March 2025 - Russian Symphony March Madness!

[foxandpeng]

One of the most idiosyncratic scores you will ever hear: episodic, with the strongest contrasts, at times you might think you are listening to one of Bernard Herrmann's scores for a Ray Harryhausen epic (Neo Magellan on the Moons of Jupiter        ), and then a trite, monotonous march arrives and persists, until it abruptly stops and a melancholy solo is heard, etc.

Nosyrev: Symphony #4 (1980)

All this talk of Nosreyev is very tempting!

[foxandpeng]

Nicolai Karetnikov
Symphony 4
Gennady Rozhdestvensy
USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
Melodiya

I really like this. This thread made me dig it out from my Spotify playlists as a symphony that deserves more airplay.

[Cato]

Nicolai Karetnikov
Symphony 4
Gennady Rozhdestvensy
USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra
Melodiya

I really like this. This thread made me dig it out from my Spotify playlists as a symphony that deserves more airplay.

Here is #4: very mysterious opening!

The spirit of Schoenberg must have orbited the composer while he worked on this score!


I found the Symphony #3, but will need to listen tomorrow morning:

[foxandpeng]

Here is #4: very mysterious opening!

The spirit of Schoenberg must have orbited the composer while he worked on this score!


I found the Symphony #3, but will need to listen tomorrow morning:

I hope you enjoy! The Rozhdestvensky and the Gergiev performances are both excellent, in my view. After that, the #3 is almost equally compelling 😁

[Karl Henning]

[Karl Henning]

[hopefullytrusting]

Ippolitov-Ivanov Symphony No 1 conducted by Hoey with the Singapore SO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXbPHIAffPI

It is amazing that even after all these years, millions stacked upon million of notes, that music still sounds as fresh as it does. You'd figure at some point it would stagnate turn stale and spoil, but I have never heard or seen that. This piece could be more moving, more striking, but I think, at least in this instance, that this is a conductor/orchestra not being to live up to the music. It feels as if they are just putting in their time rather than being truly in love with the music. It is too light, too well-coordinated, and if you listen to more of Ippolitov-Ivanov's output.

I will say in the sections designated by the composer to be light the orchestra performs admirably.

I cannot recommend this recording.

[foxandpeng]

Tischenko is always a winner. Good call!

[Karl Henning]

One of the most idiosyncratic scores you will ever hear: episodic, with the strongest contrasts, at times you might think you are listening to one of Bernard Herrmann's scores for a Ray Harryhausen epic (Neo Magellan on the Moons of Jupiter        ), and then a trite, monotonous march arrives and persists, until it abruptly stops and a melancholy solo is heard, etc.

Nosyrev: Symphony #4 (1980)

I'm in!

[Karl Henning]

Well, I may not have listened to this one since before my stroke:

[Cato]

Here is #4: very mysterious opening!

The spirit of Schoenberg must have orbited the composer while he worked on this score!


I found the Symphony #3, but will need to listen tomorrow morning:

It has been decided: We need MORE KARETNIKOV!   

The two symphonies above are highly dramatic and demonstrate a most unique style!

Wikipedia claims that he composed 6 symphonies: where are recordings of the other four?!

NAXOS, cpo: get going!!!   

[hopefullytrusting]

The only symphony from the famous Krein family, I believe.

Krein's (Alexander) Symphony No. 1 conducted by Brabbins with the LPO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v24hmjgLltc

I originally came across them through Julian (Forest Paths), but Alexander was the workhorse of the family, compositionally speaking. The symphony itself is strong, and fits well, I think, within the formalistic tradition of Soviet orchestration, but like all good composers - he finds freedom within that constraint, and does add a bit of subtle flair, subtle enough, I think, to escape the state-sponsored censors - a slight, Jewish invocation, which weaves in and out, but is not crucial to the overall infrastructure of the symphony itself (I suspect that is how he got away with, as there are few people more with more guile than a censor). Overall, the experience was not enjoyable, but I didn't feel anything standout, and because of that my recommendation of this would be middling, at best.

[Karl Henning]

Well, I may not have listened to this one, either since before my stroke:

[ChamberNut]

Today's selection - A great performance!

Shostakovich

Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43

Raiskin
Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie

[hopefullytrusting]

Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 23 conducted by Kovalyov with the Moscow RSO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tYqX8f2JAk

Color me surprised. I don't know what I was expecting to hear, but it wasn't this. This is reminiscent of Strauss's Alpine Symphony; it is a jaunty little affair. It is light as air but not buoyant (I don't feel like I am floating, but I also don't feel like I will sink). Just like the Alpine, it expressed the whole range of emotions, and this recording of the symphony is lovely. I was very pleasantly surprised.

High recommend.

[Karl Henning]

Seryozha Prokofiev
Symphony № 7 in c# minor, Op. 131
Phila Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy

[Karl Henning]

Seryozha Prokofiev
Symphony № 6 in e^b minor, Op. 111
Phila Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy

[Cato]

Let Antarmania continue!

Seryozha Prokofiev
Symphony № 6 in e^b minor, Op. 111
Phila Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy

The Sixth is one of the best, up there with #3 and #2!

[Karl Henning]

Don't act surprised:
Seryozha Prokofiev
Symphony № 5 in B^b, Op. 100
Phila Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy

[foxandpeng]

Prokofiev 4 under Neeme Jarvi this morning