Artist: Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Dmitrij Kitajenko Title: Shostakovich: The Symphonies Complete Recording Year Of Release: 2005 Label: Capriccio [49545] Genre: Classical Quality: DSD64 DSD64 (*tracks) Total Time: 12:31:40 Total Size: 30 GB When this cycle of the symphonies of Shostakovich with Dmitri Kitajenko conducting the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln was released in 2005, Shostakovich cycles were no longer the novelties they had been in the latter years of the twentieth century. There were already several superlative cycles in circulation -- the monumental Kondrashin, the modernist Rozhdestvensky, the anguished Barshai -- and a pair of superlative cycles nearing completion -- the commanding Jansons and the compelling Gergiev -- when the Kitajenko -- Köln cycle was issued on Capriccio in superaudio sound. Listeners who knew Kitajenko only from his recordings made before the collapse of Communism for Melodiya were caught off guard by his complete mastery of the music, of his grasp of its every nuance of heroism and subtlety of irony, of his understanding of its gradations between pathos and bathos, of his control over its most desiccated melody and its most crushing sonority. Listeners who knew the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln from its tremendous recordings with Wand and Conlon were not so much surprised as pleased to hear the orchestra sound so splendid here. The power of its tone, the brilliance of its colors, the strength of the rhythms, and the depth of its commitment proved no less than the finest orchestras of the former USSR. While longtime Shostakovich listeners were amazed, they found that in the Kitajenko/Köln cycle they had a cycle in the same league as the best that had heretofore been released. Made during the early days of superaudio sound, Capriccio's sound is incredibly lifelike; when it was released, listeners were stunned by the delicacy of the bells and staggered by the immediacy of the tympani. Tracks: Dmitrij Kitajenko - Shostakovich: The Symphonies Complete Recording (2005) [12-SACD Box Set] SACD 1: Symphony No.1 in F minor, op.10 Allegretto - Allegro non troppo - (1 of 12) - 8:46 Allegro - (1 of 12) - 5:09 Lento - (1 of 12) - 10:13 Allegro molto - Lento - Allegro molto - (1 of 12) - 10:30 Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.20 Allegretto - (1 of 12) - 4:26 Piu Mosso - (1 of 12) - 6:28 Andante - (1 of 12) - 5:59 Allegro - (1 of 12) - 6:40 Andante - (1 of 12) - 4:50 Moderato - (1 of 12) - 4:34 SACD 2: Symphony No.2 in B major, op.14 Largo - (2 of 12) - 7:32 Tempo=152 - (2 of 12) - 1:19 Poco Meno Mosso - (2 of 12) - 3:52 Meno Mosso - (2 of 12) - 8:37 Symphony No.5 in D minor op.47 Moderato - (2 of 12) - 16:31 Allegretto - (2 of 12) - 5:36 Largo - (2 of 12) - 14:28 Allegro non troppo - (2 of 12) - 11:38 SACD 3: Symphony No.4 in C minor, op.43 Allegretto poco moderato - Presto - (3 of 12) - 30:38 Moderato con moto - (3 of 12) - 9:50 Largo - Allegro - (3 of 12) - 28:38 SACD 4+5: Symphony No.6 in B minor, op.54 Largo - (4 of 12) - 19:11 Allegro - (4 of 12) - 6:18 Presto - (4 of 12) - 7:17 Symphony No.7 in C major, op.60 War (Allegretto) - (4 of 12) - 27:12 Memories (Moderato Poco Allegretto) - (4 of 12) - 10:51 My Native Field (Adagio) - (5 of 12) - 17:55 Victory (Allegro Non Troppo) - (5 of 12) - 19:41 Symphony No.9 in E Flat major, op.70 Allegro - (5 of 12) - 5:21 Moderato - (5 of 12) - 5:47 Presto - (5 of 12) - 3:08 Largo - (5 of 12) - 3:29 Allegretto - Allegro - (5 of 12) - 6:56 SACD 6: Symphony No.8 in C minor, Op.65 Adagio - Allegro non troppo - Alegro - Adagio - (6 of 12) - 29:37 Allegretto - (6 of 12) - 7:02 Allegro non troppo - (6 of 12) - 6:20 Attacca: Largo - (6 of 12) - 11:11 Attacca: Allegretto - Allegro - Adagio - Allegretto - (6 of 12) - 15:07 SACD 7: Symphony No.10 in E minor, op.93 Moderato - (7 of 12) - 26:14 Allegro - (7 of 12) - 4:41 Allegretto - (7 of 12) - 13:29 Allegro - (7 of 12) - 14:24 SACD 8: Symphony No.11 in G minor, op.103 "The Year 1905" Adagio - The Palace Square - (8 of 12) - 16:57 Allegro - January 9th - (8 of 12) - 20:01 Adagio - Eternal Memory - (8 of 12) - 13:18 Allegro non troppo: The Tocsin - (8 of 12) - 15:03 SACD 9: Symphony No.12 in D minor, op.112 Revolutionary Petrograd: Moderato - Allegro - (9 of 12) - 13:06 Razliv: Adagio - (9 of 12) - 13:30 Aurora: Allegro - (9 of 12) - 3:56 The Dawn Of Humanity: L'istesso Tempo - (9 of 12) - 10:34 SACD 10: Symphony No.13 in B flat minor, op.113 Adagio: Babi Yar - (10 of 12) - 17:21 Allegretto: Humor - (10 of 12) - 8:11 Adagio: In the store - (10 of 12) - 13:51 Largo: Fears - (10 of 12) - 12:40 Allegretto: A Career - (10 of 12) - 12:11 SACD 11+12: Symphony No.14, op.135 De Profundis (Adagio) - (11 of 12) - 4:53 Malagueña (Allegretto) - (11 of 12) - 3:10 Lorelei (Allegro molto) - (11 of 12) - 8:20 Le Suicide (Adagio) - (11 of 12) - 6:36 Les Attentives I (Allegretto) - (11 of 12) - 3:16 Les Attentives II (Adagio) - (11 of 12) - 1:37 À la Santé - In Prison, at the Sante Jail (Adagio) - (11 of 12) - 10:38 Réponse des cosaques zaparogues (Allegro) - (11 of 12) - 2:02 O Delvig, Delvig ! (Andante) - (11 of 12) - 4:42 Der Tod des Dichters - The Death of the Poet (Largo) - (11 of 12) - 4:47 Schluß-Stuck - Conclusion (Moderato) - (11 of 12) - 1:20 Symphony No.15 in A major, op.141 Allegretto - (12 of 12) - 7:59 Adagio - Largo - Adagio Largo - (12 of 12) - 16:03 Allegretto - (12 of 12) - 4:33 Adagio - Allegretto - Adagio - Allegretto - (12 of 12) - 17:09 Personnel: Chorus – Prague Philharmonic Chorus Conductor – Dmitrij Kitajenko Orchestra – Gürzenich-Orchester Köln