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Messages - Christopher

#1
What's your favourite section Alan? Mine is unquestionably the Confutatis.  Just so dramatic.  I might have had it on repeat...repeatedly..!
#2
Composers & Music / Re: Glazunov 4 a hit!
Tuesday 26 March 2024, 10:00
I'd give an honourable mention here to his 16-minute tone poem Stenka Razin. It has all the dramatic elements à la Rimsky/Tchaikovsky/Borodin that audiences love, and would be the perfect concert opener in a Glazunov programme. As we say so often on this site, when you hear it you will ask why it's not better known.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin_(Glazunov)
Stenka Razin, Op. 13, is a symphonic poem composed by Alexander Glazunov in 1885. Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Borodin, it is one of the few compositions written by Glazunov on a nationalist subject and is composed in a style reminiscent of Borodin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Glazunov's composition dramatizes and romanticizes the career of the Cossack Stenka Razin. After leading raids against the Tsarist regime, Razin was captured and given amnesty in exchange of an oath of allegiance. He broke his promise, leading an army of several hundred thousand in an attempt to overthrow the government. Captured again, he was executed in 1672.

The score focuses on a dramatic moment immediately preceding Razin's recapture. Razin and his mistress, a captured Persian princess, are afloat on a richly caparisoned boat on the River Volga. There, in one version of the story, the princess relates an ominous dream, warning of imminent disaster and her own death in the river. They are suddenly surrounded by tsarist soldiers. Razin casts the princess into the water, declaring, "Never in all my thirty years have I offered a sacrifice to the Volga. Today I will give it what is for me the most precious of all the world's treasures." The Cossacks then descend desperately upon the Russian troops. Another version of the story has Razin's men claiming that his love of the princess has dulled his lust for fighting—a charge Razin counters by drowning the princess before leading his followers once again into battle.

The slow introduction evokes the River Volga, quoting "The Song of the Volga Boatmen," with the song's solemnity coloring not only the B minor introduction but also the outer sections of the main Allegro con brio in the same musical key. These outer sections depict Razin's raids on villages along the river. A gentler central section (Allegro moderato) features a contrasting clarinet melody in the major a semitone lower and was claimed to be of Persian origin; this theme, sensual and undulating in Russian orientalist fashion, portrays the princess. The two themes, singly and in conjunction, provide the substance for the central development section, culminating in the graphic depiction of the princess's death. "The Song of the Volga Boatmen" is reprised in the brass to bring the work to a rousing conclusion.

The work was premiered in St. Petersburg on November 23, 1885 in a concert, arranged at Mitrofan Belyayev's expense, conducted by the Rimsky-Korsakov pupil Georgi Ottonovich Dutsch.


#3
Composers & Music / Re: Glazunov 4 a hit!
Monday 25 March 2024, 13:14
I was at a performance of the Fifth Symphony in the Moscow Conservatory in March 1992. I can't remember who was playing. It always stuck with me, especially the second movement (Scherzo - Moderato, which I think is the finest part of that symphony).  It was televised (I guess by TV Kultura, although who knows in those days...). The other items in the concert were Scriabin's Piano Concerto and his Rêverie (Op.24). I have tried and tried to find that concert online (youtube etc, given that TV Kultura post much of their backlog up there), but no luck so far...
#4
According to that Guardian article, the concert was livestreamed for premium subscribers on Medici TV and can be heard here: https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/joshua-bell-dalia-stasevska-inso-lviv-symphony-orchestra-benefit-concert-ukraine-bacewicz-de-hartmann-skoryk-stankovych-chopin
#5
Hartmann's Violin Concerto has been recorded by Joshua Bell with the INSO-Lviv under Dalia Stasevska and reportedly this will be released in July. I haven't heard any excerpts of this piece (or of much of his other work) to be able to assess if Hartmann's music will fall within the remit of this forum.  de Hartmann's dates were 1884-1956.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/16/dalia-stasevska-joshua-bell-interview-ukraine-kyiv-russia

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/dalia-stasevska-conductor-dalias-mixtape-bbc-so-ukraine-b1142142.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Hartmann
#6
Composers & Music / Re: what is this piece?
Monday 11 March 2024, 15:51
Ah! Thank you very much Colin! Now I can also sleep easy. Funnily enough, when I listened to it all the way through I was getting Dvorak, which I guess might be explained by "Folk Dances", if not "English"! However, the piece WAS saved in a subfolder of mine called British composers, ruling him out.
#7
This has now been uploaded to youtube:

#8
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Osip Kozlovsky - Requiem
Thursday 29 February 2024, 16:56
Quote from: Alan Howe on Tuesday 20 February 2024, 23:37Presto are now advertising the CD as an April 19th release over here in the UK. I have placed my order!
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9607139--kozlovzki-requiem

Spelling is a bit of a problem: Pentatone has 'Kozlowski', Presto has 'Kozlovski'. Very confusing when conducting searches!

My CD came yesterday (care of a friend visiting from Poland): I can confirm it's a very good rendition of this piece, and possibly the best of the four recorded versions I know of.  It also confirms to me that, of those four, the Yesipov is the worst - turgid and plodding, literally the wrong tones and (especially) tempos chosen for each section. I don't know if that's because heavy Russian voices are not readily compatible with a Catholic Requiem Mass that prays for eternal rest, or because it's just a bad performance: the other two versions are also Russian and mostly work.
#9
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Saint-Saëns: Déjanire
Wednesday 28 February 2024, 14:49
Hurray!
#10
Composers & Music / what is this piece?
Sunday 25 February 2024, 13:50
I apologise for troubling members with this, but I've not been able to resolve via other routes...

I have this piece in my library which is labelled as William Wallace's symphonic poem "The Passing of Beatrice" - but it is definitely NOT that piece.  Might anyone have idea what it is?!

https://www.mediafire.com/file/pg68mynr4931l3f/Wallace_-_The_Passing_of_Beatrice.m4a/file
#11
I haven't heard it yet, that's my point!
#12
Sabaneyeff himself is hardly a stand-out composer so I'm choosing to judge for myself.
#13
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Wednesday 14 February 2024, 12:15It's a reference to this post of mine earlier in this thread

Written, @eschiss1, in 2012...
#15
The only recording ever made of the opera "Prince Serebrenni" by Russian composer Petr Triodin (1887-1950) has been retrieved from archives and released by Aquarius Classics (excerpts):

https://www.aquarius-classics.ru/cdinfo_e.php?cdid=417

The most interesting archival find of recent times - one might say, the world premiere of a completely unknown classical Russian opera by P.N. Triodin "Prince Serebrenni" (based on the novel by A.K. Tolstoy).

It was first staged in the early 1920s at the Moscow Opera by S.I. Zimin (with the participation of A.S. Pirogov) and is even considered the first Soviet opera, although it was written in a traditional style, without any hint of innovation. Apparently this is partly why already at the end of the 1920s. it was removed from the repertoire and was no longer performed. Only after the war, fragments of the opera were recorded on the All-Union Radio with the participation of outstanding soloists of that time, but until now this recording was not known to anyone.

I will give only one piece of evidence about this opera, which was left by Ivan Kozlovsky, who performed the small role of Fyodor Basmanov in it in 1925 in Sverdlovsk: "Triodin's opera was truly melodic. Unfortunately, it did not stay in our repertoire for long. Why did this happen? I'll try to answer. Let it not be considered 'sacrilege', an inappropriate comparison, but wasn't 'Boris Godunov' first 'buried'? It hasn't been staged for decades! What about today? Life has confirmed the genius of the phenomenal work of the great Mussorgsky. There are many such examples... It's a pity, of course, that 'Prince Serebrenni' quickly left the stage! But in fact, everything depended on the persistence and inquisitiveness of the mind, which are required to prove the significance of a particular work."

As a supplement, there are rare recordings of the wonderful singer of the All-Union Radio Sofia Nikolaevna Kiseleva. None of these magnificent gems of her chamber repertoire have ever been published.
                  M. Nikiforov

Ivan the Terrible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexey Korolev
Prince Silver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniil Demyanov
Elena Morozova. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sofya Kiseleva
Pashenka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claudia Konstantinova
Ivan Ring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anton Tkachenko
Peasant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trofim Antonenko

            Choir and orchestra of the All-Union Radio
              Conductor - Alexey Kovalev
                    Recorded in 1946
  1. Overture
  2. Monologue of Ivan the Terrible
  3. Choral song "Like the grass, the ant" (choir, peasant)
  4. Dance song "Say, tell, sparrow "and scene (Prince Serebryany, peasant)
  5. Arioso of Prince Serebryany and scene "I have not seen human joy for a long time" (Prince Serebryany, peasant)
  6. Round dance song "Like Yar-Khmel beyond the Volga"
  7. Arioso of Prince Serebryany "It's been five years since I've seen Moscow"
  8. Male choir "Oh, you, wide steppe" (Ivan Ring, peasant, choir)
  9. Scene in the garden at the house of boyar Morozov (Elena, Pashenka, Prince Serebryany, choir)

Addition: Sofia Kiseleva sings
10. I won't tell anyone (O. Dyutsh)
11. He left (S. Donaurov)
12. Ophelia's song (A. Varlamov)
13 But if I could meet you ("In Separation") (M. Mussorgsky)
14. The Virgin and the Sun (N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
15. Like over hot ashes (P. Tchaikovsky)
16. Why are you drooping, green willow (A. Grechaninov)
17. To the kingdom of roses and wine (D. Arakishvili (from Gafiz))
18. Among the meadows there is a house (I. Brahms)
19. Oh, turn your gaze (I. Brahms)


(A summary of Alexei Tolstoy's novel Prince Serebrenni is here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Serebrenni) - it's also known as "The Silver Knight" (Serebrenni means silver in Russian).

More about Triodin (in Russian) - https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Триодин,_Пётр_Николаевич