Mravinsky conducts Shostakovich's Symphony 8, mov. 1

[bersa888]

Mravinsky had a true understanding of this music.

[Rockmanisoff]

3:57 total gangster

[Spudboy41]

3:52 <3

[Spudboy41]

THIS STUFF IS INSANE

[HGTimely]

I attended their performance of the Eighth in Chicago, 1962. It was an overwhelming experience.

[solonka123]

Absolutely extraordinary!

[telemann732002]

Too bad we don't get a chance to see the orchestra up close, lousy camera job...

[peacelovenomin]

I didnt understand some guys comments...They said that....come on .this is Shostakovich..,Mravinsky...you guys didn,t know about that...this is so genius..so just shut up your dirty stupid mouth....just Get Lost!!

[darkblueangel1956]

Sua Maestà Evgeny Mravinsky in un video di splendida nitidezza, mentre dirige meravigliosamente Shostakovitch, ancora una volta meravigliosamente ! Che emozione !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[youtubister]

Watch a genius at work. And Shostakovich's music... PHEW !

[dranguetprod]

Is that version available somewhere on DVD ?

[rredhawk]

At 3:55-5:00 it sounds like Nazi mechanized columns on the advance, artfully portrayed by Shostakovich with all the brutal bombast one would associate with a primitive barbarian invasion. Reminds me of the 2nd movement of the 5th symphony, which I've been told was intended to show how bad Hitler and other dictaors were, and to mock them at the same time.

[MrCellistus]

@rredhawk

"it sounds like Nazi mechanized columns" - who knows, maybe Soviet? Soviet spirit. When millions of people were dying after the Second World War for nothing. Millions! This Symphony is much more about Stalin, than about nazis. I'm Russian, I can feel it.

[rredhawk2]

@MrCellistus Knowing that this symphony was written and/or performed during WWII probably caused me to think of the Nazis. Otherwise I too might be more reminded of Stalin while listening to it. Brutal yet beautiful piece of music this is.

[Shostasymphony]

I think 2:21 has got to be the most tortured outcry ever written down in music; that semitone clash of the trumpets with utter chaos surrounding it is just terrifying.

[freshhh1994]

@Shostasymphony

Also check out the climax of the Mahler 10 adagio . Most terrifying thing I've ever heard.

[Choen444]

I bought the legendary redordings of Mravinsky conducting Shostakovich...

This symphony is literary a monster among symphonies...

TO bad that the recording I bought is so old that everytihing sounds sharp.

[crunchyxr]

Mravinskijs small gestures brings the music out of the partitura...I'm astonished, he seemes somewhat not intersted...but...it sounds DIMITREV

[DJNotNais]

why the fuck is beethoven or mozart more famous than this mother fucker? it pisses me off that no1 appreciates good music nowadays

[eyukhnem]

@DJNotNais jajajjaa seems you just meet the great shostakovich I really wanna know what you have to say when discover Mahler. jajajajaj!

[john3047X]

@DJNotNais shosty is too intense for most people

[whythewar1]

@DJNotNais More famous then mravinsky or shostakovich?

[DJNotNais]

@whythewar1 well more famous being that when i talk about classical music shostakovich isnt exactly the first one to come into mind. people know mozart and beethoven, and maybe hayden and schubert on an off chance way more than any Nclassical compsers. imo these composers lack seriousness and taste; too fucking soft with no solid brass line.

[whythewar1]

@DJNotNais Shostakovich really only made one kind of music, though he was a good composer . Beethoven , bach and mozart brought something new to music, they revolutionized classical, shostakovich only used a style. and mravinsky never made his own music.

[jcfs123]

Mravinsky is a true master- what awesome conducting! He moves mountains of sound with the slightest of movements.

[Choen444]

This is just my opinion and i know MRavinsky was an amazing conductor with shostakovich. But This symphony i like it more with Kirill Kondrashin

[suprememaison]

Mravinsky's conduction is something incredible, controlling the orchestra with the expression of an old turtle, with his stiff, dry and perfect movements, transmits an impressive power!! Astonishing!

[LorenzoLassek]

I guess I get many thumbs down - I dont care!

The orchestra is very good, but what you all say about conducting control - I can see it only in the english horn solo. The rest looks like conducting student - one, two, three, four, as if musicians cant count.

I like to see facial expression in a conductors face - controlled, not disproportionate like Karajan or even Lang Lang! Mravinsky looks bored

I can suppose, that his rehearsals are strength and pulsating, but concert is a little boring.

[GBADCD]

Yeah, no longer safe in the legs.

[tommyk77]

He conducts like R. Strauss

[quinto34]

Fantastic, what a conductor/orchestra!

I guess Mravinsky was to Shostakovich what Bruno Walter was to Mahler (correct me whem I'm wrong)..and it shows!

[Dima4702]

супер))))))))))))))

дирижер супер

а Шестакович гений)))))))))))))

[gregapage]

I love Mravinsky's conducting style!

[RedHerring109]

Just like an emperor, harsh, firm, but somehow impressive.

[a1b2c1d7]

Очень Хорошо

[JorPove]

Un verdadero maestro: parquedad de gestos e indicaciones versus precision y exactitud en la lectura de la partitura.

[jclbis]

Peu de gens connaissent la valeur d'un tel document: la 8ème symphonie Stalingrad dirigée par Mravinsky, j'en suis complètement interloqué. J'ai cherché si longtemps le disque puis le CD sans le trouver depuis 1990. Je viens enfin de l'acquérir grâce à itunes. Merci Internet.

[BassplayerTCL]

That is complete control without an ounce of useless gestures.

Great brass sound

Just beast

[BrucknerMotet]

@BassplayerTCL That's why they call Mravinsky "the Eagle." Refined control with unblemished dignity.

[HeroicEpicnessCalls]

@BrucknerMotet maybe a bit because he looks like an eagle too ;)

[BrucknerMotet]

@HeroicEpicnessCalls He sure does look like an eagle. The whole slope of his face suggests the curved beak of a predatory bird. His hair, flat on his skull like tightly packed feathers, adds to the imagery. But what always gets me is the comparison of Mravinsky with the eagle from The Muppet Show. (see the you tube video entitled stars & stripes forever!) You will laugh I guarantee it.

[justap19]

Cudownie dyryguje w cudownym miejscu - na kuli ziemskiej JEDYNYM WNĘTRZU !

[cadetplayin4Him]

Wow, that's an amazing english horn solo! why's it cut off in the middle of it??? *cries*

[obiwan88]

Yes, how I wish the author would upload the rest of this recording, since it's impossible to find it commercially...

[leontud]

how do people reach such levels.Mravinsky remains a genius.

[whythewar1]

@leontud Fuck Mravinsky, that about those brass players eh?

[chemiah]

@whythewar1 that's funny, but he probably beat that level of play into them, literally

[jabberwock11]

Pain...death...fear...destruct­iondespair.. I love it!

[dsoap11]

I love this piece but rarely listen to it it's just exhausting, in a way that I think was intended. Thanks for posting

[obiwan88]

Yes, indeed, emotionally very draining.

And I don't think I would recommend it as material for depression therapy. ;p

[cicaNezer]

Maybe the most brutal piece of music ever composed...

[john3047X]

@cicaNezer i think his 13th is worse because of the subject material lol

[gwozdezzz]

Greatest Symphony ever

[xxxxxx06]

Such a great orchestra under it's greatest conductor. Umbelievable how Mravinsky's minimilastic, expressive, and umbelievably smooth gestures can get such a great response from the orchestra (not downgrading the LPO in any way). It's funny to see conductors who must work 10 times as much and cannot get anywhere near this.

[SupermansDead93]

this is Leningrad phil no?

[spv88]

of course

[imusiciki]

A spellbounding performance!! Thank you.

[Neishapour]

Mravinsky was the authority on this masterpiece. He owned this symphony. Believe me when I say his interpretation of this symphony has not been surpassed yet because I have heard them all. If you want to feel the effects Nazi atrocities had on the peoples of USSR, listen to Mravinsky; not to mention the atrocities committed by the totalitarian regime whose sole aim seems to have been to resolve any social issue with means of "dictatorship of the proletariat!"

[obiwan88]

Yes, I agree with you. Mravinsky's performance of the 8th has never been surpassed, no one even comes close. Imagine, the people playing here (including Mravinsky himself) are actual victims of Hitler's and Stalin's regimes.