Mravinsky: Shostakovich Symphony No. 7, etc. - Vanguard VRS-6030/1 (2LP box set)

Box EX / LPs NM-

This handsome and very rare 2LP box set from Vanguard (VRS-6030/1, US pressing, blue/silver labels, mono) features Evgeny Mravinsky's legendary account of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C Major Op. 60 "Leningrad", coupled with conductor Kirill Kondrashin's equally potent reading of the same composer's Symphony No. 1 in F minor Op. 10.

The former was made with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra on 26 February 1953, while the latter was set down with the State Orchestra of the USSR in 1951 and is the rarer of Kondrashin's two commercial recordings, predating the re-make for his stereo cycle by 20 years.

The left interior panel of the box contains extensive liner notes by S.W. Bennett, printed in English only. The striking cover art reproduces a detail from David Alfaro Siqueiros' "Echo of a Scream".