Ramon Khalona wrote:

>Nice survey by John Proffitt.  I am glad to see Kurt Sanderling mentioned,
>as his Shostakovich partial cycle with the Berlin Symphony is extraordinary.
>...  I also feel that he has a great 'Babi Yar' in him and hope he gets to
>record it some day.

Interesting story here.  The job of premiering Babi Yar in East Germany
fell to son Thomas Sanderling.  Used his father's orchestra, the (East)
Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and a composer-approved German translation.
Eterna recorded it, and Berlin Classics may, at some time, be persuaded to
release it.  Would be interesting to hear this, but I suspect the existence
of this performance in the archives precluded a recording by Kurt.

I suspect that Thomas Sanderling has a feel for Shostakovich that
mirrors his father's deep empathy.  Berlin Classics has released his
superb Michaelangelo Suite, sung in German by Hermann Christian Polster,
again with the Berlin Symphony.  Until the miraculous Nestorenko/Maxim
Shostakovich recording of this late Shostakovich masterwork is finally
released by someone (!!), the Polster serves very nicely.

>Someone in the 'rec.music.classical.recordings' newsgroup commented on
>attending a performance of the 8th with Sanderling and the BPO and called
>it a shattering experience.  How I envy him.

Me, too.  As Ramon knows so well, Sanderling is also very special in his
Bruckner.  One of the very best Bruckner Thirds around, also on Berlin
Classics.  Not to mention his Brahms symphony cycle recorded by Eterna and
available in various incarnations--RCA Navigator and/or Eurodisc.  No
better Brahms, period, IMO.

>Regarding Rozhdestvensky's cycle, I have some Japanese JVC issues which
>sound much better than the issues that have turned up in the U.S.  There is
>also a new reissue box of this cycle coming up, but I don't know if they
>have remastered it or if they're just "boxing" it.

This is really good news.  If those rather bizarre and extreme spot
microphone perspectives have been tamed, the Rozhdestvensky recordings
would be highly competitive--with the exception of 13, where I was
disappointed in R's use of what sounds like a very good chamber choir of
basses, with close microphone placement to make up the difference in sound.
Bah.  Contrast this with Kondrashin's studio recording, which nails the
listener to the wall with what sounds like every basso in the Soviet Union
rounded up and singing like his life depended upon it.  (Maybe it did!)

John M. Proffitt
General Manager & C.E.O.
Radio Station KUHF-FM