Saint-Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Titov went on their exploration of early 20th century unsung Russian orchestral music, and presented some new first recordings.
Reinhold Gliere's:
Zapovit, Symphonic Poem, Op. 73
Victory Overture, Op. 86
and a modern recording of People's Friendship Overture, Op. 79
can be heard at https://vkvideo.ru/video-24910897_456239271?pl=-24910897_22 or https://rutube.ru/video/8fe62b3cd46ace7ed76ad7bb369605cf
Alexander Goedicke's:
Suite from the Opera "Macbeth"
Dramatic Overture "the Year 1941", Op. 68
Dramatic Overture "25 Years of October", Op. 72
can be heard at https://vkvideo.ru/video-24910897_456239266?pl=-24910897_22 or https://rutube.ru/video/6a5a48c28c3881ef383981553f3cd153/
These are two of four installments that have yet to be uploaded to the orchestra's official website. But they were uploaded by official accounts to the Russian video websites VK Video and Rutube in their entirety half a year ago, and like those on there official website, free to listen to.
To those who are interested, I would like to mention that there's also a disc of Yulian Krein's work including his Piano Concerto No. 2, though obviously this is outside the remit of our forum.
For those, such as me, who can't listen to vkvideo (is it blocked in the UK?), the rutube alternative links are as follows:
https://rutube.ru/video/6a5a48c28c3881ef383981553f3cd153/ - Goedicke
https://rutube.ru/video/8fe62b3cd46ace7ed76ad7bb369605cf/ - Gliere
https://rutube.ru/video/33999b3b79c74 - Krein
Sadly, the tracks are not split out one by one, the whole album is on each link.
(Plus also Stravinsky - https://rutube.ru/video/7f02a6740fc05204eff4a3e63041d5d5/?r=wd
4 Norwegian Impressions; Ode; Ballet Scenes; Firebird Ballet Suite, 1945 version)
If anyone has the kit to record music off the website as an mp3 for these 4 links I'd be incredibly grateful! (I can only do it from YouTube links. Audacity makes my laptop seize up.)
I have listened to the Goedicke all the way through and it's particularly good.
Regarding "Zapovit", by Gliere: the word means "Testament" in Ukrainian, and was the title of a poem by Ukraine's most popular poet Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861). If you search for the word Zapovit on this forum you will find a lot of Ukrainian composers have written a work on this poem, including Lysenko, Barvinsky, Verbytsky, Hladkiy, Lyatoshynsky, Lyudkevych, Revutsky and others.
When I die, then bury me
In my beloved Ukraine,
Amid the wide, boundless steppe,
Where the fields are full of grain;
Where the Dnipro's rolling waters
Down its steep banks roar and glide.
There I want the cliffs and rivers
And the endless fields beside
To be seen and heard around me.
When from Ukraine
The blood of enemies
Is carried into the deep blue sea,
Then I will leave
The hills and fertile fields—
And fly away to God,
To pray... but until then
I know no God.
Bury me, then rise and break
Your heavy chains, and with
The blood of tyrants, wicked,
Water the soil of your freedom.
And in the great, new,
Free family of the people,
Do not forget me
With a quiet, gentle word.
An interesting coupling of works, which once again emphasizes how Goedicke stomached the power transfer from Imperial to Soviet Russia rather better than Glière did. Where the latter lost much of the vibrancy and individuality that he possessed in imperial times, Goedicke basically continued to do what he did previously, albeit with a different subject matter.
Especially in the Goedicke, it's not entirely clear which piece begins where. Any pointers?
Goedicke:
Suite from the Opera "Macbeth"
I. Introduction 0:07
II. Lady Macbeth 5:03
III. The Three Witches 12:18
IV. Music at the Palace 15:27
V. Polonaise (Same as the Music at the Palace in the video, and the waveform of the audio of the two tracks seems the same, probably the maker-of-the-video's mistake) 16:45
Dramatic Overture "the Year 1941", Op. 68 18:07
Dramatic Overture "25 Years of October", Op. 72 (Rather long, twenty-plus minutes) 32:54
Gliere:
People's Friendship Overture, Op. 79 (First Modern Recording) 0:07
Zapovit, Symphonic Poem, Op. 73 (Premiere Recording) 10:20
Overture on Slavonic Themes, Op. 77 25:31
Ferghana Holiday Overture, Op. 75 35:33
Victory Overture, Op. 86 (Premiere Recording) 45:34
Thank you so much, tuatara!
By the way, the Goedicke Op.72 piece is called "25 Years of October", not "25th October". IE - it was written for the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution.
Thanks for pointing this out, Christopher! I've corrected it to "The 25th Year of the October".
I would say "25 Years of October" or "To the 25th Anniversary of the October Revolution"
Then I will take the "25 Years of October" translation :D
The Goedicke and Gliere wartime music albums have now been officially released (plus Stravinsky and Krein albums) on the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra website and can be downloaded track by track directly from there:
https://spb-orchestra.ru/muzyka-voennoj-pory/ (https://spb-orchestra.ru/muzyka-voennoj-pory/)
Danm, some new Gliere music. I needs it.
Question - Are the physical CD's available for purchase anywhere? I don't see them on Presto and a google search comes up empty. Also, any streaming of these available?
No, jasthill. Since volume 17 or 18 they hasn't rely on Northern Flower to publish the albums, and the rest albums are on their official website for free streaming and downloading only. The previous releases by Northern Flowers are still available on streaming platforms, though.
Quote from: tuatara442442 on Saturday 04 July 2026, 16:35No, jasthill. Since volume 17 or 18 they hasn't rely on Northern Flower to publish the albums, and the rest albums are on their official website for free streaming and downloading only. The previous releases by Northern Flowers are still available on streaming platforms, though.
Damn, so only Mp3s are available? That sucks. Especially since it looks like the Gliere is messed up and track 5 is missing as a download.
Quote from: TerraEpon on Sunday 05 July 2026, 01:06Damn, so only Mp3s are available? That sucks. Especially since it looks like the Gliere is messed up and track 5 is missing as a download.
TerraEpon: with a little bit of Google Chrome trickery I was able to get the links to the five files (mp3) of the Entry 29. Reinhold Glière set - They are:
1. https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/01-Druzhba-narodov-uvertjura.mp3
2. https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/02-Zaveshhanie-simf-poema.mp3
3. https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/03-Uvertjura-na-slavyanskie-temy.mp3
4. https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/04-Ferganskij-prazdnik-uvertjura.mp3
5. https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/05-Pobeda-uvertjura.mp3
Can anyone shed any light on why Glière's Victory Overture quotes the American folk song "Oh Shenandoah" so prominently? For example, it appears note-for-note at 04:35, and thereafter in variation, and again around 06:10 - followed by more than a nod to "When the Saints go marching in". A tribute to US aid in WWII, perhaps? I wonder how Stalin felt about that?
Quote from: TerraEpon on Sunday 05 July 2026, 01:06Quote from: tuatara442442 on Saturday 04 July 2026, 16:35No, jasthill. Since volume 17 or 18 they hasn't rely on Northern Flower to publish the albums, and the rest albums are on their official website for free streaming and downloading only. The previous releases by Northern Flowers are still available on streaming platforms, though.
Damn, so only Mp3s are available? That sucks. Especially since it looks like the Gliere is messed up and track 5 is missing as a download.
I can download it normally @Terrapon - has this problem persisted for you?
I snagged a portion of the program notes (detailed annotation to the disk) relating to the "Victory Overture", Op. 86 and ran them through ChatGPT translation and found out that the quotation of Shenandoah and The Battle Hymn of the Republic (not When the Saints go Marching in) are indeed related to a celebration of the Allies contribution to victory in WWII. Gliere mistakenly attributed Shenandoah as an English folk song, but also quoted the Battle Hymn of the Republic as American. There might even be a sniplet of Yankee Doodle passing by. Sort of an Quodlibet Overture. A translation of the program notes give a better explanation of all of the works on this disk.
Thanks, that's interesting. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", of course, my mistake. So, are the programme notes available somewhere?
You can see it on every page of an installment of the series, Mark. Marked by a pdf icon.
The link to the booklet of the Gliere volume: https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Buklet_dlya_diska_Glier.pdf
Thanks very much indeed. Here's the link to the Goedicke booklet: https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Buklet_dlya_diska_Gedike.pdf.
Quote from: Christopher on Tuesday 07 July 2026, 16:14I can download it normally @Terrapon - has this problem persisted for you?
The issue isn't downloading it, it's that the link for track 5 is the same as track 4.
Oops, this is really an existing problem.
So you can learn to use Internet Download Manager to download the file that is streamed when playing...
Or you just use the links jasthill kindly provided...
I also discovered that the download button of the extracts (first two movements, "Introduction"
and "At the Bazaar of Janiabad") of Uzbek Suite by Vasilenko (Vol. 26) was linked to the file of Cossack March. The correct link should be:
https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/07-Uzbekskaya-sjuita.mp3
Thanks but that leads to a 404 error: Ой, страница не найдена 404
Adding a ".mp3" file spec at the end resolves the issue: https://spb-orchestra.ru/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/07-Uzbekskaya-sjuita.mp3
Thanks for correcting me. Now I've added the .mp3 suffix.