Dmitri Shostakovich: Staatskapelle Dresden vol.8 (Profil Audio CD)

Staatskapelle Dresden
Kyrill Londrashin, conductor

This recording is a coup – in the series from the Dresden State Orchestra archive – it is the premiere performance of Shostakovitch’s 4th Symphony in Germany given in 1963 conducted by Kyrill Kondrashin. Audio sound has been completely remastered from the original tapes.


This CD received a five star review in BBC Music Magazine, November 2006.

“…trombone and trumpet solos, throwing careful intonation to the winds, achieve even more rasping emphasis than their Moscow counterparts in the 1962 recording. Unique, though, are the staggering dynamic range, focus and atmosphere of the Dresden Staatskapelle's string playing. Kondrashin, like Mravinsky, was famous for his intensive pianissimos and the gradations of his crescendos and this is perhaps the finest testament to them, especially in the twilight zones of the imploding first movement, the shadow-world of the finale's off-kilter ballet divertissement and the tragic snuffing-out of the relentless C minor coda.”
BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 *****