Glazunov Symphonies

[Harry]

All this helps me not realy. First: The price is a very convincing argument. This cycle on Brilliant is realy cheap. Maybe the Järvi is better but it is certainly also much more expensive. And Glazunov is certainly not such a great composer that you definetely need the best thing.

If this cycle from Brilliant is bad, I will not buy it. But if Brilliant is bad, I will very probably buy nothing and miss the complete Glasunov.

Today I listened again to Glasunovs violin concerto. I have the Vengorov which I recorded ( with a minidiscrecorder ) from German radio. Somehow I like this performance and the Glasunov. If the Glasunov symphonies are playing in the same leage and if the Brilliant recordings are not that bad I would like to buy this cheap set. If you mean this set is bad, I will buy nothing. So is this set good enough or is it not good enough and should I wait for another bargain?

Well I would advise you to go to the cheap BIS, its certainly better as the Brilliant issue, I know and tried both cycles.

[Martin Lind]

Hi Harry,

Yes you are right the Bis cycle is also relatively cheap. 30 Euro for 5 CDs, compared to 17 Euro for the Brilliant, certainly more expensive but not that much. I will think about it and wait for more opinions.

Regards Martin

[Harry]

Hi Harry,

Yes you are right the Bis cycle is also relatively cheap. 30 Euro for 5 CDs, compared to 17 Euro for the Brilliant, certainly more expensive but not that much. I will think about it and wait for more opinions.

Regards Martin

O, you know all reviews are great, and would you have been earlier, you would have got this set for free, I gave it away a week ago........
This set from BIS is highly praised, so go for it......

[Don]

I absolutely adore Glazunov's String Quintet, an incredible tuneful work with great beauty and a charming little dance movement:



The Novelettes, written when Glazunov was 16, are quaint and pretty, with a very dignified third movement and a wonderful waltz, but the Quintet (also a youthful work, but a masterpiece) makes the disc. I have long been afraid to buy a symphony cycle by the composer, since they all seem to have serious drawbacks, and also because I have heard the symphonies themselves are rather uneven. This disc has given me a great impression of Glazunov's style and I don't want it to be ruined. 

Scott has an excellent review here.

My problem with the Naxos disc is the performance of the Novelettes.  Much better comes from the St. Petersburg Qt. on Delos.

[flyingdutchman]

I'd go for the BIS set.  I haven't heard anything good about the Polyansky set.

Having said that, I have the Rostestvensky, Jarvi, Serebrier, and a few others here and there.  The Rostestvensky is the best performed but has glassy, glassy sound.  The Serebrier is just about the same and has better sound.  I only hope the Serebrier gets finished.  BTW, next month's BBC Magazine will have a recording of the 5th as a freebie.

[BorisG]

No one needs Glazunov in their collection.

[flyingdutchman]

No one needs Glazunov in their collection.

You always go around and threadcrap like that?

[Brian]

You always go around and threadcrap like that?

Haha, what a perfect word for the situation!   

[BorisG]

Just say "no" to Popov, too.

[sound67]

Glazunov was a fine composer, perhaps a little too productive for his own good. The extended, and indeed exhausting, Naxos series revealed that he wrote a great deal of lesser music. However, some of the symphonies and concertos are beautiful works, and a must for collectors of late romantic Russian orchestral music.



I'm afraid that of all the cycles hitherto released, the Polyansky is arguably the weakest. Neither can his orchestra measure up against the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (for BIS, also available at a good price now), nor the Royal Scottish National (for Warner, awaiting completion, under José Serebrier), nor indeed the Bamberg Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (under Neeme Järvi, for Orfeo) -  and the cavernous, mushy sound in my book renders the Polyansky instantly uncompetitive. No wonder Chandos wanted to get rid of it. The Naxos series (under Anissimov and Golovshin) was also rather poorly played and recorded.

My advice would be either to get the (expensive) Järvi, or wait for the also-excellent Serebrier to finish his cycle. Otaka OTOH isn't bad either.

[J]

I have the Rozhdestvensky set, which has satisfied my only moderate and occasional appetite for Glazunov.

But I see now there are many alternative cycles available, - Svetlanov, Polyansky, the BIS and Naxos recordings, possibly Butt on ASV.

Any thoughts specifically on the quality of Svetlanov, but also the ++'s & --'s of the others?  Does one set stand out?

[Daverz]

I think the ongoing Serebrier cycle is the one to follow.  Production values are high, and Serebrier hasn't been hurrying.

Reviews of the Polyansky, Otaka, and Anissimov cycles have not been encouraging.  I think Järvi gets higher marks.

[eyeresist]

I have the Svetlanov set, which hasn't made a great impression, but is better than the discs I have by Anissimov and Otaka. I am waiting for the Serebrier set to conclude, or alternately for the Jarvi set to be reissued at a reasonable price. But there's no hurry - I wouldn't rate Glazunov's cycle as especially desirable (and I say this as a fan of "golden age" Russian symphonism).

[flyingdutchman]

Have the Jarvi, Roz, the Serebrier, some Otaka, and others.  Indispensable musicmaking.

[vandermolen]

I prefer the Rozhdestvensky Olympia series - sadly deletedv now.

[nut-job]

Have the Jarvi, Roz, the Serebrier, some Otaka, and others.  Indispensable musicmaking.

I have the Jarvi, must say I consider Glazunov to be entirely dispensable.  Too many notes, not enough ideas.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

my only moderate and occasional appetite for Glazunov.

I wouldn't rate Glazunov's cycle as especially desirable

I consider Glazunov to be entirely dispensable

Obviously not a composer who inspires much in the way of passion or devotion. Makes me wonder why there are so many recordings!

[Rabbity Baxter]

I am particularly partial to a version of no.3 by Boris Khaikin (or is it Kaikhin??), one which has not been surpassed imho. I have never found it on CD, though, which is a pity. I was sorely dissappointed by the Naxos version of this, that had a very weedy sound, odd tempi and - worse of all - no vibrato in the brass (surely a must in this repertoire)!

A related symphony of which I am very fond, but not by Glazunov, is Lyapunov's Second, written in 1917 in St Pete's when the streets were in a bit of disorder. There is a Svetlanov from the 60s from what appears to be a concert, with quite a bit of coughing etc, Melodiya speciality. That - or another of Svetlanov's accounts of this mighty (55') piece - has come out on CD on a French label.

[Cato]

Obviously not a composer who inspires much in the way of passion or devotion. Makes me wonder why there are so many recordings!

Some people want to stick with Romanticism, unable to make the jump to Schoenberg or Carter or even Pärt.

Tchaikovsky had a comment that something in the young Glazunov was preventing greatness from blossoming: alcoholism?

[Daverz]

Some people want to stick with Romanticism, unable to make the jump to Schoenberg or Carter or even Pärt.

And some people are unable to make the jump from chocolate to brussel sprouts.