Glazunov 4 a hit!

[mbhaub]

I just have to share this.
Last evening one orchestra I play in (on first bassoon) played Glazunov's Fourth Symphony. I've been bugging the conductor for several years to give it a go and this year he finally gave in. I loaned him a CD and a score and he realized there's some terrific, beautiful music there.

Needless to say, no one in the orchestra had ever played it, most had never heard of it. During rehearsals people were coming around and really got enthusiastic about it. "We should play more of his music -- this is great!" was typical.

But after the concert it was the audience that startled me. They couldn't have known it either, and right as the thrilling, ecstatic conclusion of the symphony the audience immediately rose to its feet, Applause was thunderous and the "bravos" very prominent. They really, really liked it. Afterwards, I got comments from several attendees as why no one plays this, why hadn't they ever heard of it?

It's not easy music at all. The six flats are kind of intimidating to strings, but our amateur group did an excellent job with only a couple of mishaps, mostly from a timpanist who got lost a couple of times. We did have eight rehearsals for the concert and that helped.

But Glazunov sure made an impression. The conductor has been pretty good about programming more obscure music, but when it comes to big symphonies not so much. This Fourth Symphony really opened his eyes as to what other glories he might have missed. I've already suggested Raff's 3rd or 5th, Bloch's C sharp minor, Atterberg's 3rd or 6th.  I can only hope.

[Alan Howe]

This is extremely encouraging, not to say genuinely exciting. Will there be a press review of some kind?

Here's an unmissable bargain, by the way:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8468583--glazunov-the-complete-symphonies-concertos

[Revilod]

Well done for promoting what is my favourite and, I think, Glazunov's best symphony. I'm not surprised it brought the audience to its feet. I hope they went out and got hold of a recording of it. That's how unsung music begins to get sung.

[Alan Howe]

I'd probably put Glazunov's 5th ahead of his 4th, but quite frankly all his symphonies ought to be programmed by concert promoters. They're real crowd-pleasers.

[Ilja]

Years ago, I was fortunate enough to witness an absolutely scorching performance of the Glaz 5 by the Netherlands Radio SO under Alexander Lazarev, and the audience's reaction was as euphoric as the one mentioned by Martin. That experience renewed my faith in people's ability to listen past the iron repertory, and it also showed that these are not risky pieces to program.

[Maury]

Glazunov is fairly well known for historical reasons but basically unsung musically. I have gotten discouraged about the programming of Glazunov's music. In the US, apart sporadically with the Violin Concerto, his music is never heard in concert halls. When you type "Alexander" into bachtrack search Glazunov's name is number 11 on the list.  Even Scriabin and Zemlinsky are close to the top. (At least they did list an upcoming performance of Symphony 4 by the BBC Phil. in the UK.)

On US based classical music threads there is a fair amount of aversion to his music as weak. Part of the problem is that earlier Western performances were often insipidly played. Glazunov's music is so well constructed that the conductor and orchestra can get through it on autopilot which is what they did. It was only when I ran across the Russian performances by Svetlanov, Fedoseyev and others that I was stunned by it. Serebrier's set did do some good as I have seen occasional posts of people playing that CD box who are otherwise unaware of other recordings.

But yes Glazunov's music should be played mostly hot as Ilja mentioned of the Netherlands Radio performance with Lazarev. He was a Russian composer after all. I wish I had been there. I also really like his two piano concertos and the saxophone concerto. The latter is played once in awhile only because of the paucity of soloist saxophone music.

I have to hope some well known conductor takes him up because that's how these things take off. But I agree totally that his music is good enough to be played regularly.

[Ilja]

It should be added that Glazunov's status in Russian concert halls is much more solid, but those performances aren't listed on Bachtrack for ... obvious reasons. I'd say his best-known works west of Kaliningrad are probably the ballet Raymonda (which has seen a surprising number of performances of late) and the Alto Saxophone Concerto (also because of the scarcity of concert repertoire for that instrument).

[Christopher]

I was at a performance of the Fifth Symphony in the Moscow Conservatory in March 1992. I can't remember who was playing. It always stuck with me, especially the second movement (Scherzo - Moderato, which I think is the finest part of that symphony).  It was televised (I guess by TV Kultura, although who knows in those days...). The other items in the concert were Scriabin's Piano Concerto and his Rêverie (Op.24). I have tried and tried to find that concert online (youtube etc, given that TV Kultura post much of their backlog up there), but no luck so far...

[Maury]

Thanks very much for the replies. Yes as my Glazunov recordings were all by Russian conductors, orchestras and string quartets (until 20 years ago with Serebrier), I assumed he was still played occasionally in Russia/USSR. Part of the problem with the earlier recordings was the generally awful mastering by Melodiya. On some business trips to the UK I did find the few UK and German LP pressings of Glazunov which were much better mastered. But CD transfers often just used the Melodiya tapes which resulted in poor CD sound too.

Since this is a UK site, with what seems to be heavy European and UK membership, I was just pointing out the dire circumstances of Glazunov's music in the US. Even in Europe it doesn't appear at all good. There is no getting around the dismal position of Glazunov on Bachtack. (Russian performances might as well be played on the Moon.) The title of the upcoming BBC Phil concert is "Discovering Glazunov" !!

[Alan Howe]

Oh, the 'Glazunov situation' here in the UK is pretty dire, as far as public performances are concerned. And yet his name is certainly known - unlike most of the composers we discuss here. I first got to know him many moons ago through his Violin Concerto which Heifetz championed, although I never had his recording. The LP I owned was with the great Ida Haendel (Supraphon, I believe). Any resurgence of interest in him would certainly be a discovery for all those involved.

[Maury]

The situation with the Glazunov Violin Concerto as with the Korngold Violin Concerto points up the critical aspect of a big name advocate. Without Heifetz where would both concertos be? My contact with the Glazunov VC was via the Stokowski-Marcovici recording followed by Haendel and Milstein, another great name well known in the US. Even the marginal notoriety of Serebrier got a few people to invest in his Glazunov box. I thank mbhaub for his persistent pestering of the conductor for a rare Glazunov symphony performance.

But the degree of adverse opinion about Glazunov here in the US (not just benign neglect) is reminiscent of Korngold's bad reputation for many years.

[Christopher]

I'd give an honourable mention here to his 16-minute tone poem Stenka Razin. It has all the dramatic elements à la Rimsky/Tchaikovsky/Borodin that audiences love, and would be the perfect concert opener in a Glazunov programme. As we say so often on this site, when you hear it you will ask why it's not better known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin_(Glazunov)
Stenka Razin, Op. 13, is a symphonic poem composed by Alexander Glazunov in 1885. Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Borodin, it is one of the few compositions written by Glazunov on a nationalist subject and is composed in a style reminiscent of Borodin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Glazunov's composition dramatizes and romanticizes the career of the Cossack Stenka Razin. After leading raids against the Tsarist regime, Razin was captured and given amnesty in exchange of an oath of allegiance. He broke his promise, leading an army of several hundred thousand in an attempt to overthrow the government. Captured again, he was executed in 1672.

The score focuses on a dramatic moment immediately preceding Razin's recapture. Razin and his mistress, a captured Persian princess, are afloat on a richly caparisoned boat on the River Volga. There, in one version of the story, the princess relates an ominous dream, warning of imminent disaster and her own death in the river. They are suddenly surrounded by tsarist soldiers. Razin casts the princess into the water, declaring, "Never in all my thirty years have I offered a sacrifice to the Volga. Today I will give it what is for me the most precious of all the world's treasures." The Cossacks then descend desperately upon the Russian troops. Another version of the story has Razin's men claiming that his love of the princess has dulled his lust for fighting—a charge Razin counters by drowning the princess before leading his followers once again into battle.

The slow introduction evokes the River Volga, quoting "The Song of the Volga Boatmen," with the song's solemnity coloring not only the B minor introduction but also the outer sections of the main Allegro con brio in the same musical key. These outer sections depict Razin's raids on villages along the river. A gentler central section (Allegro moderato) features a contrasting clarinet melody in the major a semitone lower and was claimed to be of Persian origin; this theme, sensual and undulating in Russian orientalist fashion, portrays the princess. The two themes, singly and in conjunction, provide the substance for the central development section, culminating in the graphic depiction of the princess's death. "The Song of the Volga Boatmen" is reprised in the brass to bring the work to a rousing conclusion.

The work was premiered in St. Petersburg on November 23, 1885 in a concert, arranged at Mitrofan Belyayev's expense, conducted by the Rimsky-Korsakov pupil Georgi Ottonovich Dutsch.

[John Boyer]

It seems to me the Violin Concerto clings to the fringes of the American repertory.  I heard it in Chicago many years ago.  In fact, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I see that I heard it on Saturday, November 13, 1982.  Lydia Mordkovitch was the soloist, and Solti lead the CSO. 

Like Alan, the Glazunov 5th ranks highest in my memory, but I now have the Serebrier on order, so I will give the 4th -- and the others -- another try.  I went through them in the 90s, but at that time I was cool to them (except the 5th).

[Alan Howe]

I must have had my Haendel LP in the 70s. Think of it! Those were the days when I had just a couple of Bruckner symphonies on vinyl. I remember being on holiday with my parents in Italy and dreaming about Karajan in Bruckner 4 & 7 (EMI, now Warner). The entirety of my Glazunov collection would have been his VC! But this was over 50 years ago. Imagine 50 years before that, i.e. the 1920s. No wonder plagiarists such as Hans Franke could get away with passing stuff off as his own. No-one would have had a clue!

[Maury]

Before the internet it was labor intensive to do the research even if one lived in national capitals or the largest cities. Similar frauds can happen even in the sciences if the research area is well out of the mainstream with only a few scattered researchers. And of course back in the 20s recordings of this repertoire were almost entirely nonexistent.

I did also have the Glazunov Seasons on a Capitol LP in addition to the VC. It was in the early 90s where I started to read some favorable comment about Glazunov and Korngold but I am not sure where. It might have been the initial book version of the All Music Guide which I no longer have to verify. But that's when I started intensively to get Glazunov, Korngold, Scriabin and Zemlinsky recordings (and even a Schreker bootleg Die Gezeichneten) who were then still at low points. 
 
With respect to Christopher's post, the Middle Ages Suite is highly recommendable.