A stupendous Rimsky-Korsakov recording

[Alan Howe]

Not a new issue, but such original music and wondrous playing and recording: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926391--rimsky-korsakov-le-coq-dor-suite-etc

If you've ever thought that early Stravinsky sprang out of nowhere, think again - and try this!

[Ilja]

Yes, I noticed this one as well. Great playing, and perhaps the benchmark recording for this music right now.

Shame about the cover design though, which must count among the least inspired I've seen for some time.

[Alan Howe]

Good job the music and playing are so inspiring, then...

[eschiss1]

"if you've ever thought early Stravinsky sprang out of nowhere", think again, listen to several late Rimsky works, and also, why -would- you think this...

[Alan Howe]

I think the issue is that very few people know R-K's music - beyond Scheherazade, that is; whereas early Stravinsky is played a lot.

[terry martyn]

Apart from his juvenile Symphony, early Stravinsky is verboten in my household. I have always found R-K's Le coq d'or uneasily experimental,and maybe it encouraged the younger man to be avantgarde. I am rushing to Abbado's Mendelssohn Overtures to drive Grinchlike thoughts out of my mind!

[John Boyer]

I certainly agree with Alan. The similarities between the orchestral color and flavor of late Rimsky-Korsakov and the high-romantic works of early Stravinsky seem to me fairly clear.

[Alan Howe]

With Stravinsky, I simply pick and choose. But that's not for this forum.

[eschiss1]

True. And you said early Stravinsky, not Threni or the Huxley Variations!

[Alan Howe]

Indeed. I meant The Firebird and Petrushka in particular.

[jasthill]

As far as I can discern your could put all of Rimsky, Glazunov, Gliere, Liadov, N. Tcherepnin, etc. in a pot stir it up and not tell the difference from one to the other.  The real question is where did the Stravinsky of the Rite derive from? If you listen to some of the early recordings of the Rite they sound almost Rimsky-like - later versions with subsequent Stravinsky revisions and tinkering gave us the more sharper, rhythmic, atmospheric Rite we know.  Original concept or brilliant synthesis?

[eschiss1]

If you can't (stylistically) tell Rimsky of the (first version!!) of his first symphony (Op.1) (e.g.)* from his last opera and late cantatas apart at all, then you can't...**

*Actually, since I'm not sure the first version's been recorded, other early works can be substituted- maybe the symphonic poem - and opera of the same name - Sadko (two different works, of course, sharing some musical material but one is a brief orchestral work and the other lasts hours and requires voices and an elephant or two besides), say...

** If otoh a statement like yours is made by someone without having heard the late works, well, that's kind of what this post is about, isn't it, and the assumption that they're not significantly different from earlier works remains an assumption until one has heard them.

[scottevan]

Interesting, no mention thus far of the two other works on the disc, way more unsung than "Coq d'Or," which has been performed quite a bit of late (I think I've seen four or five productions in one form or other.)  "The Maid of Pskov" impresses me more each time I hear it - the terror is palpable in the crowd scene as they await the invasion of Ivan Groznie. Then later on, to show us a human side of Ivan, convincingly, makes for a rewarding experience, not just musically. "Pan Voyevode" is even less well known; as I recall this is mostly a suite of dances. Good stuff, but quite interchangeable with similar dances by Tchaikovsky in "Christmas Eve" or his own "Voyevode."

[Ilja]

I certainly agree with Alan. The similarities between the orchestral color and flavor of late Rimsky-Korsakov and the high-romantic works of early Stravinsky seem to me fairly clear.

Try listening to the opening of Rimsky's Kashchey the Immortal and then to Stravinsky's Firebird. That's somewhere between pastiche and plagiarism. I'm not saying that Stravinsky wasn't an original composer in other regards, but you have to admit that his music of this period owed a LOT to Rimsky-Korsakov.

@Scottevan, interesting to read about Pan Voyevoda's apparent rarity; for some reason, I heard it play a number of times in the early 90s, when being a student allowed me to visit concerts easily and cheaply. At least in the NL/Germany, RK was an en vogue composer at the time, but that trend has clearly waned since.