Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915)

[scottevan]

I was at the final performance of "Oresteia," and though undeniably a bloody affair it did not disappoint. Singers (the lead roles imported from Russia,) chorus, orchestra (Bard Festival orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein) and direction (Thaddeus Strassberger) were, as expected, all top-notch.  Unlike many other opera stagings those directed by Strassberger almost never bog down; he keeps things interesting by involving the chorus and principals in stage business throughout, giving the already-compelling story a "full speed" momentum.

Tanayev's score is a lush combination of late German romanticism -- Wagner-like leitmotifs weave throughout the score -- and melodies that veer close to Russian folk (the choruses in particular) though they settle into a musical landscape that borders Anton Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, a good friend of Tanayev's.

Greek-tragic-wise, it's fascinating to compare with two other operatic treatments of the tale, Berlioz's "Troyens" and, of course, Strauss's "Elektra."  Tanayev's version resides in some in-between place, in which both Cassandra (just *how* did she escape the fall of Troy?) and Elektra share the stage. In that role, I thought Olga Tolkmit gave the best performance, though Mikhail Vekua, as Orestes, was undeniably the (anti) hero of the day.

Though I am fond of the existing Melodiya LP's of this work, like others here I also hope this acclaimed performance gives impetus for a new recording. It will, by the way, be traveling to the Maryinsky Theater, so those still eager to see it can have their wish -- for the price of a ticket to Russia.

[scarpia]

I was there too. The tenor part sounded difficult to sing. I wonder if that's why it isn't done more often. It was quite a tasty treat, eh?

[Amphissa]

How long was the entire performance? I'm curious what was cut from the original score. Or did they just use the performing score that is on the LPs?

[scottevan]

It lasted a full three hours and forty minutes (including intermissions.)  Not that bad, when you consider that the classic trilogy of Aeschylus was boiled down to one night at the opera!

The program notes were very clear that this was the first "complete" performance of the opera outside of Russia. However, I wondered about its completeness myself when there was no evidence of the famous overture. I discovered later that Tanayev wrote the overture after the opera itself had been produced. I missed hearing it, but must admit that it would have made a long performance even longer!

[Ilja]

The overture isn't really an overture in the usual sense, but more like a symphonic poem made up of themes and motifs from the opera.

[Amphissa]

The original suffered cuts at the hands of the Mariinsky Theater management, where it had premiered. Taneyev was angry about that, but there was nothing he could do about it.

So I wonder whether this was the cut version or the original version.

Either way, I would lover to hear it. My first hope is a DVD, but a CD or even a broadcast or in-house recording would do. It qualifies as a true rarity.

[scarpia]

Youtube has a complete performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6gnEAtsUIs

[ewk]

Knowing how old this thread is, I just wanted to Express how impressed I am by T's piano quintet and trio. I just discovered them yesterday and I was very much impressed. What a powerful finale of the quintet!
The funeral March of the piano concerto is very moving, although I don't like the 1st movement, either.
Apart from the mentioned 2 violins + viola trio op21, there is also the op31 trio for violin, viola and tenor violin/violotta. Very interesting for the use of Stoelzner's violotta, and while e.g. the Leopold trio's performance uses a cello transcription, this piece could be restored to its original sound using a Hutchins tenor violin. It would be very interesting to hear that.
Best wishes! Ewk

[eschiss1]

... we haven't had a general thread about Taneyev in 7 years? The man deserves better. He was a wonderful composer, and there have been, in the last years (well, 2007 on anyway if not always 2013 on), iirc, some interesting first recordings- including that piano concerto (and the 1875 overture in D minor in the Naxos series might be a first recording- I'm trying to find evidence of an earlier one on LP or elsewhere ) - and not first but "it's not like the competition was thick on the ground" (Naxos' set of his string quartets (with the Carpe Diem quartet, 2011-16) and maybe only the 2nd or 3rd recording of his 1st & 3rd symphonies (ok, that one was issued way back around 2008), for example...) ...

Speaking of the concerto, this premiere broadcast looks interesting.

[Finn_McCool]

I was chuffed to see a performance of Oresteia from the 2013 Bard Festival in the downloads section; however,   I was unable to get it to download.  Has anyone else had any luck?  Has Bard been sharing video of its Summerscape operas?  I saw there was another more recent Bard performance listed in the download section as well.

[dhibbard]

The Piano Concerto was the first ever recording of it... no prior recordings were released on LP as far as I have researched.  However, the score (which I have a copy of) had been in the market for a while.. published in Moscow in the early 80s. 

[eschiss1]

"early 1980s"- 1957, even! See IMSLP for publication info. (Of course, the score you have might be a later complete works publication; I don't know.)

The link I gave above was to its first performance (1998), I think, which was -not- commercially recorded. The Toccata CD was its first commercial recording, yes.

(edit: I should say, to the first public performance with orchestra in that form (orchestrated and completed by Vissarion Shebalin). Of course the two-piano version as edited by Pavel Lamm and published in 1953 and uploaded to IMSLP (PD-CA) as an urtext of sorts - has probably received some private performances- and maybe even a public one - for all I know, but not counting that. The orchestration/completion was published only four years after the publication of the 1953 publication, but did wait four decades for public performance- well, not unheard of.)

[Finn_McCool]

I am happy to report that after three days and 9 or 10 attempts, I was able to download the video of the Oresteia performance at Bard.  Coincidentally (or maybe not), I received an email from Bard the same day informing me that the Oresteia performance (as well as other performances) was now available to stream on Bard's Fisher Center "Upstreaming" page.  There was also an encouragement to make a contribution to Bard to offset the fact that their annual Summerscape festival has been postponed until next summer.

[eschiss1]

His output could be stylistically unpredictable (?)- the late (1910-11) trio with violotta that I'm listening to right now sounds in places like it was written exactly a century earlier (comparing parts with Beethoven's op.74 in texture, anyway.)

[dhibbard]

. (Of course, the score you have might be a later complete works publication; I don't know.)

Yes, just pulled it down from the bookshelf.. it is a later publication.   At the time the Soviet Union collapsed, there were hundreds of copies of various Soviet scores available in the market..... probably folks buying them for pennies and selling them to the various music shops.    I bought several scores in 1991.