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Title: Maazel runs like a speed-demon through the Shostakovich Symphony # 5
Review: Never have I heard (been dragged head-long through) a performance of the Shostakovich Symphony # 5 like this -- Maazel conducts like the whole podium was engulfed in never-ending flames!!!!!!! It almost seems like he's trying to make the musicians fail in the performance. Most especially in the last movement, all tempo markings are seemingly ignored: how else do you come up with a performance barely over 9 minutes long?!?!?!!! The only reason I give this disc even one star is because the sonics are excellent -- but they are wasted on a disgracefully tortured reading that can only be seen as a punishment of the musicians! A recording to be avoided at all costs!!!!!!!
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