I'm completely not into classical music, but there are performances that are so amazing that transcend personal music taste and preferences. No classical music has ever made me feel like the first 2 minutes of this performance. No other performance of this piece comes even close to the energy of this one.
You must also give mention to the great performer whom you directed, the Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, one of the greatest orchestras in the world. You did spectacular performance, and you MEMORIZED THE SCORE !
In an interview I heard some years ago, Mstslav Rostropovitch (a close friend to Shostakovitch) described how Shostakovitch complained that people tend to play this finale to fast. It's supposed to be grim and surrendering, not triumphant. He was trying to back on Stalin's good side, after all, when he composed it. This performance might be a case in point. But it sounds SO GREAT this way!
Except please remember that even though he WROTE “a Soviet artists reply to just criticism” he didn’t MEAN it. And he knew that future audiences would know he didn’t mean it. He’s not just shaking his fist at Stalin, he is thumbing his nose at Stalin.
This video is incorrectly labeled as Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. That is, obviously, not correct. Can anyone identify the orchestra and conductor??? Great performance!!!
