Sergei Taneyev - At the Reading of a Psalm (Mikhail Pletnev)

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Composer: Sergei Taneyev

1. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 1a. Chorus (Allegro tempestoso)
2. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 1b. Double Chorus (Andante sostenuto)
3. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 1c. Chorus. Triple Fugue (Fuga à 3 soggetti) (Andante - Allegro molto)
4. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 2a. Chorus (Allegro moderato - Fuga. Allegro tenebroso)
5. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 2b. Quartet (Andante)
6. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 2c. Quartet and Chorus (Adagio ma non troppo)
7. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 3a. Interlude (Allegro appassionato)
8. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 3b. Aria (Alto Solo) (Adagio più tosto largo)
9. At the Reading of a Psalm, Op. 36: 3c. Double Chorus (Finale) (Adagio pietoso e molto cantabile - Allegro moderato - Allegro molto)

Lolita Semenina, soprano
Marianna Tarasova, alto
Mikhail Gubsky, tenor
Andrei Baturkin, bass

St. Petersburg State Academic Capella Choir
Glinka Choral College Boys' Choir
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev, conductor

Date: 2003
Label: Pentatone
http://www.pentatonemusic.com/taneyev-at-the-reading-of-a-psalm

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Review

A performance that does full justice to deeply-felt music

The psalm is No 50 in the King James Bible: ‘The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken’. God appears through a storm to denounce those who believe that sacrifices and burnt offerings are of more value than thanksgiving and prayer. It is a powerful psalm, and it made a deep impression on the Slavophile poet and theologian Alexey Khomyakov, whose 1856 poem At the Reading of a Psalm develops the idea that outward forms of religion are as nothing beside truth, brotherly love and ‘a heart purer than gold’. In turn, Khomyakov’s poem inspired Taneyev, who took it for the cantata he completed in 1915, in the last months of his life. 

It is in many ways a summation of Taneyev’s life and work, which should by now have earned an English-language study. N Bazhanov’s book (Taneyev; 1971) published in Soviet anti-religious times, skirts lightly round this cantata, while making airy allusions to Handel and Haydn. Here, Francis Maes’s thoughtful booklet-note prefers to suggest comparisons with Beethoven’s approach to sacred words in the Missa Solemnis, especially Taneyev’s use of fugue as symbol of ‘the superior reason dominating the universe’. The most elaborate of these is the triple fugue that concludes the first of the work’s three parts, a compelling piece which tests chorus and recording engineers (in St Petersburg’s Philharmonic Hall) to the limits. Mikhail Pletnev does well to clarify this, and much else in the work, so successfully. The more lyrical, human music includes a fine solo warmly sung by Marianna Tarassova. Taneyev’s strengths are his security of design in the presentation of the poem and his contrapuntal mastery in laying out his material. If this material is seldom of great melodic distinction, the music nonetheless rewards the close listening it demands.

-- John Warrack, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classical-music.com/review/taneyev-3
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/3635672/Classical-CDs-of-the-week-Taneyev-Biber-and-more.html
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/29/classicalmusicandopera.shopping5
http://www.allmusic.com/album/sergei-taneyev-at-the-reading-of-a-psalm-mw0001944045

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Sergei Taneyev (November 25 [O.S. November 13] 1856 – June 19 [O.S. June 6] 1915) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author. Among his teachers at the Moscow Conservatory are Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (composition) and Nikolai Rubinstein (piano). Taneyev's specialized field of study was counterpoint, and he was considered one of the greatest of contrapuntalists. Taneyev's compositions, including nine complete string quartets and four symphonies, reveal his mastery of classical composition technique, but many of them were considered "dry and laboured in character".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Taneyev

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Mikhail Pletnev (born 14 April 1957) is a Russian concert pianist, conductor, and composer. In 1974, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying under Yakov Flier and Lev Vlassenko. At age 21, he won the Gold Medal at the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978. His piano repertoire is extensive and includes The Seasons, many Scarlatti sonatas, Pictures at an Exhibition, etc. He found Russian National Orchestra in 1990, the first non-government-supported orchestra in Russia since 1917. Pletnev has made a number of recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, Pentatone and Melodiya.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Pletnev

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