Maximilian Steinberg

[scarpia]

I have the two recordings that Jarvi made of the 1st and 2nd Symphonies. Not great, but not bad either. I am a big fan of anything Russian though. I kept waiting for recordings of the rest of his symphonies to come, but it never happened. Now I see that the American Symphony under Botstein is doing the Metamorphosen, Op. 10 from 1913 in concert Saturday. It has not ever been recorded as far as I know. I'm kind of tempted to bring some recording equipment. It must be pretty good if Botstein is doing it.

[Alan Howe]

I'm kind of tempted to bring some recording equipment.

...which would be illegal, of course.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Jarvi's recordings of the first two symphonies "not great, but not bad either"? Heavens, to what are you comparing them? In my book, they are pretty terrific and I'm most grateful to be able to listen to them.

A pity, yes, that neither Jarvi or anyone else have released (so far as I know) commercially available recordings of the remaining three sumphonies and other orchestral works - including I see a Violin Concerto. Wonder what that is like?

[britishcomposer]

I suppose - and hope - that the piece will be recorded and released as a commercial mp3 like so many Botstein performances!

[Alan Howe]

Quite so!

[scarpia]

I'm kind of tempted to bring some recording equipment.

...which would be illegal, of course.

I only said I was tempted. I am salivating as I type this message, drool all over they keyboard...

Jarvi's recordings of the first two symphonies "not great, but not bad either"? Heavens, to what are you comparing them? In my book, they are pretty terrific and I'm most grateful to be able to listen to them.

A pity, yes, that neither Jarvi or anyone else have released (so far as I know) commercially available recordings of the remaining three sumphonies and other orchestral works - including I see a Violin Concerto. Wonder what that is like?

Great being late Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rachmaninov, and Kalinnikov.

[strelsa42]

I think "Metamorphosen" may be the ballet score written for Diaghilev and staged under the title of "Midas". It is generally [the ballet, that is] regarded as a failure but to hear the score would be incredibly interesting. Along with Hahn's "Le Dieu Bleu" and Rieti's "Le Bal", it is an important missing gap in the Diaghilev discography.

[giles.enders]

Steinberg was Rimsky-Korsakov's son-in-law. R-K. also had a talented composer,daughter-in-law Yuliya Veysberg 1879-1942.

With reference to the Hahn 'Le Dieu Bleu', the music was considered as one of the few Diaghilev failures and in a recent revival of the ballet the music was replaced with a cobbled together score of Scriabin's music.  I believe the Hahn music may be lost.

[strelsa42]

Yes I have followed that revival of "Le Dieu Bleu", with the Scriabin replacement, with some interest. I managed to get a piano reduction of the Hahn score many years ago, and it is fascinating as it contains a very large number of specific directions regarding the various comings and goings of the ballet's action. A pity if, as you suggest, orchestral materials have disappeared.

[eschiss1]

In my opinion the Steinberg string quartet in A major recorded by matesic at IMSLP is quite fine...

[scarpia]

I think "Metamorphosen" may be the ballet score written for Diaghilev and staged under the title of "Midas". It is generally [the ballet, that is] regarded as a failure but to hear the score would be incredibly interesting. Along with Hahn's "Le Dieu Bleu" and Rieti's "Le Bal", it is an important missing gap in the Diaghilev discography.

Yes - there were 5 parts:
Introduction
Coronation of the Statue of Jupiter. Dance of the Phoenician Slaves.
Pan
Apollon. Dance of the Muses.
The Transformation of Adonis. Round Dances of the Sylvan Gods.

Not exiting ballet music, but lush and well orchestrated. Similar to the Rimsky suite from The Invisible City of Kitezh that preceded it on the program.

There is a bit of Steinberg's ballet  Till Eulenspiegel( Dance of the Buffoons and Dance of Gillina) available conducted by Mravinsky on Brilliant Classics in a box with other Russian works.

I also just found a youtube performance of his 4th Symphony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63FSLpVe9YQ

[eschiss1]

We have or had the 4th symphony in the Downloads section.

[strelsa42]

Thanks very much Scarpia for the report on the Steinberg piece [especially the movement titles]. It would appear that the original libretto was created by Bakst and Steinberg, working from Ovids's "Metamorphoses". It was written as 3 Tableaux [Semele, Midas, Adonis]. But Diaghilev was not enthusiastic about the work and was possibly currying favour with Rimsky's family [after the dreadful fallout over the treatment of "Scheherazade"] in staging the work. He reduced the score to just the central 'Midas' section. Bakst was so overworked with mounting Strauss' "Josephlegende" that he handed design duties over to Doboujinsky. From Scarpia's title list it would appear that the suite contains music from all 3 tableaux.

[vandermolen]

I really enjoyed Symphony No 2, especially the redemptive ending and wish that more of the symphonies had been recorded.

[strelsa42]

The Leon Botstein performance of the suite from "Les Metamorphoses" is now available on iTunes.