On 2006-08-04 D. A Wend, Buffalo Grove, IL USA wrote: Dmitri Shostakovich´s Thirteenth Symphony began as a cantata, growing from Yevgeny Yevtushenko´s powerful poem Babi Yar (about the massacre of Jews outside of Kiev during the Second World War that the Soviet government had ignored) into a five movement work. The political controversy of Shostakovich´s symphony is an interesting subject, particularly since Yevgeny Mravinsky (who had conducted just about all of the symphony premieres from the Fifth through the Twelveth) refused to take on the Thirteenth with its disapproving political message. Kiril Kondrashin took up the symphony and despite the first two basses pleading ill health and the pressure exerted from the Soviet government the Symphony was performed in December 1962 and had three performances. Subsequently Yevtushenko, under pressure from the government, altered Babi Yar to reflect the idea that more people than Jews where killed by the Nazi´s requiring Shostakovich to make an alteration to his score.
The Thirteenth is a deeply felt work that still has a visceral impact more than forty years after it was written. To celebrate the Shostakovich Centennial the Thirteenth was performed at Ravinia in July 2006 to great acclaim. Filling in for the bass was a baritone, and while the performance was excellent, sung with great feeling for the text, lacking was the deep sonorous sounds of a bass. This is what I feel is also missing from this recording. Sergei Leiferkus is one of my favorite singers, who I have enjoyed in concert performances and from recordings, but lacking is the deep bass sound from singers like Vitaly Gromadsky (who performed at the premiere). I also found the first movement underpowered, as if the player were afraid of revealing the darkness of the music.
The outstanding performance of Babi Yar, for me, remains the recording of the second performance (recorded on December 20, 1962 and issued on Russian Disc) of the symphony by Kiril Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic. The New York Philharmonic and Kurt Mazur simply cannot equal the power of this performance. This is a performance that is worth listening to for the excellence of Sergei Leiferkus and the chorus but is not my first choice in conveying the power of Babi Yar.
. And summed up by saying Good But Not Great. Currently Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 ´Babi Yar´ has an overall rating of 10 over 10.
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Yevgeny Yevtushenko claimed
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