Lesser known Russian/Soviet composers

Started by vandermolen, July 13, 2008, 02:43:48 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Cato on December 14, 2019, 06:20:29 PM


Yes indeed!  The ballet though, recorded on CHANDOS with Rozhdestvensky conducting, is no longer readily available, and the above CD on Amazon costs a rather steep $30.00 new (or is available as an Mp3 download), so this CPO CD is welcome.

That is the CD, even the cover art is attractive.

If the Chandos CD is no longer available, the CPO disc will be more than welcome. I've never heard that work before, so my expectations are high.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

vandermolen

Quote from: Cato on December 14, 2019, 06:20:29 PM


Yes indeed!  The ballet though, recorded on CHANDOS with Rozhdestvensky conducting, is no longer readily available, and the above CD on Amazon costs a rather steep $30.00 new (or is available as an Mp3 download), so this CPO CD is welcome.

That's a very nice disc.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: Cato on December 14, 2019, 01:17:13 PM
From New Releases topic: in case you missed it!   0:)

Nikolai Tcherepnin
will have a new recording of two wonderful works: thank you CPO !


Nikolai Tcherepnin's ballet Narcissus and Echo and the tone-poem The Faraway Princess are being released after Christmas (?) in January.




It would be nice if other things by Nikolai Tcherepnin, which have never been recorded, follow soon!


With some difficulty I found a page with more information:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/nicolai-tscherepnin-narcisse-et-echo-op-40/hnum/8977574

A German reviewer (apparently given a copy to write a review, since the release date is January 3, 2020) from the above website has given it a 5-star review:



The CHANDOS CD of this work mentioned above is indeed excellent, but is unfortunately difficult to find.

Yes, you introduced to me to this fine work Leo:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Christo

Quote from: Cato on December 14, 2019, 01:17:13 PM
From New Releases topic: in case you missed it!   0:)

Nikolai Tcherepnin
will have a new recording of two wonderful works: thank you CPO !

Nikolai Tcherepnin's ballet Narcissus and Echo and the tone-poem The Faraway Princess are being released after Christmas (?) in January.



It would be nice if other things by Nikolai Tcherepnin, which have never been recorded, follow soon! With some difficulty I found a page with more information:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/nicolai-tscherepnin-narcisse-et-echo-op-40/hnum/8977574
A German reviewer (apparently given a copy to write a review, since the release date is January 3, 2020) from the above website has given it a 5-star review:

The CHANDOS CD of this work mentioned above is indeed excellent, but is unfortunately difficult to find.

Heard a performance of (a Suite from) this 1911 ballet live in St. Petersburg in 2013, in the 'Capella' (State Academic Capella, officially), where the organ of the Dutch Church (!) on the Nevsky Prospekt found a new home in 1926, the church of course closed after the Bolshevik Coup (they now got a new one there). Was really surprised by the quality and orignality of the music, easily on par with far better known scores by Rimsky-Korsakov from these years. The Capella: http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/en/leisure/196970/
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

Quote from: Christo on December 15, 2019, 12:05:18 AM
Heard a performance of (a Suite from) this 1911 ballet live in St. Petersburg in 2013, in the 'Capella' (State Academic Capella, officially), where the organ of the Dutch Church (!) on the Nevsky Prospekt found a new home in 1926, the church of course closed after the Bolshevik Coup (they now got a new one there). Was really surprised by the quality and orignality of the music, easily on par with far better known scores by Rimsky-Korsakov from these years. The Capella: http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/en/leisure/196970/
An impressive venue as well.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Cato

Quote from: vandermolen on December 14, 2019, 09:59:52 PM
Yes, you introduced to me to this fine work Leo:


CHANDOS still offers the CD direct from them as an "on-demand" item: the quality of the sound is excellent!  They also sell it as a "lossless" download, and an Mp3 download.

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%209670
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Cato

This was placed on YouTube in October: Musica Viva is a Russian orchestra.

Le Destin by Nikolai Tcherepnin:


https://www.youtube.com/v/fPxKxxWudGE
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Roy Bland


Maestro267

Can you give us some context, please? Not all of us can speak Russian. This goes for everyone as well. Just a quick tl;dr on what the link is about doesn't take much time at all.

Florestan

Quote from: Maestro267 on February 10, 2020, 02:38:48 AM
Can you give us some context, please? Not all of us can speak Russian. This goes for everyone as well. Just a quick tl;dr on what the link is about doesn't take much time at all.

https://topspb.tv/en/news/2020/02/10/composer-sergey-slonimsky-dies-st-petersburg-88/
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Maestro267

#350
Thanks Florestan!

There doesn't appear to be much of Slonimsky's music available on disc. I can only find one recording of one of his (apparently) 34 symphonies.

Florestan

Quote from: Maestro267 on February 10, 2020, 03:19:40 AM
Thanks Florestan!

You're welcome! Seems like my Russian classes in secondary school have not been in vain.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

pjme

https://www.youtube.com/v/w8N2X4Bm8Jc

https://www.youtube.com/v/LBLbcyXnm7E

https://www.youtube.com/v/I9IuqRhNOdw

https://mariinskiy.com/?play_person_cod=slonimsky

Sergei Slonimsky (1932-2020), a prominent Russian composer, was born into the family of well-known writer Mikhail Slonimsky. He graduated from the Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory in 1955 where he studied with composer and pedagogue, Orest Evlakhov and piano with Vladimir Nilsen. He also studied at the Musical College in Moscow from 1943 until 1950. Sergei Slonimsky serves on the composition faculty at the Saint-Petersburg State Conservatory, since 1959.

Sergey Slonimsky is a People's Artist of Russia (1987), and received numerous honours and awards as: State Prize of the Russian Federation (2001), Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1983), International Baltic Star Prize (2009), and Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In May 2010, he was invited as a honored guest to the Festival "Wall to Wall Behind the Wall" in New York (USA).
Source + read more at: https://en.remusik.org/resources/composers/slonimsky/

Roy Bland

Quote from: Maestro267 on February 10, 2020, 02:38:48 AM
Can you give us some context, please? Not all of us can speak Russian. This goes for everyone as well. Just a quick tl;dr on what the link is about doesn't take much time at all.
When i wrote no english page
https://slippedisc.com/2020/02/death-of-a-rebel-soviet-composer-88/

vandermolen

#354
Why is there no Ippolitov-Ivanov thread?
This is a scandal of the first order  :o
I would start one myself but as I'm still Champion of the 'starter of new threads' chart I thought that I would not, for today anyway.

I've been greatly enjoying this new CD of piano transcriptions of his best-known (or least unknown) orchestral works like the Caucasian Sketches suites 1 and 2. The interesting thing is that I find these works just as atmospheric and 'full of Eastern promise' as the more familiar orchestral versions. In a way these piano reductions encourage one to use one's imagination more. Very enjoyable CD:

By the way, the photo is of Ippolitov-Ivanov and not of myself.

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Now I know why there's no Ippolitov-Ivanov thread  ;D
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Roy Bland

IMHO this is a great release,Gavrilin with Sviridov was architect of soviet choral songs renaissance during 60-70 years of last century.This is first recording of full orchestral version of Russian Notebook and Anyuta his masterwork wasn't on cd.


Roy Bland

This contains Georgi Mushel's Piano Concerto n°2

vandermolen

Quote from: Roy Bland on March 05, 2020, 03:43:32 PM
IMHO this is a great release,Gavrilin with Sviridov was architect of soviet choral songs renaissance during 60-70 years of last century.This is first recording of full orchestral version of Russian Notebook and Anyuta his masterwork wasn't on cd.

Interesting! Thanks for posting this.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: pjme on November 28, 2019, 12:36:50 AM
Cross posted from "Pieces that have blown you away recently":

https://www.youtube.com/v/pyfnU5Bd5HI

There's more Butsko on YT - albeit often in older recordings.
Symphony nr.3 : https://youtu.be/E_l2kLmVJYo
Symphony nr 4 : https://youtu.be/DM8Q33snlxE
Symphony nr 5 : https://youtu.be/SfoCapHkf9w
Symphony -suite "Old Russian paintings" : https://youtu.be/5ccxYccZLw0
Symphony- suite nr . 2: https://youtu.be/wIqhrQHXAW8
Canon to the Guardian Angel : https://youtu.be/1444GDE8spo

A Russian maverick!? Very intriguing, big, craggy, Romantic...

Yuri Butsko has devoted his life and art to adapting the old Russian chant (called "znamenny rospev") to modern times, while at the same time preserving its context and religious meaning. The znamenny chant is interpreted by Butsko as "the ideal of spiritual perfection, a goal to be constantly pursued." The composer has constructed an original system determining the "method of working with znamenny chant." The underlying principle of the system is a melodic scale extracted from znamenny chant (the ancient Russian tone-row). Although the scale is limited by the compass of a human voice, Butsko extends it in by adding tri-tones [or trichords] above and below until the initial starting pitch is restored. The system is open and contains twelve tones. Boutsko describes it as a kind of Russian dodecaphony, applying a twelve-tone row extracted from Russian material. Butsko's religious approach determines specific qualities of his music: extended durations, a continuous elaboration of each image or motive, and an absence of sharp contrasts. The ever intense 'tone' and the need to shape an exhaustive statement generate the quality of "extended time," sometimes to the extent of meditation.

Source: https://uiowa.edu/cnm/festival-composers
Thanks for posting. He sounds an interesting composer. I've just sampled 'Old Russian Paintings' on You Tube. Pity there is hardly anything on CD. Here he is:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).