Rimsky-Korsakov recommendations?

[Elgarian Redux]

I liked this much better than I expected. Is it one of my Top 50 symphonies? Probably not. Less inspired/engaging than Antar? I'll stipulate that without considering it any mark against the e minor Symphony. I found it entirely interesting throughout and particularly got a little charge over the Polonaise Finale. The thought experiment I propose, if you like, @Roasted Swan and @Elgarian Redux is: listen to it as if it were Tchaikovsky's Symphony № 0.

Hmmm. I confess that, much as the first time I listened to it a few weeks ago, I'm struggling to pay attention. @Roasted Swan's description of it as 'routine' does seem apposite. It seems worlds apart from Antar to me, lacking almost all of the things that I look for in R-K. I don't think I'm familiar enough with Tchaikovsky's early symphonies to make any sensible comparison.

But I'd be the first to admit that I'm inordinately fond of making illuminating non-musical connections to the music I listen to, if the music permits it, and that must make me a poor judge of something like this, coming to it still burning with Antarian infatuation.

[Florestan]

I'm inordinately fond of making illuminating non-musical connections to the music I listen to, if the music permits it

You mean something like the following, right? 

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,54.msg698444.html#msg698444

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,54.msg698694.html#msg698694

[Roasted Swan]

Hmmm. I confess that, much as the first time I listened to it a few weeks ago, I'm struggling to pay attention. @Roasted Swan's description of it as 'routine' does seem apposite. It seems worlds apart from Antar to me, lacking almost all of the things that I look for in R-K. I don't think I'm familiar enough with Tchaikovsky's early symphonies to make any sensible comparison.

But I'd be the first to admit that I'm inordinately fond of making illuminating non-musical connections to the music I listen to, if the music permits it, and that must make me a poor judge of something like this, coming to it still burning with Antarian infatuation.

Crudely put - I suspect the world of music listeners divides into music absolutists - "music cannot 'mean' anything" who enjoy music for the sheer beauty of its sound and the brilliance of its formal construction and the pictorialists who want to engage with music on more of an emotional "heart not head" manner. 

Most of us are probably a mixture of the two - or engage with different genres of music in different ways.  But broadly speaking I'm with you and like to discover (or imagine!) a narrative or emotion behind the notes.  I'm not suggesting for a moment that one approach is better or even preferable - just saying how I respond.

[Elgarian Redux]

You mean something like the following, right? 

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,54.msg698444.html#msg698444

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,54.msg698694.html#msg698694

I mean almost EXACTLY like that! Not perhaps quite so detailed as you describe on those links, but certainly with some sort of narrative going on in my head - not necessarily continuous or sequentially intelligible, but vivid and running alongside the music. It's a process of painting in my head, somewhat Cezanne-like, images that form 'a harmony parallel to the music'.

[Elgarian Redux]

Crudely put - I suspect the world of music listeners divides into music absolutists - "music cannot 'mean' anything" who enjoy music for the sheer beauty of its sound and the brilliance of its formal construction and the pictorialists who want to engage with music on more of an emotional "heart not head" manner. 

Most of us are probably a mixture of the two - or engage with different genres of music in different ways.  But broadly speaking I'm with you and like to discover (or imagine!) a narrative or emotion behind the notes.  I'm not suggesting for a moment that one approach is better or even preferable - just saying how I respond.

I wish I could press the 'like' button multiple times. That's perfectly expressed, and I understand precisely what you mean.

[Elgarian Redux]

Antar purchases coming to an end, now. This morning Jarvi and Zinman arrived. Just Bakels still to come, and in due course, when I've gone back to my roots with Svetlanov - arriving where I started and knowing the place for the first time (I hope) - I'll try to do some sort of round-up, maybe?

Incidentally I find some of the Antar CD artwork very evocative. The Gould, Butt, and Maazel particularly so.

 

[Karl Henning]

I presume it's short on entwining magic princesses, though?)

Alas!

[Karl Henning]

Hmmm. I confess that, much as the first time I listened to it a few weeks ago, I'm struggling to pay attention. @Roasted Swan's description of it as 'routine' does seem apposite. It seems worlds apart from Antar to me, lacking almost all of the things that I look for in R-K. I don't think I'm familiar enough with Tchaikovsky's early symphonies to make any sensible comparison.

But I'd be the first to admit that I'm inordinately fond of making illuminating non-musical connections to the music I listen to, if the music permits it, and that must make me a poor judge of something like this, coming to it still burning with Antarian infatuation.

You gave it a good shot. It seems to be a piece which just doesn't sing to either of you, and that's obviously fine. I'm content that I found it better than expected, which is a win. It was his Opus One, so perhaps "routine" is a little to be expected.

[Elgarian Redux]

You gave it a good shot. It seems to be a piece which just doesn't sing to either of you, and that's obviously fine. I'm content that I found it better than expected, which is a win. It was his Opus One, so perhaps "routine" is a little to be expected.

Definitely a win. For you, and for Nikolai!

[Cato]

Antar purchases coming to an end, now. This morning Jarvi and Zinman arrived. Just Bakels still to come, and in due course, when I've gone back to my roots with Svetlanov - arriving where I started and knowing the place for the first time (I hope) - I'll try to do some sort of round-up, maybe?

Incidentally I find some of the Antar CD artwork very evocative. The Gould, Butt, and Maazel particularly so.

 

Antarmania is TIGHT! 

Thanks to a website on Russian Choral Music: Rimsky-Korsakov's Cherubic Hymn #1.

Translation is here: 

https://www.musicarussica.com/uploads/sheet_music_pieces/pdf_samples/497/Ri001.pdf?1331141269

[ChamberNut]

I may have to re-ignite an old tradition of mine that has laid dormant for nearly 10 years. For the month of March, it was "March Madness Russian Symphonies", for which I listen to one Russian symphony daily.

Listening right now to the Antar (Butt/Philharmonia) and it is exquisite music!

[Roasted Swan]

I may have to re-ignite an old tradition of mine that has laid dormant for nearly 10 years. For the month of March, it was "March Madness Russian Symphonies", for which I listen to one Russian symphony daily.

Listening right now to the Antar (Butt/Philharmonia) and it is exquisite music!

Please post the list!

[ChamberNut]

Please post the list!

I might have even had a separate thread going for it, I can't recall?

Man, listening to the Antar again, I've come to the realization that I should be listening to this work way more often. 

[Elgarian Redux]

Just continuing the matter of the artwork, to fuel the Antarmania. These are my favourites so far. The Butt, alas, is only available with the ASV release. Its release on Brilliant has pretty dull artwork, I think. The Bakels (which I don't yet have but is on the way) might also be a contender, so I've included that, but is it actually illustrating Scheherazade?. I'd have thought the ruins of Palmyra might figure somewhere, but apparently not (unless the Bakels is an abstract representation of ruins). Is there a clear winner here?

[Elgarian Redux]

Man, listening to the Antar again, I've come to the realization that I should be listening to this work way more often. 

You can hear me cheering, can't you!

[Roasted Swan]

Just continuing the matter of the artwork, to fuel the Antarmania. These are my favourites so far. The Butt, alas, is only available with the ASV release. Its release on Brilliant has pretty dull artwork, I think. The Bakels (which I don't yet have but is on the way) might also be a contender, so I've included that, but is it actually illustrating Scheherazade?. I'd have thought the ruins of Palmyra might figure somewhere, but apparently not (unless the Bakels is an abstract representation of ruins). Is there a clear winner here?

Very "Fry's Turkish Delight" (full of Eastern Promise.....)  For those not from this Sceptered Isle - it was a long-running series of TV adverts for a really sickly chocolate covered version of turkish delight.  Along with "Cadbury's Flake" and "The Milk Tray Man" it represents the high-noon of British TV confectionary advertising.............

[Karl Henning]

Very "Fry's Turkish Delight" (full of Eastern Promise.....)  For those not from this Sceptered Isle - it was a long-running series of TV adverts for a really sickly chocolate covered version of turkish delight.  Along with "Cadbury's Flake" and "The Milk Tray Man" it represents the high-noon of British TV confectionary advertising.............

Not a recommendation, then?

[Elgarian Redux]

Very "Fry's Turkish Delight" (full of Eastern Promise.....)

I'm glad you brought this up. It's a little known fact that Gul Nazar brought about Antar's death by feeding him Turkish Delight, encouraging him to gorge himself into oblivion.

Currently listening to David Zinman and the Rotterdam Phil's version of Antar. Nobody will be carried away by the artwork, but the music is very lovely, very delicately done. @vandermolen's proposition that there may not be a poor version of Antar is starting to look like a good rule of thumb. This is a highly articulate version, recorded with great clarity. Maybe I'm approaching saturation, but for me the gazelle doesn't seem quite so delicately nimble and entwining as I've heard in the Butt recording, for example. So the tone is 'clear and steady', here. This gazelle takes a bit longer over the fallen stones, and she will not trip.

But maybe I'm searching for differences purely in order to say something. If this were your only Antar, you'd fall in love with it. 'Nuff said.

[Karl Henning]

Maazel has landed. Alan's pic is better, so I'll leave off.

[Elgarian Redux]

Maazel has landed.

Hoorah. You'll be the better for it, I warrant.