great Russian composers

[vandermolen]

I knew that you would join it

[Dundonnell]

BTW-many thanks for the VW disc!!

[vandermolen]

BTW-many thanks for the VW disc!!

You are v welcome 

[Philoctetes]

I listend to samples, but it didn't appeal to me. For russian music I think I'll stick to Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.

How large a sample?

[greg]

Agree with Dundonnell here (hardly surprising as my avatar image is a photo of Miaskovsky!).

The quality of Miaskovsky's symphonies is uneven (well, he did write 27) but, at his best (as in symphonies 3,6,11,17,21,24 and 27+ the slow movement of No 16) he is IMHO a great composer.  I tuned into the radio the other day and hearing a few bars of orchestral music guessed it must be Miaskovsky, even though I did not recognize the work at first (it was the first movement of Symphony 24). There is a kind of moving nostalgia and eloquence about Miaskovsky at his best which I find both moving and endearing and which is unique to him I think.

Try the Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata No 2 before you write him off completely.

Also, I heard his Symphony 21 performed live in London in June, so, if anything, he seems to be coming better known in some places.

Have you heard the Violin Concerto? I feel the guy would be more interesting to me in another genre....

[greg]

I would put Alfred Schnittke in that esteemed company.  There is at least one thread on him, here.

The Concerto Grosso No. 1 is a fine place to start, and the recording below (now reissued, too) with Heinrich Schiff and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe is excellent.  There is one on BIS, too, with Lev Markiz and the New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra which is very good but I think Schiff's is more uninhibited. 

If you like chamber music, the String Quintet has been recorded a lot: I have four or five different ones, all quite good.  This one below with the Barbican Trio and guests, on Black Box, is as fine as any.  I also like the one on Hyperion by the group Capricorn.

--Bruce 

I've only listened to the recording of the CG 1 on Naxos....... if DG is any better, that must be something really special! 

[vandermolen]

Have you heard the Violin Concerto? I feel the guy would be more interesting to me in another genre....

Yes, I have several recordings. It is a very enjoyable work. Not sure what you mean by your "another genre" comment.

[greg]

Yes, I have several recordings. It is a very enjoyable work. Not sure what you mean by your "another genre" comment.

Violin Concertos often don't make much of an impression on me, or at least, less of an impression usually, so I'd probably have better luck with symphonies, possibly....

[vandermolen]

Violin Concertos often don't make much of an impression on me, or at least, less of an impression usually, so I'd probably have better luck with symphonies, possibly....

Oh, I see. Thanks. I don't know what you already know but Symphony 6 is perhaps his masterpiece but I would listen to a version including the optional chorus at the end (ie not the Svetlanov version). The Jarvi recording on DGG is v good. Also, Symphony 27 (Chandos) or symphonies 24 and 25 (Naxos) and the Cello Concerto (Regis) are good places to start.

[Dundonnell]

Oh, I see. Thanks. I don't know what you already know but Symphony 6 is perhaps his masterpiece but I would listen to a version including the optional chorus at the end (ie not the Svetlanov version). The Jarvi recording on DGG is v good. Also, Symphony 27 (Chandos) or symphonies 24 and 25 (Naxos) and the Cello Concerto (Regis) are good places to start.

Traitor

[vandermolen]

Traitor

And of course Symphony 23 and 24 on Alto 

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/ALC1024.htm

[Dundonnell]

And of course Symphony 23 and 24 on Alto 

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/ALC1024.htm

That's better You do want to write more CD notes, don't you?

[vandermolen]

That's better You do want to write more CD notes, don't you?

Good point! 

[Sarastro]

Hardly

Relatively.

In the era of recordings just few composers have been neglected. Works from ancient Greece and all the way to the modern "classical" music, such as Glass or Cage, have been being recorded and issued, whereas never performed live. Recordings do not reflect the reality. Many people in Russia do not know Miaskovsky, some just heard the name, and few listened to his music. Russians are so ignorant. 0:)

[greg]

Oh, I see. Thanks. I don't know what you already know but Symphony 6 is perhaps his masterpiece but I would listen to a version including the optional chorus at the end (ie not the Svetlanov version). The Jarvi recording on DGG is v good. Also, Symphony 27 (Chandos) or symphonies 24 and 25 (Naxos) and the Cello Concerto (Regis) are good places to start.

Awesome. I'll make a mental note of this whenever i get to this composer. 

[Szykneij]

On Saturday I'm going to a performance by the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, a Massachusetts group that is billed as "The oldest continuing volunteer orchestra in the nation". In its 92nd season, there is nothing amateurish about this ensemble. I saw them perform last year and they are outstanding.

They are giving an all-Russian concert of Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 9. I decided to familiarize myself with these pieces by listening to them this week.

I have a good recording of the Glinka by the St. Petersburg Radio and TV Orchestra and an excellent Yedang Classic CD of Richter playing the Rachmaninoff with the Leningrad Philharmonic. The only example of the Shostakovich 9 in my library, though, is a 1958 Monitor LP of the State Radio Orchestra of the USSR conducted by Alexander Gauk that I transferred to CD. Although the vinyl is pristine and the performance is spirited, it's a mono recording and the sound quality is not as good as I would like. Does anyone have a recommendation for a superior recording of the Shotakovich 9th?

[offbeat]

Not mentioned yet is Alexander Scriabin - i would not say was on a par with Shostakovich or Prokofiev but definetly has an individuality and eccentricity that makes him stand out among others. I know he is an aquired taste due to his rather extreme fantasies but still remembering the first time i heard the poem of ecstasy live - wow who could forget that.
Not sure if the best but from my collection recommend
Mutis take on the three numbered symphonies plus ecstasy/fire
And special for me is all the piano sonatas plus more from John Ogden

[Franco]

Aside from Shostakovich and Stravinsky (him, I don't even think of as Russian) I have to admit that most Russian composers don't do anything for me.  Especially the 19th century Russians: Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.  Then again, most (latter half) 19th century composers don't do much for me with some huge exceptions, Brahms, Verdi, and a whole host of French composers.

But I don't think of composers primarily by their national identity - that seems to be an accident of birth, but I suppose one could make an argument that there is some significance to the country of origin and that composers from that area share a sound. 

I am much more prone to think of composers (esp. from the late 19th onward) no matter where they are from by things like - if their music is light or heavy, tonal or not, lush or spare, and I almost always prefer the opposites to heavy, lush and tonal.

Just my opinions of course.

[Brahmsian]

I probably should have been born Russian. 

Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin.

Time and money are the only things stopping me from getting the complete works of all of these composers, and then I'd be wanting to explore Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Scriabin, Schnittke, and much more.

There is something really special and unique about Russian music.

[Franco]

I know of no Russian composers or music from before the mid-19th century.  Is there a Russian Bach, for example?  We have composed music from Europe dating from the 12th century.

Anything from Russia going back even partway that far?

And if not, why not?  Russians must have been writing music, why don't we know it?