James Tobin wrote:

>Peter Goldstein:
>
>>I'm starting to get into Shostakovich, and I wondered if anyone had any
>>insights on the relative merits of the various recorded symphony cycles:
>>Haitink, Kondrashin, Rostropovich, and anyone else you know of.
>
>I would mix and match, and I will just mention a few.

So many wonderful ones to choose from.  My guess is that the quality of
the audio would figure into most choices...however from one who collects
broadcast performances...(*=broadcast)

1-Koussevitkzy*
2-Gould
3-Gould
4-Slovak, Ormandy (yes, Ormandy), Ashkenazy...I still don't have one that
        really does it for me.
5-Koussevitzky* Rostropovich (with the BSO on the day the composer died)*
        Mitchell,
6-Koussevitzky*
7-Ancerl, Bernstein (there is also a live perf. with Bernstein and the BSO
from 1948 that I would guess would be a knockout (I have never heard
it)-but it is in Library of Congress and unless there is a miracle, it
will not appear on disc)
8-Koussevitzky* Mravinsky
9-Koussevitzky* (I prefer his broadcast versus the commercial recording,
even if the composer did not care for all of Koussevitzky's tempi)
10-Mitropoulos
11-Stokowski
12-Mravinsky (1955)
13-Kondrashin
14-Barshai
15-M. Shostakovich or Kondrashin

Karl