Ippolitov-Ivanov: Symphony no. 1 in E minor

[LateRomantic75]

I must admit to having a soft spot for Ippolitov-Ivanov's music, especially his Symphony no. 1 in E minor. This work is a hugely appealing combination of the drama and pathos of Tchaikovsky and the energetic, exotic flavor of Borodin (especially in the Scherzo). It has the benefit of being quite cogently argued and free of any longueurs for a late-romantic symphony. There are two recordings of the symphony available. Of the two, I prefer the Bamberg SO/Gary Brain rendition on Conifer, not only due to a superior performance but also because of the inclusion of the fragrantly exotic, Rimskian symphonic poem Mtzyri with soprano solo, which I prefer to the couplings on the Marco Polo disc. You can't go seriously wrong with the Singapore SO/Choo Hoey recording on Marco Polo, either. It's just that the Marco Polo reading lacks that last ounce of conviction. Sound quality is better on the Conifer disc, too.

What do others think of this fine work?

[Mark Thomas]

I haven't listened to it in many years, but you have whetted my appetite to revisit it!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

LateRomantic's description of the Symphony although succinct is illuminating - the drama and pathos of Tchaikovsky and the energetic, exotic flavour of Borodin seems to me utterly spot on right. Yes, time to extract that Conifer recording from the shelves and revisit it.

It is impossible to arrive at some overview of Ippolitov-Ivanov's music simply because it seems to be so rarely performed, let alone recorded. Like other minor and neglected composers a few bits and pieces turn up as 'fillers' on discs of Russian music. And I always think of them as finely written, sometimes quite gorgeous, and yet somehow unmemorable. But I'm sure that's an unfair verdict for a quick glance at the worklist shows a considerable number of works. I wonder what the second Symphony of 1935 is like? Given that it lacks an opus number, does that mean it was never published in his lifetime or left unfinished? He was clearly a busy man in the Conservatory, but nonetheless produced much. There are a large number of songs and choral works, much music for solo piano, and even some operas. I'd be especially interested in finding out more about the early Violin Sonata, Piano Quartet, and a single String Quartet. But I suspect the orchestral works are best. The highly accomplished, and often lush, orchestral writing clearly shows his debt to Rimsky. But alas, whether or not he is a minor master is something we can't discover, for the works other than a few favourite pieces remain inaccessible. A pity I think.

[Balapoel]

I too am a fan of Ippolitov's orchestral works. I have not come across any recordings of the Symphony No. 2 'Karelia', nor the suites opp. 65, 69, and 79, or Auf der Wolga musical picture, Op. 50.

[eschiss1]

Fortunately the violin sonata Op.10, piano quartet Op.9 (don't forget that too) and (first?) string quartet Op.13 (dedicated to the violinist-composer Jan Hrimaly...) - about which I also have long been curious - have been digitally scanned and uploaded online as have a number of his other chamber, vocal, etc. works (including his All-Night Vigil, the Op.50 "On the Volga" for orchestra (published 1904-or-so in piano reduction), etc.) (one can find some of them at IMSLP for instance) but I know nothing definite about the 2nd symphony either for what that's worth...

[LateRomantic75]

I too am a fan of Ippolitov's orchestral works. I have not come across any recordings of the Symphony No. 2 'Karelia', nor the suites opp. 65, 69, and 79, or Auf der Wolga musical picture, Op. 50.

I'd really love to hear these works you mention! Like Eric, I have not been able to find anything definite regarding the state of Symphony no. 2. Ippolitov-Ivanov made an orchestration of his Violin Sonata (!) for chamber orchestra, renaming it Sinfonietta-another work I'd love to hear (along with the original version and the other chamber works).

[eschiss1]

I think the original (well, violin and piano- if you mean that's a revised version, don't know 'bout that...) version of the Ippolitov-Ivanov violin sonata, we can help you with. Check the downloads section. It was in a concert together with Gyorgy Catoire/Katuar's also fine (and also A minor) piano quartet.

[eschiss1]

As to the piano quartet op.9 in E-flat by the way, the fact that there is a group calling themselves the Ippolitov-Ivanov Piano Quartet leads me to hope that there is at least one group with the work in their repertoire. (I haven't read their group bio or even tried to see where I can find it, so I don't yet know if or where they've performed it; I've yet to turn up a video, etc., for what that's worth- certainly no commercial recording of the work is known to me. Unless it's on their disc of Beethoven and Brahms and I just didn't look...)

[giles.enders]

There used to be a recording of the symphony by the Bamberg orchestra on Conifer.  Incidentally, have any of the old Conifer recordings been re-released?

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Certainly quite a bit of interest in Ippolitov-Ivanov here - thanks to all above for contributing to the thread. I do hope some day someone will issue commercial recordings of those chamber works (would seem to me a good Naxos project given their splendid series of recordings of the S. Taneyev quartets).

If there was a Conifer recording of Symphony 1, Giles, it surely never made it to a CD format?

On your incidental question about resurrected Conifer recordings my first reaction was 'Of course, many have been re-released'. But a very quick search (i.e. one not having reliable results) suggests you have uncovered a good question. There were, for example, some esteemed Vernon Handley recordings of Malcolm Arnold and many others of (non-Romantic) 20th century tonal works. But scanning my shelves for original Conifer CDs and then checking to see if they've ever been re-released on some other label strongly suggests they haven't. What a pity, for there was some good stuff there. Anyone know what might have happened to it? (Apologies - rapidly turning into another thread causing moderators to get hot under the collar.)

[Alan Howe]

Here's the Conifer recording of Symphony 1 on CD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ippolitov-Ivanov-Symphony-Armenian-Rhapsody-Caucasian/dp/B0000268F9/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1374927931&sr=8-5&keywords=ippolitov+ivanov
May I respectfully suggest that friends conduct a few simple searches themselves before posting questions that are easily answered? Saves a lot of time and fruitless speculation...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Oops says I with a red face. Apologies, Alan, I did look on Amazon but failed to notice the disc. Can't think why, and it wouldn't seem all that ingenious to blame it on my computer!

[Alan Howe]

Apology gratefully accepted. Blame it on a twitchy search finger...

[LateRomantic75]

Oops says I with a red face. Apologies, Alan, I did look on Amazon but failed to notice the disc. Can't think why, and it wouldn't seem all that ingenious to blame it on my computer!

Don't feel bad, Peter. I couldn't find it on Amazon either! I discovered the existence of the disc through ArkivMusic.

[sdtom]

You got me to dig into my archives and find my CD with Hoey conducting the Singapore. I hadn't listened to it for at least ten years and my listening experience was a very positive one. Was this recording from an lp? I noticed two dates 1984 and 1989 so perhaps it had its premiere on HNH.
Tom