Calvin Simmons - Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8The First Performance in Philadelphia

Simon Rattle & Calvin Simmons, 1976
IGOR STRAVINSKY Scherzo á la russe DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65 Philadelphia Orchestra CALVIN SIMMONS, Conductor Recorded in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA in 1982
I am always surprised that a work which is held in such high regard today had to wait nearly four decades to receive its first performance from a major American Orchestra. The Shostakovich 8th, however, took a while to catch on, even in the Soviet Union. Mravinsky gave the premiere and the rather pessimistic feel of the work almost guaranteed that it would not please the propaganda office and after a lukewarm reception with a period of damning with faint praise -- even Prokofiev was critical of the work -- it was banned in 1948 and was not heard again in the Soviet Union until Samosud's performance in 1956.
It is interesting to know that WWII news correspondent Bill Downs - an enormously gifted and respected journalist - brought the score of the Eighth Symphony back from Russia in 1944 after having paid $10,000 for broadcast rights. How many newsmen on the airwaves today would be able to recognize a work of such import and think to bring it back to America for performance? That "first performance in the western hemisphere" was given by the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski on 02 April 1944. An article on Downs and the Shostakovich 8th can be found here.
Hopefully this little post will remind you of what a fine conductor Calvin Simmons was. I saw him give a lovely performance of Hansel at the MET and was impressed with his easy command of the orchestra. (That was 1979 -- I vividly recall Catherine Malfitano's MET debut that day before Christmas and the chemistry between the young soprano and her "brother," Tatiana Troyanos.) Simmons later conducted a much-praised production of Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth" with Anja Silja and William Lewis at the San Francisco Opera in 1981. He drowned in a canoeing accident near Lake Placid, NY in August, 1982 not long after this broadcast (obit.). He was just 32 years old.
The sound of the tape is OK - a little hissy but that is par for the course with a Dolby-ized tape recorded at 3.75ips. Generous, if not quite complete, commentary is included.