Glière collection from Chandos

[albion]

Another great release for July - Chandos is repackaging at bargain price five discs of Glière's orchestral music conducted by the late Edward Downes and Vassily Sinaisky -



Chandos CHAN10679(5)X

The works included are

Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 8
The Red Poppy, Op. 70: suite
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 25
The Zaporozhy Cossacks Op. 64
Symphony No. 3 in B minor, Op. 42 'Il'ya Murometz'
Overture: Gyul`sara
Concert Waltz, Op.90
Overture: Shakh-Senem
Ballad, Op. 4, arranged Derzhanovsky
Overture on Slavonic Themes
Heroic March for the Buryiat-Mongolian ASSR, Op.71
Overture: Holiday at Ferghana, Op.75
Bronze Horseman Suite
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra Op.91

This represents a great way to acquire a large number of colourful and exciting scores by this composer in superb recordings.

[TerraEpon]

I already have these five discs. But I'll probably buy the box anyway even though I don't need the space ever since I shifted to poly sleeves...

Everyone here should get this. It's great, tuneful, bold Russian romanticism.

[Ilja]

In honesty, part of it is. There is, in my experience at least, a huge difference between Glière pre- and post-Revolution, both in tone and level of inspiration. The Bronze Horseman doesn't really compare to the symphonies, for instance.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I think that I'm with Ilja on this one. Of course, it may be a subjective judgement because one knows about the political pressures to which composers in the Stalinist era were subjected, but I always feel the the Glière of Ilya Muramets and the other symphonies was an expansive, confident composer, whereas his Soviet era works are dumbed down and constrained. Lots of surface sheen and, certainly, still colourful and melodic but ultimately rather empty.

[Alan Howe]

Agreed, Mark. I'll take the three symphonies and leave the rest...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Also agreed. And the Heroic March is truly awful.

[albion]

Everyone here should get this. It's great, tuneful, bold Russian romanticism.

Having heard and really enjoyed a couple of the symphonies, but not actually having bought any of the discs so far, I'll certainly be lining these re-releases up for a spin on the CD player ...

And the Heroic March is truly awful.

... especially this one.   

[edurban]

"...the Heroic March is truly awful..."
I'm dying to hear it, too.

David

[eschiss1]

actually, though it's been recorded a few times (once on LP with one of my favorite quartets by Nicolai Myaskovsky, in a recording of that I haven't heard yet either...), I still haven't heard and am curious about his 4th string quartet (... hrm, haven't heard any, I think, of his sonatas, trios, quartets, 3 sextets, or the octet, yet, pre or post-Revolution... though several are available on CD now or have been recently, eg that MDG disc. The Pulzus Quartet apparently has recorded the first two quartets for Hungaroton, I'd forgotten, not sure about CDs of 3 and 4...

[Amphissa]

I wonder why they decided to leave out the disc with the concertos for coloratura soprano and harp. I don't remember seeing the cello and violin concertos from Chandos at all, or the early orchestral work The Sirens.

I'm not fond of the recordings by Downes. The audio is generally good, but to me, the performances just don't have much flavor. As to the value of this collection, I guess it depends on the pricing. Chandos has gotten a bit steep lately.

[TerraEpon]

I wonder why they decided to leave out the disc with the concertos for coloratura soprano and harp.

Because it has Ginastera on it too?

[dafrieze]

I've just listened to the Heroic March.  It sounds like the score to a 1950s Joel McCrea western (name your own).  I've heard worse (but will refrain from naming, lest it prove to be someone else's favorite piece of music).

[TerraEpon]

Geeze, why all the hate for that piece? It's not the best piece of music, but it's hardly any worse that many other 'festive' type pieces. Listening to it now, it sounds like it uses some Chinese folk tunes in it (perhaps they are Mongolian, given the title...).

[albion]

Geeze, why all the hate for that piece? It's not the best piece of music, but it's hardly any worse that many other 'festive' type pieces.

Personally, I can't wait to get hold of this new Chandos compilation. I'm fully prepared for some scores (the symphonies and ballet suites) to be more rewarding than others (the occasional works), but I'll be approaching them all with an open mind - and, anyway, I'm a sucker for a bit of out-and-out vulgarity (you can't do much worse, in this context, than Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Op.96, another piece which I rather enjoy listening to).   

[vandermolen]

I wa so happy to hear Gliere's Symphony No 3 in London a few yars ago (Barbican) - first time it had been performed here for c 80 years - a wonderful experience. Those Chandos CDs are a wonderful memorial to Edward Downes (where is his Bax Symphony No 3?)