Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43
Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev
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| Name | Artist | Time | Price | ||
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1 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: I. Allegro poco moderato | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 16:05 | Work Only | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: II. Presto | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 12:53 | Work Only | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: III. Moderato con moto | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 8:01 | Work Only | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: IVa. Largo - | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 6:22 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: IVb. Allegro | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 13:23 | Work Only | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43: IVc. Allegro | Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev | 7:25 | Work Only | View In iTunes |
| Total: 6 Songs |
Customer Reviews
Unleashed
Shocking, stunning, subversive, Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony sounds great out from under the Soviet boot. Listen for the dischordant triumph melodies and the undergirding dreadful quivers. Listen, hear the fear, and feel some sense of the context in which it was supressed: the Soviet Union in the midst of the Great Purges.
A wonderful performance of a ravishing piece of music!
I love Shostakovich! It’s a shame he wasn’t given the respect he deserved in his lifetime. This work of music is one of the best he ever wrote( IMO ), second only to his 5th symphony. It’s interpreted pretty well by the orchestra too, one of the best performances of the work I’ve ever heard! If you are going to get into buying classical music I would suggest getting to know orchestra’s and works of music. If the piece has lots of brass( like this one )get a recording of it from the Chicago Symphony. If it has lots of percussion get it from the Boston Symphony, ect.
It's like being slapped in the face! Four times!
These slaps in the face, as I call them, are the four grand gestures about two thirds of the way through the first movement at its climax (a couple minutes into the second track, the way it's divided on this recording). The sheer volume of sound Gergiev is able to get out of his orchestra is staggering bordering on frightening. With a piece like this, one that is so incredibly difficult and demanding of the conductor and his orchestra, it's really hard to find a "bad" recording. Only orchestras of the highest caliber are capable of laying down a recording of this work at all, so there's usually little to complain about. But only with this recording is there so much to be excited about. This performance is fierce, almost barbaric, the range of expression runs from terrifying to ironic to classical dance music to hopeless and back to terrifying again. The sound quality is superb, and Gergiev keeps the energy of the orchestra at full capacity for the entire hour of the work. Gergiev set out to record the "War Symphonies," being Shostakovich's No. 4 through No. 9. Of those recordings, this is the best, and the entire set is incredibly good. Pay attention to the horn call right at the end of the symphony that appears at the beginning of the Fifth. This is an important thing to notice, because Shostakovich could not allow the premiere of the Fourth when it was written for fear of his own life. (Look up "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" on wikipedia.org if you don't know the story). Shostakovich kept this work (the Fourth) under wraps for 26 years before he actually was able to allow the world to hear his masterpiece. This was the composer's personal favorite of his symphonies, and it paints a vivid, accurate and horrible picture of what Soviet life was like during the time of Stalin's Great Purge. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to hear an important piece of music played fabulously.
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