Ed Zubrow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: 

>In his Notebooks, Chekhov wrote: "Of some writers each work
>taken separately is brilliant, but taken as a whole they are
>indefinite; of others each particular work represents nothing
>outstanding; but, for all that, taken as a whole they are
>distinct and brilliant."
>
>After spending some time considering this in the context of
>writers, I realized that it probably is equally valid (or
>equally invalid if one prefers) when applied to composers.
>
>I might suggest Chopin as a candidate for the first type.
>... In the second category I might nominate the Shostakovich
>symphonies.

Your note about the Shostakovich Symphonies reminds me of my own hot
and cold reaction to them.  Some of them seem weak, especially the 12th.
Yet it is the 4th that I find to be high point of his symphonies as well
as being one of the greatest symphonies ever written.  It was such a
departure from what had come before.  Its monumental nature and power
is, to my ears, unlike anything else he wrote.  Perhaps only the 10th
comes close.

So, who has a favorite recording of the 4th?  As for the 10th...Mitropoulos!

Karl

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