Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956)

[Harry]

[Pasted from "What Are You Listening To?"]

Glière: Symphony No. 3 "Ilya Murometz"
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Harold Farberman, cond.
UNICORN-KANCHANA
This is an interminable, nearly 100-minute exercise in Late Romantic non-expression.  The first hour might make for good background music, but only if one can abide a persistent drone of near-Wagnerian swelling and ebbing of massed strings -- Dramamine is not included.  I realize the symphony has a program, but this might work better as a silent movie soundtrack; several grueling listens have failed to convince me otherwise.

Glière's "Ilya Murometz" has its fervent fans, but if one truly wishes to be introduced to this bloated gargantua, I'd feel comfortable in suggesting almost any other recording (though I've yet to hear any of them and am well-nigh loath to do so), apparently all of which are either appreciably amended or reinterpreted for "listening compactness".  Farberman's recording is probably best left for cognoscenti...or for someone's extended sessions of morbid self-imposed sleep deprivation.

I suggest you listen to the chandos recordings, they are by far superior.

[vandermolen]

I have CD versions of Gliere's Ilya Muromets Symphony conducted by:

Harold Faberman (Regis/Unicorn)
Nathan Rakhlin (Russian Disc)
Igor Golovchin (Russian Disc)
Donald Johanos (Marco Polo/Naxos)
Leon Botstein (Telarc)
Lepold Stokowski (EMI and Andante)
Edward Downes (Chandos)
Jacques Rachmilovich (EMI)
+ an LP version with Eugene Ormandy (RCA)

Whilst this is clearly indicative of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, I do like the work very much - either you allow yourself to wallow in the wagnerian/sibelian self-indulgence of the piece - or you don't. The final section The Heroic Deeds and Petrification of Ilya Muromets I find genuinely moving - a kind of doomed struggle, which appeals to my sense of looming catastrophe.

As for the different versions, my favourites are Nathan Rakhlin's on Russian Disc (my No 1 choice) but also excellent are the Downes recording on Chandos and I rather like the truncated Jacques Rachmilovich version with the Orchestra Dell'Academia Di Santa Cecilia, Roma - a very interesting CD (with Kabalevsky's Second Symphony and Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla) dubbed from 78s and recorded in 1949. I had not come across Jacques Rachmilovich before - he died at sea in 1956 and was buried in the Strait of Gibralter. Unfortunately the CD is quite rare (I got it as a US import).

Here is an article about some different recordings:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://classicalcdreview.com/gliere.jpg&imgrefurl=http://classicalcdreview.com/ilyafinal.html&usg=__Fz-6OL0Nk8II6KuqWn-dvI8qKV4=&h=240&w=179&sz=9&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=2kmiAyFwJvR-zM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgliere%2Btalmi%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBR_enGB327GB328%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

[Moldyoldie]

I swear, not more than five minutes after clicking on "Order" for the Downes/BBCSO/Chandos recording of Ilya Murametz, I came across this on another message board:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/georgepitcher/100003227/the-sad-sad-deaths-of-sir-edward-and-lady-downes/

[vandermolen]

I swear, not more than five minutes after clicking on "Order" for the Downes/BBCSO/Chandos recording of Ilya Murametz, I came across this on another message board:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/georgepitcher/100003227/the-sad-sad-deaths-of-sir-edward-and-lady-downes/

Yes, I too had just that type of experience today. Downes's death at the Dignitas clinic is the headline of the London Evening Standard today. The CD you ordered is a worthy tribute to this fine conductor and I hope that you will enjoy the work more in this recording. I saw the work live a few years ago in London - a concert I shall never forget (first complete performance in UK since 1912!)

[schweitzeralan]

Thanks. I largely agree. Symphony No 3 is Gliere's clain to posterity I think.

You liked the 1st. Symphony.  From what you wrote it sounds interesting.  Wonder whether I should order it.  Hpefully it isn't infused with 19th century influences. I am a profuse lover of early 20th century musical harmoniesl modes, etc.  Bax, Scriabin, Debussy, Sibelius, rank high on my list.  Perhaps I shall give Gliere's 1st. a try.  It's just one of my many gambles over the years.

[schweitzeralan]

I will join you in expressing my love for 'Ilya Murometz'(in the Chandos/Downes performance), the Second Symphony, the Harp Concerto etc but can I put in a word for the works which I don't think have been mentioned so far?

There is the Horn Concerto(coupled on Chandos with the Symphonic Suite from the Ballet "The Bronze Horseman"), the splendid Symphonic Poem "The Zaporozhy Cossacks"(the Chandos coupling for the Second Symphony), but most of all-and available on the Naxos disc of the Symphony No.1-the Symphonic Poem "The Sirens", a quite superb piece of nature portraiture whch sounds like Sibelius and Bax rolled together into an intoxicating whole . If you haven't heard "The Sirens" then I strongly recommend it to you!

Just received the 1st Symphony and the "Sirens." Intriguing harmonies and chromatic structures conceived during the years he must have been exorcising his masterpiece, the beloved "Ilya." Superb.  Don't know how I could have missed that one.  His first two symphonies appear to be mere approaches  toward his ultimate fulfillment in the 3rd.  Other than"Sirens," and the "Ilya,' I don't know if there are any other significant works.  I personally think that the "Red Poppy" is a lightweight. Gliere, not unlike the plight of so many other Soviet era composers, had to survive during the Stalinesque nightmare.

[listener]

An unofficial  transfer of a 2-disc Westminster LP set was not to be shipped to Canada.

Reinhold Glière       * Symphony #3 in B minor, Op. 42, "Ilya Murometz"

Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Hermann Scherchen
ReDiscovery RD025 ADD monaural 79:55

[vandermolen]

I was reading an internet article about the conductor Charles Gerhardt which mentioned that he'd always wanted to make a recording of Gliere's Ilya Mourometz. How sad that this was not to be - I have no doubt that it would have been a great performance.

[listener]

If you've wondered if his output might have something smaller in it, there's the
12 Duets for 2 Violins, op.49
10 Duets for 2 Cellos op.3
8 Duets for Violin and Cello op. 39
on Discover 920 526  which won't wake the neighbors if used for late night listening

[vandermolen]

If you've wondered if his output might have something smaller in it, there's the
12 Duets for 2 Violins, op.49
10 Duets for 2 Cellos op.3
8 Duets for Violin and Cello op. 39
on Discover 920 526  which won't wake the neighbors if used for late night listening

That looks like a very interesting CD - thank you. In fact my wife has just instructed me to 'TURN THE MUSIC DOWN AS IT IS UNFAIR TO THE NEIGHBOURS! Personally I do not see what is wrong with playing Braga Santos's Third Symphony at top volume at 7.30 am on a Sunday morning  .

[vandermolen]

I find that the last movement of Symphony No 3 'Ilya Murometz' conveys one of the best examples of hopeless defiance or hopeless striving - something I always look out for in music. I really like this work although there is a generally fairly low critical opinion of it. I feel that Gliere deserves more attention.

[False_Dmitry]

Gliere gets a daily airing in St Petersburg...

... when the overnight Red Arrow Express train from Moscow arrives in St Petersburg next morning, it's greeted by Gliere's magnificently over-the-top Hymn To A Great City, belted-out over the station's loudspeakers.  It's usually still playing as the passengers are walking along the platforms to the main station building. 

[bhodges]

Gliere gets a daily airing in St Petersburg...

... when the overnight Red Arrow Express train from Moscow arrives in St Petersburg next morning, it's greeted by Gliere's magnificently over-the-top Hymn To A Great City, belted-out over the station's loudspeakers.  It's usually still playing as the passengers are walking along the platforms to the main station building.

I love that!  And trying to imagine a parallel situation in any American city, e.g., as people enter Grand Central Station in New York, they hear Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

--Bruce

[snyprrr]

Whilst this is clearly indicative of an obsessive-compulsive disorder,  - a kind of doomed struggle, which appeals to my sense of looming catastrophe.

Tears,...coming out of my eyes, laughing

[vandermolen]

Gliere gets a daily airing in St Petersburg...

... when the overnight Red Arrow Express train from Moscow arrives in St Petersburg next morning, it's greeted by Gliere's magnificently over-the-top Hymn To A Great City, belted-out over the station's loudspeakers.  It's usually still playing as the passengers are walking along the platforms to the main station building.

Yes, I experienced this a couple of years ago. Shostakovich made fun of this in 'Testimony'. When my plane landed in Prague a few years ago they played an extract from Smetana (Ma Vlast) as the aircraft landed and taxid to a stop.

[vandermolen]

Tears,...coming out of my eyes, laughing

Well, we aim to please 

[Brian]

The Farberman recording is being reissued on Alto.

[madaboutmahler]

Coming to the end of my first listen to the epic 3rd symphony, "Ilya Muromets". What an incredibly epic work! Captivating throughout the gigantic duration, full of gorgeous orchestration, thrilling climaxes, awesome depictions and moving emotions. Amazing!!

http://www.youtube.com/v/li0dr71wItc

Will be keen to get a copy of this performance from Downes very soon.

Did Gliere write anything else anywhere close to being as good as this?

[listener]

Coming to the end of my first listen to the epic 3rd symphony, "Ilya Muromets".
Will be keen to get a copy of this performance from Downes very soon.

Did Gliere write anything else anywhere close to being as good as this?

The Red Poppy may not be great, but it's a good piece.    Avoid the Faberman 3rd, I agree it makes bad Bruckner sound good.     The concertos - for coloratura soprano (vocalising, no words) and horn are quite pleasant too.

[madaboutmahler]

The Red Poppy may not be great, but it's a good piece.    Avoid the Faberman 3rd, I agree it makes bad Bruckner sound good.     The concertos - for coloratura soprano (vocalising, no words) and horn are quite pleasant too.

Thanks for the feedback. Think I have heard most of the horn concerto before, I remember it being very enjoyable, and pleasant is certainly a good word to describe it! Less 'cutting edge' than the 3rd symphony though.... any other works where he is as adventurous?