Russian & Soviet Music

[Lionel Harrsion]

Agreed. I don't know how challenging his part in the quintet is but he (and the Borodin Quartet) do very well by that work, too (or at least I can say I go back to that recording very often.)

I so agree with you, Eric, about how satisfying is that recording of the Piano Quintet.  And the piano part may not by quite so challenging as that of the Sonata Epica (which is the greatest violin sonata of the 20th century, IMHO) but it's still pretty damn hard!

[eschiss1]

I found an interesting discussion between Jeremy Denk (on his blog) here and some other well-known performers after rehearsals and a performance, I believe, of the quintet, with music examples and discussion of the quintet itself (he likes it less than they do, too briefly put. I admit I always break into a very happy grin at a few points of the finale. He's uploaded a really good Hammerklavier to the Isabella Gardner Museum online archives which can also be found at IMSLP - it's not against him.)
Anyhow. Apologies for the digression!

[lechner1110]

   I forgot to write pianist of Svetlanov's piano concerto.
   Pianist is Elena Tarasova.  I modified download board now.

   Svetlanov's piano concerto is very beautiful work, in my opinion
   

[lechner1110]

 
  Holgar,  Many thanks for upload symphony by Chalayev
  I had been thinking maybe this symphony is happy mood from subtitle of  "Mountains and Men"
  However, my impression of this symphony is exact opposition.
  I felt music draws a rigors of nature.
  In any case, very interesting symphony! Thanks
 

[Holger]

Hi Atsushi,

you are exactly right - the symphony is not a happy work at all. The first movement, which bears the title "Drama", really seems to be a description of the ruthless powers of nature, while the two other movements calm down but only to give place to plaintive moods and an atmosphere of mourning.

Fine you enjoyed it!

[Amphissa]

I would like to know more about Vladimir Yurovsky. The Symphony No. 5 is in the downloads, taken from a radio broadcast. I cannot understand the announcer, but I do hear him mention Myaskovsky, so perhaps he provides some biographical information about the composer.

I assume the composer is Vladimir Yurovsky (1915-1972) - not Vladimir Jurowski the living conductor. Google seems obsessed with listings about Jurowski when searching for Yurovsky.

What I have found so far, from MWI --
Born in Tareshcha, near Kiev. He studied composition with Nikolai Miaskovsky at the Moscow Conservatory. He composed an opera, ballets, film scores, orchestral and chamber works.

The IMDb list film credits for 13 movies.

Any further information on this composer? And any further information about the performance of Symphony No. 5? Is the conductor, Mikhail, his son?

By the way, I was looking at the Audio Properties of these files. The Genre is identified as Blues 

Did anyone, by chance, record the broadcast performance of Yurovsky's "Russian Painters"? Description here:
http://www.sikorski.de/5834/en/swedish_premiere_of_vladimir_yurovsky_39_s_russian_painters_in_norrkoeping.html

[Christopher]

Kazachenko, Grigory Alexeevich (1858-1938)

Ivanov, Mikhail Mikhailovich (1849-1927)

I recently acquired an album of ancient recordings of arias performed by the Russian tenor Dmitri Smirnov.  It contained most of the usual suspects of Russian and European repertoire.  But it also contained 3 unsungs (or should that be once-sung?!).

- Mikhail Ivanov - Solovey's Serenade, from his opera Zabava Putyatishna.
- Grigory Kazachenko - Peter's Arioso, from his opera Pan Sotnik.

I don't know anything about these composers.  I found another ancient recording of the Ivanov serenade (sung by Leonid Sobinov).  I have uploaded the two Ivanov's and the Kazachenko and there are all in the Downloads section.

The Ivanov recordings are both in the form of voice+piano- I would be interested to know if any recordings have been made with full orchestra.

Does anyone know of any other recordings by these composers?  They might be interesting...

A bit of Wikipedia:

IVANOV  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Ivanov_(composer))

Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov (23 September 1849 – 20 October 1927) was a Russian composer, critic and writer on music.
ikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov was born in Moscow in 1849. He studied at the Technological Institute, St Petersburg, then at the Moscow Conservatory for a year, under Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (harmony) and Alexandre Dubuque (piano). He lived the next six years of his life in Rome, where he associated with Franz Liszt and his pupils and studied with Giovanni Sgambati. He returned to Russia and became music critic with the Novoye Vremya. He held conservative views, showing hostility towards the National School.
Many of his compositions were performed, but not published. Arias from his opera Zabava Puytatishna (1899) have been recorded by Olimpia Boronat, Eugenia Bronskaya and Leonid Sobinov. His liturgical piece The Lord's Prayer has been recorded by Nicolai Gedda.
He died in Rome in 1927.

Musical works:
- Potemkin's Feast (or Potemkin's Holiday), opera (1888; 16 December 1902, St Petersburg)[6]
- Zabava Putyatishna, opera (1899; 15 January 1899, Moscow)[6]
- The Proud Woman, opera (not prod.)
- Woe to the Wise, opera (not prod.)
- La vestale (a.k.a. Vyestalka), ballet (choreography by Marius Petipa; 29 February 1888; Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg)
- A Night in May, symphonic poem
- Savonarola, symphonic poem
- Suite Champêtre
- a Requiem, symphonic prologue
- Medea, incidental music
- three orchestral suites
- several cantatas
- songs
- piano pieces

There is more info on http://www.slovarus.ru/?di=33539 in Russian.


KAZACHENKO  (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE,_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 in Russian)

Grigory Alexeevich Kazachenko (born 3 May 1858 in Poltava, died 18 May 1938 in Leningrad) - Russian composer and professor of the Leningrad conservatory.
Studied at the Imperial Choral Capella and the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  From 1889 was choirmaster of the St.Petersburg Imperial opera. In his role as capel-meister he performed in the symphonic and public concerts of the Imperial Russian Musical Society and in his own "Russian Concerts" in Paris (1898).
From 1924 he was director of the choral class of the Leningrad Conservatory (and professor for 1926). He became an Honoured Ambassador of Art in 1937.
His best works are:
operas:
- "The Silver Price" (after A.K. Tolstoy, staged in the MArinsky Theatre in 1892 under the composer's direction)
- "Pan Sotnik" (on a subject from T.G. Shevchenko's "Kobzar", 1902, staged in the People's House in St.Petersburg)-
- a symphony
- two oriental suites
- a fantasia on Russian themes for solo viola and orchestra
- "Rusalka" cantata (soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra)

[Christopher]

Napravnik, Eduard (1839-1916)

Nápravník is a composer who should certainly be better known it seems! I have posted in the Downloads section two arias from his opera "The Nizhny-Novgorodians" ("Nizhegorodtsy" in Russian), and also a piece I have that is just called "Fandango" on the Melodia CD that it came on (recorded 1946). I don't know if it is from an opera or other large piece, or is a self-standing piece in its own right. No opus number was given.

What other orchestral and operatic pieces by Nápravník are known to have been recorded?

I know of:

- Concerto symphonique in A minor for piano and orchestra, Op. 27
- Melancholy Op.48 No.3
- Fantaisie russe in B minor, Op. 39
- Dubrovsky (opera), complete

I have a very crackly 1901 recording of Medea Mei-Figner singing an aria from his opera Harold (about the 1066 Norman invasion) which I will upload in due course (though it's arranged for piano accompaniment).

A previous poster has mentioned that his four symphonies have all been recorded but offered no further information...

[eschiss1]

Harold- about Harald III? the Norwegian king who also invaded England in 1066? (Weir and Atterberg, maybe others, also wrote operas about that. Popular subject.) Hoping to hear more Napravnik, I noticed that Czech radio has recorded a good amount of it including his string quartets (recently, the latter- maybe they're being commercially released...)

[JimL]

I'd sure like to hear that trio by Napravnik that beat out one of my favorite chamber works in a competition - RK's Quintet for piano and winds.

[Sicmu]

Vitali Gubarenko  (b.1934)

Symphony No.1  (1961)

1. Moderato
2. Allegretto
3. Andante
4. Allegro vivo

USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra
Igor Blashkow, Conductor

Melodiya LP D 030 393

This is a beautiful and uplifting symphony from beginning to end by a Ukrainian composer. If there is more music by this composer please upload it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?8866rhcd9q9hjv4,bng8e7okb3e914l,up24lr978f2lebc,920p9zi83whlfr3

I also like Gubarenko's first a lot. I will upload more by this composer in a few weeks : I need to digitize the LP's

[eschiss1]

Vitalij Sergeevich Gubarenko's dates are 1934-2000, apparently, and there are at least 3 symphonies among other works - looking forward to listening to listening to this one. Thanks! (Isn't Blashkow the one who first recorded Shostakovich's 2nd and 3rd, I think?)

[eschiss1]

also re Napravnik, ... ... hrm. Was going to object that Mélancolie wasn't an orchestral work (being an orchestration of the third of his opus 48 pieces for piano) but it was released for string orchestra in the same month (1888) as those 4 pieces were issued for piano. I'm guessing the orchestration was - may have been - by the composer in any case...

[Christopher]

Harold- about Harald III? the Norwegian king who also invaded England in 1066? (Weir and Atterberg, maybe others, also wrote operas about that. Popular subject.) Hoping to hear more Napravnik, I noticed that Czech radio has recorded a good amount of it including his string quartets (recently, the latter- maybe they're being commercially released...)

Do you know what else of his was recorded by Czech Radio?

[eschiss1]

according to APF, at least 25 works listed including the following-
*4 pieces op.67 for cello and piano (Utkin, Grokhovsky, on CRO Praha, in 2008)
*4 tenor songs op.68 ( Šrejma, Grokhovsky on CRO Praha in 2011)
*9 excerpts from the opera Dubrovsky (preludes from the opera and 4th act, aria, scene and duet) (several recordings, mostly from 1959) (APF counts each as a separate work- I should have said 25 excerpts/tapes, or somesuch, though they don't count each movement of the quartets etc. separately even if so banded)
*Elegy op.46/3 (Grokhovsky, 2007)
*Fantasy for Violin Op.30
*Piano Quartet Op.42 (2007 recording)
*Both piano trios (2007, 2009 recordings)
*Melancholy (piano) op.48/3
*Violin sonata op.32 (Bernášek/Grokhovsky, 2008)
*String quartets in E op.16, A op.28, C op.65 (Kocian Quartet, 2007)
(This only turns up if one searches on his surname with the diacritics exactly, as Nápravník, btw. )