Glazunov Symphonies & Concertos/Serebrier

[mjmosca]

 I enjoyed reading MartinH's reply " But it's Fedoseyev - one of the most vulgar, unmusical barbarians ever to wield a baton. Anyone who would butcher Tchaikovsky's Manfred the way he did should be banished from concert halls forever." Of course, now I want to hear what Fedoseyev does with, or to- Manfred, perhaps my favorite of the Tchaikovsky symphonies.

Manfred is something of a special case since there is a tradition of conductors making changes to it-particularly the last movement. I have attended performances where the end of the last movement- the peroration with organ- was replaced with a reprise of the coda of the first movement. The magnificent conclusion of the first movement is so good, I was happy to hear it repeated! Is this barbarism? Perhaps- but it was wonderful to hear. 

[MartinH]

That's pretty much what he does with it: takes out the quiet ending and replaces it with the loud first movement ending. Other changes in orchestration are uncalled for, too.

[eschiss1]

That makes me curious but Tchaikovsky-Research says nothing about any composer revision or anything of the kind so... grrr, indeed.

[Alan Howe]

And so back to the topic, please.

[mjmosca]

The Glazounov series on Naxos, including all of the symphonies lead by Alexander Anissimov are also well worth investigating. His recording of the Symphony Number 6 is very good, in that he takes the middle movements slowly which really imparts a weight to these movements that can sound like charming parts of a ballet, particularly after the magnificent first movement.

[Alan Howe]

I can't see the point of buying any of the Naxos series when you can get the lot with Serebrier so ridiculously cheaply.

[mjmosca]

I can't see the point of buying any of the Naxos series when you can get the lot with Serebrier so ridiculously cheaply.

May I suggest two reasons, one general, one specific. This may be my "madness" but when I become interested in a composer, or work, I want to have more than one recording, to compare different approaches. I am certainly going to add the complete set by Serebrier despite the fact that I have his recordings of the Glazunov 4, 5, 7 and 8. The specific problem is with Serebrier's recording of the Glazunov Fifth [widely considered his symphonic masterpiece], which [in my opinion] is unsuccessful: his continuous and exaggerated changes of tempo , accelerations followed by big ritards, ruins the grand sweeping themes of the first movement. Perhaps an excess of love? I hate to be critical because Serebrier is clearly a champion of Glazunov. In any event, I would not suggest Serebrier as a one and only recording for ones collection, but instead as a second set. Fedoseyev [also available at a bargain price] or Rozdestvensky provide solid alternative performances. Anissimov on Naxos may have fixed bag sonics, but I have greatly enjoyed his approach to the works of Glazunov, also.

[FBerwald]

Finally... My biggest disappointment with Serebrier was his reading of the 5th Symphony. As @mjmosca says his tempo swing nearly kills the symphony. Besides my obvious Jarvi bend, I like this recording by Sinaisky - A very powerful reading https://www.allmusic.com/album/glazunov-symphony-no-5-mw0001852661

[Alan Howe]

I discarded my one Naxos/Anissimov CD because I found it so dreary. Just shows how much opinions can vary.

[TerraEpon]

Yeah, the discs of the Naxos series with the symphonies are pretty bleh...but the non-symphonic works tend to hold up much better, and AFAIK it has the only recording of Masquerade and the only modern one of Raymonda.

[eschiss1]

Fedotov's recording of the complete Raymonda (Brilliant Classics, other labels) seems to be fairly recent, I'm not sure?...)

[TerraEpon]

Well I did say "as far as I know..."

[adriano]

It was, apparently, released in 2004

[eschiss1]

I think I may have found on Worldcat releases of the Fedotov as early as 1996, now that I look, unless that's something else. Not sure what the barrier is for recent though!...

[minacciosa]

I thought the Anissimov recordings were not good at all. Dull, as Alan said.