Shostakovich: Ninth Symphony (Efrem Kurtz, 1947)

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• published: 05 Jul 2012
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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 in E-Flat, Op. 70 Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York Efrem Kurtz, conductor Recorded April 8, 1947, in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on American Columbia matrices XCO 37603 through XCO 37610. Issued in the summer of 1947 as Columbia Masterworks Set M-688 (records 12595-D through 12598-D), and in automatic sequence as Set MM-688 (records 12599-D through 12602-D). The movements of the Symphony are as follows: 1. Allegro 2. Moderato (at 5:26) 3. Presto (at 17:10) 4. Largo (at 19:58) (William Polisi, bassoon solo) 5. Allegretto (at 22:14) This is only the second recording of Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony, which received its US première in August, 1946, with the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood. I remember reading somewhere that the earliest editions of the score that were printed in the US had an incorrect metronome marking for the second movement, resulting in this movement being played twice as slowly as Shostakovich intended for its earliest US performances, including the Tanglewood première. Early in 1947, Shostakovich heard a recording of the broadcast of this performance, and wrote to Koussevitzky expressing his disapproval of the slow tempo. Koussevitzky, in the meantime, had recorded the symphony for Victor in November, 1946, with the second movement taking three sides at the too-slow tempo. Upon receipt of Shostakovich's criticism, he scheduled a second session to re-record the second movement at the faster tempo, with the result that it now took only two sides. This re-recording occurred on April 2, 1947, only six days before Kurtz's recording of the entire symphony. Presumably Kurtz didn't have the benefit of Shostakovich's advice, for his second movement is very slow, and on three sides. There is another thing peculiar about the Kurtz recording, not in the performance itself but in the layout of two of the 78-rpm sides. The first movement's duration is 5 minutes, 20 seconds - too long for one side. Rather than the side-break occuring near the middle, as was customary, it occurs towards the end (to be precise, at the recapitulation of the second theme of the movement). This results in a Side 2 that plays for only 62 seconds, and a disc surface that has the highest percentage of blank grooves that I have ever seen! The video, at the point where this side is being played, displays a picture of the record showing this. Kurtz observes the exposition repeat in this movement; Koussevitzky did not, and therefore his first movement was complete on one side. Incidentally, both sets, Koussevitzky's and Kurtz's, hit the market at precisely the same time, in the summer of 1947. TIME magazine preferred Kurtz's, despite its taking an extra record (and therefore being a dollar more expensive). The Shostakovich Ninth Symphony was the only symphony that Efrem Kurtz recorded for Columbia; during the 1930s and 1940s his reputation was as a ballet conductor, and he made best-selling recordings of Khatchaturian's two "Gayne" ballet suites and of Offenbach's "Gaité Parisienne." In the 1950s, for EMI, he recorded Shostakovich's First and Tenth Symphonies. The former is available as an EMI CD; the latter is on the Testament label. To download a higher-quality audio file of this recording, please visit my blog, The Shellackophile - http://shellackophile.blogspot.com - where this and many other vintage recordings may be downloaded.