Borodin Mlada Finale

[chriss]

I know Borodin is not unsung but this piece perhaps.  Rimsky-Korsakov orchestrated Borodin's sketches for the Finale of the Ballet Opera Mlada. I remember a broadcast of this rare composition over 20 years ago by the NDR Sinfonieorchester.

The Mlada Finale was once available on LP but was it ever released on CD?

[Alan Howe]

If you mean the recording conducted by Loris Tjeknavorian, I don't think it was ever issued on CD.

The original version (ripped from LP) can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM_4D_FGaHg

[Alan Howe]

Thanks to britishcomposer, the performance with the NDR Sinfonieorchester (now NDR Elbphilharmonie)
conducted by Siegfried Köhler is now available in our Download Board, here:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7868.msg82395.html#new

[chriss]

Thank you very much for the link! 

The Tjeknavorian album with Borodin's orchestral compositions is outstanding. Unfortunately the Mlada piece was not included in the CD reissues.
There also was an early recording from Russia. Don't know if it was from an LP recording or from a broadcast.

[britishcomposer]

I see there is some inconsistency concerning the date of Rimsky's orchestration. The youtube video gives 1890.
I referred to the wikipedia list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Alexander_Borodin

[TerraEpon]

The book I have also gives 1890.

So odd this one seems to be under the radar....sucks since I love both composers.

[der79sebas]

By the way, the recent "Prince Igor" from the MET (Abdrazakov, Noseda) uses also this Mlada-fragment as orchestral finale, which, by the way, is not at all convincing (as is the rest of the production):

https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/de/katalog/produkte/borodin-prince-igor-abdrazakov-petrenko-noseda-529

[der79sebas]

It would be nice to have a "complete" Mlada - has it ever been tried to collect all the fragments and to create an approximation to what might have been the final outcome of the project?

[chriss]

The Abdrazakov/Noseda "Igor" was unfortunately not released on CD.

It's strange that there is no recording of the Mlade Finale available. Not even on Naxos. Chandos at least did a recording of Rimsky's obscure orchestration of "Funiculì, funicula".

[Mark Thomas]

a "complete" Mlada - has it ever been tried to collect all the fragments and to create an approximation to what might have been the final outcome of the project?

See this detailed Wikipedia article. There is as yet no definitive reconstruction. Much the five composers' contributions were re-used by them, but recordings of the reworked pieces are patchy. I don't believe that Cui's first act or Minkus' ballet music has been recorded, but most of Mussorgsky's contributions have been in their final form, while Rimsky-Korsakov's found their way into several of his operas, which have been recorded. The same goes for Borodin in his Prince Igor (although there both R-K and Glazunov are responsible for the finished piece).

[Christopher]

There's quite a comprehensive account of the Mlada project on Wikipedia, describing how it also had the involvement of Mussorgsky and Cui and what happened to the material that they also wrote.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mlada

[Mark Thomas]

Umm...didn't I just say all that? 

[Alan Howe]

You did. 

[tappell]

I am also surprised this has never been recorded. A very attractive piece, and the closing bars particularly, capture Borodin's melodic style.

[eschiss1]

How'd we go from "never issued on CD" to "never recorded" all in one go? I thought an LP recording was mentioned above. (If "this" means the complete Mlada using the contributions of all the composers, then sorry, just misunderstood...  after all, the title still says "Borodin Mlada Finale", and this, well, is "this". Isn't "that" "so"?) Edit: except for some of his songs, one opera, one string quartet, a couple of discs of orchestral music, and some piano music, recordings of Cui's music are really thin on the ground and apologetically made anyway, so maybe I'm just not surprised that his contribution has never been commercially recorded; it seems people really do -not like- him... (edit: oh, and his violin sonata on Olympia, and a couple of other things, but basically, yeah.)