Information
Composer: Felix Blumenfeld; Georgy Catoire
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor
Date: 2012
Label: Dutton
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7298
- (01) Blumenfeld - Symphony in C minor, Op. 39
- (05) Catoire - Symphony in C minor, Op. 7
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor
Date: 2012
Label: Dutton
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7298
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Felix Blumenfeld and Georgy Catoire were hardly unknown as composers in their own time. Both were respected pedagogues and moved in exalted musical circles. The disappearance of their music says less about quality than it does about changing public tastes, publishing house priorities, and the usual way well-known figures tend to absorb the light of all others when viewed from a distance in time. Blumenthal and Catoire were also-rans; and who has time to listen to the music of also-rans, when the 300th recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique is clambering for an audience?
The two symphonies aren’t similar—or rather, the influences working upon them aren’t. Blumenfeld was a student and friend of Rimsky-Korsakov, who referred to him in his memoirs as “a bountifully endowed musical temperament.” He joined the staff of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1885; and it is several mature symphonies of the Conservatory’s later director, Glazunov—the Fifth (1895), Sixth (1896), and Seventh (1902)—whose influence is pervasive in Blumenfeld’s Symphony in C Minor, premiered in 1907. If its first movement molds its development to theatrical ends in a manner that recalls Tchaikovsky, the harmonic progressions, thematic shapes, and general expressive quality of all four movements owe much to Glazunov. Blumenfeld shows himself very capable of thinking symphonically, developing short, memorable themes tersely before opening them up into long spans of glorious melody (another Glazunov trait). The poetic slow movement and stormy scherzo—with its eerie, harmonically evasive trio—are the most striking things in the work. But the fourth movement, a slow, lengthy finale that recalls the introduction to the first movement, is both original and evocative.
By way of contrast, Catoire met briefly with Rimsky-Korsakov, who thought he needed more of the close training Liadov could provide. Catoire disagreed, and left for the Moscow Conservatory, where he maintained a largely cordial but at times acrimonious relationship with those unstable personalities, Tchaikovsky and Arensky. He also studied with Karl Klindworth, a Liszt pupil and friend of Wagner’s, but the influences at work on this, his only Symphony, are entirely Russian.
In fact, more than one Russian. The first movement begins with a theme that’s cousin to the one leading off Glazunov’s Second Symphony. It’s method of constantly varying the harmonic underpinnings of its thematic content is also a Glazunov trait. If the bridge to the second theme dissipates the energy he’s built for no apparent reason, the theme itself is yet more Glazunov. The development is poor, a series of gestures without coherency, but the scherzo that follows is far better. It switches to Borodin for inspiration, with piquant orchestration and a game of competing meters for the outer sections, encasing a wistful trio that recalls the composer’s romanticized treatment of Caucasian thematic material. The slow movement follows one section that again could have come from a Glazunov symphony, with another beholden to Tchaikovsky. It meanders, and doesn’t sustain itself well. The finale again owes much to Glazunov—indeed, the theme in its introduction is a close variant on one that occurs in the finale to Glazunov’s Symphony No. 5. It also fails to maintain momentum, and ends rather abruptly, with a few rousing chords tacked onto a repeat of its slow introduction. Catoire’s symphony is definitely worth hearing, and the scherzo is a delight, but the rest comes nowhere near the quality of the Blumenfeld work.
Not surprisingly, Martin Yates and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra find ravishing colors in all this; and a wealth of long-limbed, expressive phrasing. But while they provide a sumptuous performance of the Blumenfeld, the Catoire proves more problematic. I suspect the intensity of a Serebrier or Bátiz would be needed to make it work, with momentum lost in both the slow movement’s trio, and the finale.
That aside, the sound is up to Dutton’s usual exacting standard, and really: when is the last time you’ve had the opportunity to listen to a pair of Russian nationalist symphonies that you haven’t heard before? Strongly recommended for the Blumenfeld.
-- Barry Brenesal, FANFARE
More reviews:
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/blumenfeld-catoire-symphonies
https://www.amazon.com/Blumenfeld-Symphony-minor-Catoire/dp/B00A7HV672
The two symphonies aren’t similar—or rather, the influences working upon them aren’t. Blumenfeld was a student and friend of Rimsky-Korsakov, who referred to him in his memoirs as “a bountifully endowed musical temperament.” He joined the staff of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1885; and it is several mature symphonies of the Conservatory’s later director, Glazunov—the Fifth (1895), Sixth (1896), and Seventh (1902)—whose influence is pervasive in Blumenfeld’s Symphony in C Minor, premiered in 1907. If its first movement molds its development to theatrical ends in a manner that recalls Tchaikovsky, the harmonic progressions, thematic shapes, and general expressive quality of all four movements owe much to Glazunov. Blumenfeld shows himself very capable of thinking symphonically, developing short, memorable themes tersely before opening them up into long spans of glorious melody (another Glazunov trait). The poetic slow movement and stormy scherzo—with its eerie, harmonically evasive trio—are the most striking things in the work. But the fourth movement, a slow, lengthy finale that recalls the introduction to the first movement, is both original and evocative.
By way of contrast, Catoire met briefly with Rimsky-Korsakov, who thought he needed more of the close training Liadov could provide. Catoire disagreed, and left for the Moscow Conservatory, where he maintained a largely cordial but at times acrimonious relationship with those unstable personalities, Tchaikovsky and Arensky. He also studied with Karl Klindworth, a Liszt pupil and friend of Wagner’s, but the influences at work on this, his only Symphony, are entirely Russian.
In fact, more than one Russian. The first movement begins with a theme that’s cousin to the one leading off Glazunov’s Second Symphony. It’s method of constantly varying the harmonic underpinnings of its thematic content is also a Glazunov trait. If the bridge to the second theme dissipates the energy he’s built for no apparent reason, the theme itself is yet more Glazunov. The development is poor, a series of gestures without coherency, but the scherzo that follows is far better. It switches to Borodin for inspiration, with piquant orchestration and a game of competing meters for the outer sections, encasing a wistful trio that recalls the composer’s romanticized treatment of Caucasian thematic material. The slow movement follows one section that again could have come from a Glazunov symphony, with another beholden to Tchaikovsky. It meanders, and doesn’t sustain itself well. The finale again owes much to Glazunov—indeed, the theme in its introduction is a close variant on one that occurs in the finale to Glazunov’s Symphony No. 5. It also fails to maintain momentum, and ends rather abruptly, with a few rousing chords tacked onto a repeat of its slow introduction. Catoire’s symphony is definitely worth hearing, and the scherzo is a delight, but the rest comes nowhere near the quality of the Blumenfeld work.
Not surprisingly, Martin Yates and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra find ravishing colors in all this; and a wealth of long-limbed, expressive phrasing. But while they provide a sumptuous performance of the Blumenfeld, the Catoire proves more problematic. I suspect the intensity of a Serebrier or Bátiz would be needed to make it work, with momentum lost in both the slow movement’s trio, and the finale.
That aside, the sound is up to Dutton’s usual exacting standard, and really: when is the last time you’ve had the opportunity to listen to a pair of Russian nationalist symphonies that you haven’t heard before? Strongly recommended for the Blumenfeld.
-- Barry Brenesal, FANFARE
More reviews:
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/blumenfeld-catoire-symphonies
https://www.amazon.com/Blumenfeld-Symphony-minor-Catoire/dp/B00A7HV672
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Blumenfeld
***
Georgy Catoire (Moscow, April 27, 1861 – May 21, 1926) was a Russian composer of French heritage. Catoire studied piano in Berlin with Karl Klindworth (a friend of Richard Wagner) and later with Anatoly Lyadov (counterpoint). Today Catoire is very little known, although a few recordings of his piano and violin music exist. His music has a certain semblance to the works of Tchaikovsky, the early works of Scriabin, and the music of Fauré. Catoire's compositions demand not only high virtuosity but also an ear for instrumental colour. Georgy Catoire is the uncle of author and musician Jean Catoire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Catoire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Catoire
***
Martin Yates (born 1 July 1958 in London) is a British conductor and composer. He studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe, Richard Arnell, Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky and Alan Rowlands. He has conducted many major symphony orchestras and is a regular conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Yates has made over 70 recordings, including notable recordings of Richard Arnell's work, as well as recordings by other neglected British composers. As a composer, his music for flute and piano has been recorded by flautist Anna Noakes.
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