Hidden behind the late 19th century’s great symphonies, sumptuous ballets, and concertos with moving climaxes is something much more thoughtful and contemplative. This secret landscape comes courtesy of a few precious pieces for string orchestra by three Russian composers, all active at approximately the same time.

The extremely simple theme in 3/4, from Glazunov’s Theme and Variations in G Minor, Op. 97, has the feel of a solemn, ancient dance, simultaneously nostalgic and sombre. In another example of Glazunov’s crystal-clear yet expressive writing, the string orchestra provides the backdrop and conversation partner for a solo instrument that was a rarity in concertos at the time: the saxophone. Overall, despite the explosive counterpoint in the work’s final movement, it is a dreamy composition, never overly dramatic, and subdued and melancholy in places: almost elegiac, in other words.

The two elegies Tchaikovsky composed for string orchestra are highly refined works that reveal another side to the famous composer. In the same period that Tchaikovsky was writing his elegies, between 1880 and 1885, the composer and chemist Alexander Borodin was drafting his second Quartet. The third movement, a Nocturne, is one of Borodin’s finest works. It was therefore not only written at the same time as Tchaikovsky’s elegies, but also shares their gracefulness.

REVIEW:

Sieva Borzak (b. 1997) serves as the Conductor-in-Residence of the Roma Tre Orchestra, a collegiate ensemble that, when founded in 2005, became the first of its kind in central Italy.

The young musicians play with an artistic maturity and sensitivity well beyond their age; and the entire program bathes the listener in the timeless and contemplative romantic soundscape of the pre-Soviet school. Even so, this remains a student ensemble; and moments of stunning beauty are sometimes followed by shaky intonation and patchy teamwork. Taddei has all the tools for a solo career, executing the Glazounov concerto with splendid poise, expressive phrasing, and superb technique; but his free-blowing set-up always seems on the edge of spreading, even if his control is very good. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating preview of what the next generation of Italian talent has to offer.

-- American Record Guide

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was undoubtedly the most gifted Russian composer of his generation – that is to say, those born during the 1860s – and his profound musical aptitude led him to take full advantage of the educational facilities underpinning the burgeoning interest in the arts that grew exponentially in Russia during the second half of the 19th-century. He was not alone, but Glazunov’s superlative gifts did not lead him initially to a conservatoire. He began musical studies privately with Rimsky-Korsakov (twenty-one years his senior) rather than enter the St Petersburg Academy as just another gifted student.

The new album of the world-renowned horn player Radek Baborák, released on Animal Music, brings compositions by three romantic authors in arrangements for the French horn and string quartet. These include Radek Baborák and Alexei Aslamas’s arrangement of Brahms’s legendary Quintet in G major, Op. 111, two shorter pieces by Alexander Glazunov (Idylle and Serenade No. 2), and a Quintet in G minor, “Käyrätorvi” (French horn in Finnish), which was created by Baborák by extending the original score of Jean Sibelius’s famous String Trio. This album by Baborák Ensemble – Radek Baborák (French horn), Milan Al-Ashhab and Martina Bacová (violin), Karel Untermüller (viola), and Hana Baboráková (cello) – features the world premiere recording of the works by Brahms and Sibelius.

Challenge Classics violinist Rudolf Koelman pays a tribute to his teacher Jascha Heifetz. Two late romantic Concertos, full of pathos, rarely performed today. MusicWeb on CC 72736 Prokofiev Violin Concertos with Rudolf Koelman: … these performances are very fine indeed… the more you listen, the better it gets.

This studio recording of Alexander Glazunov's Raymonda was captured in October 2022. The arrangement was created for the ENB's 2022 production, with a score specially adapted and edited by Gavin Sutherland and Lars Payne. The lavish orchestral adaptation retains the best of the composer's original score, updating it to match the dramatic new narrative devised by Tamara Rojo.

This recording, along with the forthcoming Vol.2, represents a first, comprehensive anthology of the Russian nocturne in its nearly two-hundred-year development. Some nocturnes are recorded here for the first time. The earliest Russian nocturnes were composed by Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) and owe a debt to his teacher, the Irish composer John Field. The first, in E flat, was written in 1828 before his first trip to Italy. His Nocturne in F minor ‘La Séparation’, written at the height of his career, is styled like a ‘romance’ (song) without words. Karl Eduard Hartknoch (1796–1834) made his debut in 1816 as a concert pianist in Leipzig. In 1824 he moved to Russia, first to St. Petersburg and then to Moscow where he worked as a music teacher. He left a considerable number of piano compositions, including two concertos and the three Nocturnes Op.8. Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894) was a key figure in the history of Russian music, the first of the nation’s composers whose works for solo piano embodied the same serious artistic ideas as his symphonies and chamber music. He wrote eleven Nocturnes, two of them for piano four hands. The two Nocturnes by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) were written in the 1870s and are regarded as real jewels of Russian music. Tchaikovsky was interested in the subtle movements of the human soul, and like his symphonic and operatic works, his nocturnes abound with the heartfelt poetry of everyday life. Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) was famous during his lifetime as a piano virtuoso, known for performing his own music. Scriabin wrote the majority of his works for the piano, and the two Nocturnes Op.5 reveal the influence of Frederic Chopin (his model during his early years). While not the first, the Nocturne for the Left Hand in D Flat is perhaps the greatest 19th-century masterpiece written for the left hand. Konstantin Antipov (1859–1927) was a member of the Belyaev Group. He graduated from Rimsky-Korsakov’s composition class at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1886. Antipov is the author of a symphonic allegro, piano pieces (including two nocturnes), romances and other works. Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) was an outstanding composer, conductor, educator, and social activist. He worked at the St Petersburg Conservatory for almost 30 years, directing it for more than 20. His style is characterized by attention to texture, harmonic sumptuousness and clarity of melodic lines. Vasily Kalinnikov (1866–1900) lived a short but eventful and creative life. His most significant output was orchestral: symphonies, intermezzos and incidental music for Tolstoy’s Tsar Boris. He wrote just seven works for the piano in the 1890s. His impressionistic Nocturne in F-sharp minor resembles lyrical miniatures in the spirit of Tchaikovsky.