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Label:
  Philips Classics - http://www.deccaclassics.com/
Serial:
  470 623-2
Title:
  Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 - Gergiev
Description:
  Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad"

Kirov Orchestra
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Valery Gergiev (conductor)
Track listing:
  Total time: 78:50
Genre:
  Classical - Orchestral
Content:
  Stereo/Multichannel
Media:
  Hybrid
Recording type:
  PCM
Recording info:
  Executive Producer: Clive Bennett
Producer: Andrew Cornall
Balance Engineers: Philip Siney, Jan Stellingwerff (DutchView)
Recording Facilities by DutchView on behalf of Emil Berliner Studios
Editing Facilities by Emil Berliner Studios
Mixing Engineer: Philip Siney
Mixed and Mastered at Classic Sound Limited
Mixed for SACD by Andrew Cornall and Philip Siney
Recording location: De doelen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 19-21 September 2001
This recording is a collaboration between the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Decca Music Group Limited

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Related titles: 8 show all


 
Reviews: 3

Review by stvnharr March 18, 2006 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
I’ve had this disc since shortly after release in 2003, first on rbcd, then on sacd after I got my sacd player. I remember there was quite a bit of press coverage upon release; Valery Gergiev even had a short interview on NPR. I’ve listened a few times, always enjoying the music, but never felt like writing anything about it, leaving that to others.
However, recently I had occasion to move my main system into a larger room, and I felt like giving this recording some play.
In the large room the music really expanded and one could hear the two full orchestras and all that extra sound. It kind of seemed to me that the two orchestras really got packed into the studio and the sound quality really wasn’t quite the very best in terms of clarity, but it certainly was expansive.
This recording is certainly a bit on the long side, compared to other recordings, Rostropovich’s Teldec rbcd coming in about 6 minutes quicker. Yet for me the music never really seemed to drag, though thank goodness it’s all no slower. With the music having an initial concert in 1942, with another couple years to go in the Siege of Leningrad, maybe a long slow go with the music is fitting.
In comparative listening to the Kitajenko recording from the Complete set, I found the Kitajenko to have clearer sound than the Gergiev, but I didn’t find the music as gripping/engaging/whatever as the Gergiev recording.
Overall, I seemed to like this recording somewhat more than the other reviewers.

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Review by Dinko October 4, 2003 (4 of 7 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
In a word, Gergiev's Shostakovich 7th is: dull.

After a very promising first movement which is both fiery and appropriately martial, Gergiev suddenly slows down to a crawl.
The second, third and fourth movements just drag on without energy. Gergiev occasionally picks up the pace, only to slow down again.
There is a case to be made about a suspensful reading of this symphony, but Gergiev just can't seem to pull it off. The symphony's climax in Gergiev's hands is stretched beyond the limit of the endurable.

Sonically, the album boasts an enormous dynamic range.
On both the stereo and multichannel programs one can find good detail, with an overall sound which is darker than other recordings, not as bright as it could be. Given the subject of the symphony, that's fairly appropriate.
The multichannel recording puts the listener in a good concert hall ambience.

There are many better recordings of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. I think that the sonics are not good enough to deserve a recommendation.

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Review by mwagner1 May 8, 2004 (3 of 4 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
I have to totally disagree with the previous review of the Shostakovich #7. I have only owned one recording of the 7th and it was an absolutely DREADFUL CD of Bernstein with the Chicago Symphony. I have also heard a recording of the 7th with Haitink and the Concertgebouw, but I have never like Haitink.

I find that Gergiev milks the intensity just fine for this symphony, and I have no issues with the sound of the combined Rotterdam and Kirov orchestras.

Who wants bright?? Not this camper, who has (out of over 1,100 redbook CDs) very few Deutsche Grammophon CDs or SACDs (my first and last DG SACD was Lang Lang doing Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn)...

I will keep my Gergiev 7th, thank you very much!!!!

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Works: 1  

Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 "Leningrad"