Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Orchestral Works (Vasily Petrenko)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

• (01) Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
• (06) Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36
• (07) Scheherazade, Op. 35

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko, conductor

Date: 2020
Label: LAWO Classics
https://lawostore.no/

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Review

After his avian double bill of The Firebird and The Golden Cockerel with the RLPO (Onyx, 1/19), Vasily Petrenko has now recorded a complete disc devoted to Rimsky-Korsakov with his Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for the Norwegian label LAWO Classics. The beguiling Sheherazade continues to be a great concert warhorse, but although she was the darling of the LPO era, studio recordings have been distinctly thin on the ground since Sasha Goetzel’s invigorating account with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic in 2014.

Petrenko has a keen ear for drama and his Sheherazade is full of dash and derring-do, often with tempos to match. There is plenty of momentum to Sinbad’s ship and a lively storm and shipwreck in the outer movements. Petrenko doesn’t hang about in ‘The Young Prince and the Young Princess’ either, lacking in languor, although the central episode has the princess’s palanquin jogging along perkily. Goetzel draws a wider spectrum of colours from his Turkish orchestra, enhancing the already intoxicating perfume of Rimsky’s orchestration by having Sheherazade accompanied by a qanun rather than the usual harp in her recitatives. Oslo concertmaster Elise Båtnes is a sweet-toned storyteller, though, bringing great delicacy to her solos. Petrenko is more relaxed in ‘The Tale of the Kalender Prince’, allowing his woodwind soloists time to express their co-narrations, even if the bassoon and clarinet sound a little veiled in a recording that doesn’t always allow bags of detail to emerge, although the Oslo Concert Hall isn’t as reverberant as the Borusan’s Istanbul venue.

The other two Rimsky works were performed by the orchestra in concert just before these sessions took place in May 2019. The Capriccio espagnol is immaculate, if lacking some Mediterranean earthiness, although I loved the poise of the flautist in the ‘Scena e canto gitano’ (track 4, 1'22"), which made it sound like a forerunner of the Ballerina in Stravinsky’s Petrushka. That pearly flute also shines in the Russian Easter Festival Overture, where the recording’s big-boned sound produces plenty of power and permits all the percussion glitter required in the joyful finale.

-- Mark Pullinger, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jul/RimskyK_orchestral_LWC1198.htm
https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/rimsky-korsakov-russian-easter-festival-overture-etc/
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/petrenkos-oslo-rimsky-korsakov-could-be-better-video-review/
https://www.pizzicato.lu/petrenkos-rimsky-korsakov-zunachst-vielversprechend-dann-enttauschend/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/nikolai-rimsky-korsakov-capriccio-espagnol-op-34-russian-easter-festival-overture-op-36-scheherazade-op-35-mw0003383774

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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844 – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was considered a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Rimsky-Korsakov shaped a generation of younger composers and musicians during his decades as an educator, and is considered "the main architect" of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov

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Vasily Petrenko (born 7 July 1976, Leningrad, USSR) is a Russian conductor. Petrenko studied conducting principally under Ravil Martynov, and also learned from Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Since 2006 he has been principal conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and is chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013. The contract between Petrenko and the RLPO is an extended open-ended agreement with no specific scheduled time of conclusion. He is noted for his recordings of Shostakovich symphonies on Naxos and Rachmaninov on EMI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Petrenko

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