Sunday, June 28, 2009

Kondrashin and Moscow forces at the 1972 Munich Olympics play the Shostakovich Sym.#15











Shostakovich, Dmitry
Opus 141
Symphony no. 15

September 14, 1972

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Kirill Kondrashin, conductor

As you may note, this is different than the Melodyia recording made a few years later, and it certainly has a separate 'feel' to it.
The symphony was recorded live on September 14th, 1972 in the Kongresshalle, Munich, West Germany during the Summer Olympics there. The performance cannot be but impacted by the events just 9 days prior, when a group of humans calling themselves Black September snuck into the Olympic Village and attacked members of the Israeli Olympic team, eventually murdering 11 of their fellow humans. 


Shostakovich, Dmitry
Opus 99
Violin Concerto no. 1

November 27-28, 1964

Leonid Kogan, soloist
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor

The source of these two tapings, Maestro Hornsby tells us,
"...as a filler I've included a dynamite performance of the 1st
VC with Leonid Kogan with Leinsdorf & the BSO from 1964..."

Some filler! The early movements of this performance take a few moments more than a later recording (1966, with the same forces) which surfaced from Soviet archives a decade ago. These moments run out to a minute more in the last two movements; I never felt any drag. Whatever was added is mordant and seething, as channeled through Leonid Kogan's alarming fluency in Shostakovich. 


All Thanks to Progress Hornsby for these recordings, fine artwork, uploading of flacs and generosity.

even includes traycard!