In this performance, the choir sing roughly and sound like a band of Cossacks - wonderfully done. Thank you Nikolaos333

[vacillateallday]

Wonderful...

[HellenicMagic]

Εν δυνάμει μουσικολόγο σε βρίσκο φιλάρα!

[nikolaos333]

Σε ευχαριστώ για τα καλά σου λόγια!

[THEMGOROTH75]

Επικη δυναμη ξανα απο τον  Σοστακοβιτς!!!!

[Diosadelaverno2009]

Wonderful masterpieces, thanks for sharing Etta, hugs

[EttasFavourites]

For me the number 13 has always been a very very special number...

Born on a thirteen, living in a street with Thirteen in it: it sounds a bit common together with this very impressive composition, but this composition is very much "me", at the deepest level, and therefore it is a magical symphony for me....

Even more when I am realising that a year go I did not have heard even one composition written by Shostakovitch. Unbelievable!

[EttasFavourites]

I must say that the discussions in The Classical Fans group helped me a lot to discover Shostakovitch, and you, Nikolaos333, you uploaded the right parts of compositions written by Shostakovitch: it were those which touched me the most, and made me interested in him, his music...Opened me for his music. Thank you, my dear friend!

The thirteenth brought the total surrender!

[nikolaos333]

I am very happy for your comments!