Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Operatic Excerpts (Evgeny Svetlanov)

Information

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

CD1:

• (01-04) The Voyevoda
• (05-08) Eugene Onegin
• (09-13) The Maid of Orleans

CD2:

• (01-03) Mazepa
• (04-06) The Slippers
• (07-11) The Sorceress
• (12) Iolanta: Introduction

USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor
Date: 1987
Label: Evgeny Svetlanov Foundation (original recorded by Melodiya)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

The late Evgeny Svetlanov (1929-2002) more than inherited the mantle of his own great predecessor Nicolai Golovanov; Svetlanov embarked on a major restoration of his Russian national musical heritage with several series’ worth of anthologies of Russian music. Estimates of Svetlanov’s recorded legacy run as high as 2,000 inscriptions! Describing himself as a blatant neo-Romantic, Svetlanov proclaimed that “my head alone is not enough for my music; I demand my soul to be involved in music.” And while certain contemporary Russian musicians held Svetlanov’s catholic interests, he remained indifferent to atonality and serialism. His performances–led after 1980 without baton– consistently evidence a high gloss, tremendous energy, and a loving emphasis on inner details. With examples like Mravinsky, Kondrashin, and Sanderling in his past, Svetlanov made visceral attacks and resounding sonority his major selling points.

The present collation derives from inscriptions made 1955-1992, with no specific dates given for each set of pieces. The operas are arranged chronologically, with the Voyevoda (1868, after Ostrovsky) first. I started with the Overture and excerpts from The Slippers (1885) after Gogol‚s story The Night Before Christmas because Anatole Fistoulari had recorded some excerpts for MGM on LP. The Overture is quite extensive, and the Polonaise is broad in the Eugene Onegin mold. The music to Mazeppa (1879, after Pushkin’s poem) is already quite well known–the Gopak, for instance–the Introduction has a touch of Liszt, and the Entr’acte Poltava Battle uses a theme we know from Beethoven’s first Rasoumovsky Quartet and Moussorgsky’s Boris Gudonov. The Sorceress , based on a Novgorod legend (1887) has a most gorgeous Overture, as well as some dark harmonies we recall from Francesca da Rimini. From Tchaikovky’s perhaps best opera The Queen of Spades (1890, after Pushkin) we have the Introduction, whose theme echoes the first strong woodwind theme from Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Trumpets, piccolo, and tympani then accelerate the tension for this story of greed and thwarted love. Iolantha (1891, after a drama by Hertsa) is perhaps the most amorphous of these orchestral excerpts, woodwind pipings and exotic harmonies that make for an eerie suggestion from The Nutcracker.

The Voyevode enjoys some delicate coloring, including the gentle brush of cymbals. Some of the repeated forte chords could have been lifted from Moussorgsky’s Night on Bare Mountain. The Entr’acte captures pastoral scenes folk life of the XVII century. The harp work competes with the big ballets. The Oprichnik (1872, after a tragedy by Lazhechnikov) is new to me. After a heavy opening reminiscent of Beethoven, a tender theme emerges. The final pages, as well as the Women’s Dance, employ hurried, spirited figures out of Glinka. It might be of interest to note that of all of Liszt’s settings of other composers’ operas, only the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin (1877, after Pushkin) warranted a Liszt transcription.

The little Ecossaise from Act III scurries like a character-piece from Swan Lake. The Maid of Orleans (1879, based on Schiller’s tragedy) receives five excerpts from Svetlanov. The Introduction merges orchestral turmoil with a grand march in the Verdi vein, followed by decidedly Russian punctuation. Verdi triplets again for the Act IV Entr’acte lead to a waltz for harp and strings. The characteristic dances gambol in ways familiar to Smetana, cross-fertilized by Russian and Tchaikovsky’s weakness for Wagner. Thoroughly delectable, alternative Tchaikovsky for collectors.

-- Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition

Another review:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/tchaikovsky-symphonic-operatic-excerpts-mw0001944842

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25 April/7 May 1840 – 25 October/6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the romantic period who wrote some of the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote many works that are popular with the classical music public, including his Romeo and Juliet, the 1812 Overture, three ballets, last three symphonies, the 1st Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

***

Evgeny Svetlanov (6 September 1928—3 May 2002) was a Russian conductor, composer and though less well-known, a pianist. Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. He was principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra) from 1965 to 2000. Svetlanov was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works as he covered the whole range of Russian music, from Mikhail Glinka to the present day. He was also one of the few Russian conductors to conduct the entire symphonic output of Gustav Mahler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Svetlanov

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!