Vasily Andreyevich Zolotarev 1873-1964

[Christopher]

Absolutely - thank you Reverie!  Seems you are in a race with David Dhibbard who has mentioned that he is putting it onto Sibelius.

I think it's worth saying that there isn't enough of his work recorded out there to pass a judgment on whether his work has merit or not.  And yet he seems to be the subject of a huge number of postings across various fora. Given that there are many many Russian (etc) late romantic composers whose works have never been recorded, why does this one attract so much attention and speculation?  Apparently Rimsky-Korsakov, for one, didn't rate his work...

[Alan Howe]

We're going round in circles again. I suggest we wait until we've actually got something to listen to. Then we can (finally) make a judgment.

[Reverie]

Absolutely - thank you Reverie!  Seems you are in a race with David Dhibbard who has mentioned that he is putting it onto Sibelius.

I think I'll leave this one to Dhibbard 

I have other irons in the furnace.

[Christopher]

I discovered on another forum that someone has made a MIDI version of Zolotarev's 1st symphony - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXpZyqdSV74&t=1s - maybe we can now start to get a sense of whether his music is any good.

[Alan Howe]

Not a great-sounding rendering, unfortunately.

[Christopher]

Would you say it's the rendering rather than the piece? I'm finding it difficult to tell so can't give an opinion.

I note that the creator of that Youtube channel, has "orchestrated" a lot of unsungs from our era - this is his list of works: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMecG2I4vEDzoD0HW4DxylA/videos )

[Alan Howe]

The renderings are universally terrible in sound - such a shame.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes. They are all awful I'm afraid.

[Alan Howe]

Back to square one with Zolotarev, I'm afraid.

[Christopher]

After over 10 years of trying to obtain recordings of Zolotarev's music from the various archives in Belarus, whose bureaucracy has to be among the most impenetrable in the world, I have finally managed to obtain some materials.  It wasn't even certain if recordings of his orchestral works actually exist.  It turns out that one of his symphonies (No.6) was recorded in Soviet times, as well as his ballet music and a couple of other pieces. The misinformation that all seven of his symphonies was spread on here and elsewhere by former member of this forum DHibbard (since expelled) - I mention this only because I have seen his non-facts repeated in recent academic musicological works, and on Zolotarev's English-language wikipedia page, word-for-word as he posted it here and elsewhere.  I don't know why anyone would do that.

In the Downloads section I have posted:
   Symphony No. 6 - "My Motherland"
   The Prince-Lake - excerpts from the ballet
   Flaming Hearts - complete ballet in 3 acts
   The House of Cats - a children's opera
   A Musical Snuffbox ("Tabakerka")
   Near the City of Barysaw - for men's chorus and orchestra
   Capriccio on a Hebrew Melody for violin + ensemble

So, after all this time, what do I think?  Well, the 6th Symphony (which is choral in the final movement) is a typical Soviet faux-grand piece. I don't know what they're singing about, but I'm guessing it's about how wonderful the USSR is..

The ballets are both cute - nicely melodic if shallow. I like the grand, almost pompous (in the Soviet classical way) ending of each of the three acts of Flaming Hearts.

House of Cats - no opinion.

Near the City of Barysaw - pompous Soviet cr4p, thankfully only 2 minutes long.
Musical Snuffbox - cutesy folk music.
Capriccio on a Hebrew Melody - energetic and fun.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for your perseverance, Christopher, and for your generosity in sharing so much. I've only sampled the Symphony so far and it certainly falls squarely into the "Russian late-romantic" slot. Perhaps inevitably, I'm reminded of Grechaninov.

[Mark Thomas]

I pretty much agree with your assessment of the larger orchestral works, Christopher. Shallow is certainly the word for the ballets - pretty, but instantly forgettable. The Symphony is quite approachable, it continues to remind me in places of Grechaninov, but is basically anonymous. I doubt that Zolotarev is going to become anyone's "go to" composer. That said, it's good to have the chance to hear his music, so thanks for that.