Nápravník, Eduard - Symphony No.3 in E minor "Demon" - a digital rendition

[taxus_mre]

Put this Symphony online today.

https://youtu.be/OhqYEAYp8Zo

[Alan Howe]

Thanks very much indeed. Very good of you to share this with us - and welcome to UC!

[taxus_mre]

I really would like to know if someone has access to a score of his other symphonies, regardlees of whether printed  sheets or a manuskript.

[Christopher]

Put this Sympony online today.

https://youtu.be/OhqYEAYp8Zo

Thank you.  Out of interest, why did you choose this one? Are you looking at Napravnik generally?  I look forward to listening!

[taxus_mre]

Hi Christopher, that was pure chance while nosing around in unknown orchestral music yet again. First time I read about the symphony in a user comment to Rudolf Karel's eponymous work. Then I checked Napravnik's IMSLP list and found the score. A few minutes on the piano let me go on.
Later I came across with the opera of Rubinstein and the stories of Lermontov and Vrubel.
I perceive the symphony as witty and like to hear it in total and with all the instruments at long last.
It would be interesting to compare it with the remaining three.

What do you think, should I add subtitles with lines from the basic Lermontov poem to the video?

[Mark Thomas]

This is a very colourful, exciting and eventful score which I greatly enjoyed but it doesn't really convince as a symphony. It's so episodic that it's really a large-scale symphonic poem spread over seven movements, linked into two parts. Unlike Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony or Liszt's Faust Symphony for example, real symphonic development is lacking but for all that it's a strong work, brim full of attractive ideas, and richly deserves to be heard again. Thanks very much Taxus for bringing it back to life.

[taxus_mre]

Indeed, 'episodes' is the better wording than 'movements'. In fact, the 'unsymphonic' form with its roots in the Lermontow poem (I likewise didn't know before) was one of the triggers to do this work.

[Ilja]

I have to agree with Mark; rather than of any symphony, this reminded me in places of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade; it's also roughly the same length. It's huge fun for similar reasons as Sheherazade, though, and well worth a revival in my view.

[JP]

The 2-part division of this delightful work appears to conform to the loosely structured framework of an extended symphonic poem such as Liszt's Dante Symphony (Inferno, Purgatario-Magnificat) not forgetting Suk's Asrael Symphony which is similarly partitioned into 2 sections (Movts I-III, IV-V) as notated by the respective composers, ending either on a resolute affirmative note or consolatory mood. In terms of programmatic material, they also seem to be touching on themes revolving around the ethereally angelic and nefariously fallen realms of netherworldly despair and damnation from a literary or autobiographical standpoint and symbolically derivative perspective. What's also especially noticeable from Napravnik's Third Symphony is the pleasant alternation between dramatically swift paced and lyrical passages which is similarly evident in the Suk and Liszt compositions, as well as of Tchaikovsky's tone poems like Hamlet, Fate, Francesca da Rimini, Romeo and Juliet. Indeed the influence of the Mighty-Five Russian Nationalist School is particularly evident in the Allegro giocoso - Poco a poco accelerando segment from the first section of this symphony which is brimming with melodic shades of Balakirev, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov.

It is therefore earnestly hoped that either CPO or NAXOS, especially with Maestro Marek Stilec currently championing the symphonic obscurae of V. Novak and JB Foerster, would seize the initiative and take the lead in resurrecting Napravnik's glossed over 4 symphonies and other orchestral works from virtual oblivion. Nonetheless, one ponders whether significant challenges and obstacles might be faced in trying to obtain the orchestral performance scores of Napravnik's symphonic works from Russian musical libraries and conservatories (unless they can be sourced and reproduced elsewhere from the original reference scores) amid the present set of dire circumstances whereby cross-cultural collaboration in the performing arts between Central, East-Europe and Russia has been brought to a screeching halt. Meantime, we very much look forward to < taxus_mre > uploading more digital synthesizer renditions of Napravnik's other symphonies onto YouTube. This will greatly enthrall fellow lovers of these musical gemstones eagerly waiting to lap up these unearthed repositories of unsung composer repertoires consisting of un(der)performed and un(der)recorded works.  Much appreciated in this regard. 

[Alan Howe]

not forgetting Suk's Asrael Symphony

Although titled, this isn't really a programmatic work.

[Mark Thomas]

one ponders whether significant challenges and obstacles might be faced in trying to obtain the orchestral performance scores of Napravnik's symphonic works from Russian musical libraries and conservatories

Does anyone know where the scores of the other three symphonies are? Were any of them published? I see that Nos.2-4 were composed within six years when Napravnik was in his mid to late thirties, whereas No.1 was written when Napravnik was 21. He clearly had talent, I must listen to his Piano Concerto again.

[Ilja]

The family moved to Belgium after the Bolshevik revolution; some snippets are in the Belgian Royal Library, but only a single piece of music (the Fest-Marsch über den Marsch Peter's des Grossen und ein russisches Volkslied, Op. 33). I had some hope the First Symphony might be in the Czech National Library (since it was written while Napravnik was still in Bohemia) but alas, no trace.

[Mark Thomas]

I've also drawn a blank so far trying to find the scores of the other symphonies.

[Alan Howe]

As I listen to this exciting (and often noisy!) piece, I hear mainly the legacy of Liszt and Tchaikovsky (e.g. Francesca da Rimini, Manfred) rather than any of the Russian nationalists - although from around 6½ minutes in there is a distinctly 'Russian' turn, as it were. Rimsky's probably in there somewhere.

It would be wonderful to hear this played by a top-flight orchestra. It may be the composer's best piece. It's a shame we know so little of his music.

[Christopher]

I would guess that, as a Czech (not a Russian) he might have felt more affinity for Tchaikovsky rather than for the nationalist Mighty Five. See also his choice of material for his operas - Harold (about 1066), Francesca da Rimini and Don Juan (actually incidental music) - though of course he also wrote Dubrovsky (after Pushkin) and one called Nizhegorodtzy (The Nizhniy-Novgorodians). Tchaikovsky dedicated various works to him, and he premiered several of his works as conductor, including the first piano concerto and five of his operas.  He was certainly at the centre of the late-romantic Russian music scene - he also premiered (as conductor) Boris Godunov and five Rimsky-Korsakov operas.

As a Brit I would love to hear Harold (after a play by a German dramatist I've never heard of - Ernst von Wildenbruch - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_von_Wildenbruch).  Score here (piano rather than full orchestra version, which I can't find online:  https://imslp.org/wiki/Harold,_Op.45_(Nápravník,_Eduard)

Have you tried these guys - http://www.napravnikfestival.cz/ - they have a festival of his music (annually?) in the Czech Republic.  If you haven't told them about your rendition of "Demon" you definitely should, I am sure they would be very excited.

I've been through all entries on the Russian State Library which contain the word Napravnik ("Направник") - https://search.rsl.ru/#ff=24.03.2023&s=fdatedesc - but the only symphony listing there is the Third "Demon" symphony.  Plenty of other stuff, including his operas.