This blog has previously previously mentioned Fritz Reiner's recording of Shostakovich's 6th Symphony. Reiner's continuous tension creates a strikingly sinister and doom laden character to the symphony's long first movement - itself surely one of Shostakovich's greatest achievements. The two succeeding scherzos are equally strongly characterised.
Reiner's performance, precisely in this great tension, is equal to, if different from, the finest Russian performances - for reasons dealt with on this blog in general the distinctive sound of Russian orchestras gives them a head start in this repertoire.
Originally acquired as part of a CD paired with Mitropoulos's recording of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony the two together constituted an outstanding coupling - repeated listening confirming them as really classic Shostakovich performances. Unfortunately that CD is now deleted and both recordings are generally hard to obtain.
However, at present, a different coupling of the Reiner is available for £9.99 second hand on Amazon. Given it is generally difficult to buy snapping up this recording is highly recommended for anyone interested in Shostakovich.
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