SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONIES 11 & 13 'BABA YAR'; MUSSORGSKY: SONGS AND DANCES OF DEATH - ANTHONY HOPKINS, SOLTI, CHICAGO SYMPHONY (2 CDS)

Solti came late in life to the music of Shostakovich and in his introduction to the recording of the Thirteenth Symphony (reprinted in the booklet) explains the music’s effect on him. These rare recordings have long been out of the catalogue and are now issued as a 2CD set at super-budget price. Sergei Aleksashkin is the commanding bass in the Thirteenth and in the Mussorgsky songs, and Sir Anthony Hopkins intersperses Yevtushenko poems in this unique recording.

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony No. 13 in B flat minor, Op. 113 ‘Babi Yar’
(with poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko read in English by Sir Anthony Hopkins)
Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141

MODEST MUSSORGSKY
‘Khovanshchina’ Prelude (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich)

Sergei Aleksashkin, bass
Men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Chorus master: Duain Wolfe
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Georg Solti