tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post5442307477985275758..comments2024-03-17T12:16:42.048-07:00Comments on Civic Center: Sibelius and Shostakovich at SF SymphonyCivic Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-66164018522564336012017-11-01T15:12:30.883-07:002017-11-01T15:12:30.883-07:00Dear Stephen: Reading Barshai's bio online I w...Dear Stephen: Reading Barshai's bio online I was really surprised that I had never heard of him before, but stumbling across musical genius on YouTube is one of the compensating joys of our computer age.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-22393665485878517942017-11-01T14:37:19.451-07:002017-11-01T14:37:19.451-07:00Barshai was one of the great "triple threats&...Barshai was one of the great "triple threats" of the twentieth century. I remember dating a violist back in my undergraduate days, and she worshipped him like a god. He knew the Shostakovich string quartets so well that he arranged several of them as chamber symphonies. On a much larger scale, he also prepared a performing version of all five movements of Gustav Mahler's tenth symphony. Then, on top of everything else, he took up conducting. The Brilliant Classics Shostakovich box has him conducting WDR in all of the Shostakovich symphonies and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in all of the chamber symphonies. ICA put out a twenty-CD <i>Tribute</i> box set that covers all three aspects of his career (meaning only samples of his Shostakovich work). It is one of my favorite collections!Stephen Smoliarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14689767135234237242noreply@blogger.com