BALAKIREV: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / Piano Concerto in F-Sha

Classical Music

Classical Music

USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeni Svetlanov Classic Svetlanov from the mid-1970s. "These performances have passion and urgency... a natural feeling for idiomatic phrasing and rhythm... rarely if ever on disc has there been such a radiant account on disc of the lovely slow movement" (Penguin Guide). "... his masterpiece Tamara: this is a very good Tamara and every bit as colorful and mysterious" (Gramophone).

BALAKIREV: Chopin Suite / Overtures

Includes mazurka(s) for pno by Mikhail Glinka. Soloist: Victor Ryabchikov.
Includes polonaise(s) by Mikhail Glinka. Soloist: Victor Ryabchikov.
Includes waltz(es) for pno by Mikhail Glinka. Soloist: Victor Ryabchikov.
Includes work(s) for pno by Mikhail Glinka. Soloist: Victor Ryabchikov.

TCHAIKOVSKY / BALAKIREV / GLAZUNOV: Arrangements for 2 Piano

Volume 1 of the complete Piano Sonatas of Mily Balakirev includes the first recording of Op. 3 and the first recording of Op. 5 using the original manuscript and without the mistakes to be found in the two published scores. English pianist Nicholas Walker infuses these works with his characteristic knowledge and great technical acumen.

Mili Alekseyevich Balakirev was the influential leader of the Russian "Mighty Handful" of composers that set the standard by which others were judged. Revealing both Balakirev's admiration of Chopin and love of music with a deeply Russian character, this program ranges widely from new discoveries such as the early Nocturne in G-Sharp Minor to one of his last pieces, the heroic 7th Waltz. There are also beautifully simple gems such as the Chant du Pecheur and works of technical brilliance such as the Valse de concert and the magnificent and visionary 2nd Nocturne.

This fourth volume in Nicholas Walker’s complete edition of Balakirev’s piano music is structured around his three Scherzos, which take us from the youthful influence of Chopin and Liszt in the First Scherzo, to the music of his prolific final decade, from which the Second Scherzo is one of his finest compositions. Balakirev’s interest in Spanish music was kindled by his mentor Glinka, creating surprisingly authentic sounding textures and rhythms, and the programme is topped with the elegantly masterful poetry of the two Valse-Caprices. Nicholas Walker studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Moscow Conservatoire. Winner of the first Newport International Piano competition, he has performed with major British orchestras, given recitals worldwide, and recorded for the BBC, BMG Arte Nova, ASV, Chandos and Danacord labels. He is also sought after as an imaginative and sensitive accompanist. Although his Beethoven performances have brought him special critical acclaim, and his performances of lyrical and late Romantic piano music have also been highly praised, he is best known for championing the neglected leader of ‘The Mighty Handful,’ Mili Alekseyevich Balakirev. In 2010 he organized the Balakirev Centenary concerts in London. He also teaches at the Royal Academy of Music.

Balakirev’s appreciation of other composers is reflected in transcriptions that also reveal his brilliance as a pianist. With several world premiere recordings, this programme includes the marvelous balalaika sonorities and virtuoso colors to be found in operas by Glinka, the novel concept of dovetailing preludes by Chopin, and the richness of Beethoven’s string quartets. A plaintive Gondola Song, the relentlessly energetic Tarantelle and Balakirev’s earliest surviving piano opus conclude this fifth volume in Nicholas Walker’s acclaimed complete edition of his piano works. Nicholas Walker studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Moscow Conservatoire. Winner of the first Newport International Piano competition, he has performed with major British orchestras, given recitals worldwide, and recorded for the BBC, BMG Arte Nova, ASV, Chandos and Danacord labels. He is also sought after as an imaginative and sensitive accompanist. In 2010 he organized the Balakirev Centenary concerts in London. He also teaches at the Royal Academy of Music.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Kurt Sanderling (1912–2011), born in Prussia, fled Germany for the USSR on the invitation of his Jewish relatives living there, to seek artistic and personal refuge from the Nazi regime. He remained in the Soviet Union until 1960, working as assistant conductor and sharing concerts with the legendary Yevgeny Mravinsky, chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1960, he moved to East Berlin to become music director of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (1960–1977) and the Dresden Staatskapelle (1964–1967) and started conducting around Europe, Japan, the US, and in the UK forming a close rapport with the New Philharmonia (later Philharmonia) in 1972. He developed a strong personal relationship with Shostakovich, which began in 1943 and which lasted for decades. Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10, written in 1953 following the death of Stalin, is regarded by many as his greatest work. The composer said of it, ‘I wrote it right after Stalin’s death and no one has yet guessed what the symphony is about. It’s about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part of the Scherzo is a musical portrait of Stalin.’ The short filler is a performance of Balakirev’s Islamey, directed by Kirill Kondrashin (1914–1981), one of Russia’s greatest conductors and a close friend of Shostakovich who recorded the entire cycle of the composer’s symphonies with the Moscow Philharmonic.

The music of Mily Balakirev has largely disappeared from concert halls today. The dewy new recording by the Niederrheinische Symphoniker under the baton of chief conductor Mihkel Kütson comes at just the right time: the 1st Piano Concerto with Dinara Klinton as soloist, plus the 2nd Symphony and two highly original overtures attest to Balakirev's special place in music history, not least as the spiritus rector of the so-called "Mighty Group". With the "Mighty Group", Balakirev and his comrades-in-arms wanted to commit themselves to genuinely Russian music, in contrast to their "Westernised" colleagues Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein. Balakirev even founded his own music school, which dispensed with classical studies with lots of finger exercises and counterpoint lessons - not always to the students' advantage... Because of his commitment to young musicians, Balakirev often left compositions he had begun lying around for decades. It is uncertain whether this is why the one-movement piano concerto remained unfinished. However, the virtuoso work is convincing in every respect: wide-ranging passages of free fantasizing hint at Liszt and Chopin as models. The 2nd Symphony, which Balakirev was only able to complete towards the end of his life, is also formally idiosyncratic. Russian themes demonstrate Balakirev's deep knowledge of folk music, which he studied on his travels through the Caucasus. With the Niederrheinische Symphoniker, all this sounds fresh and unspent - and in the high-quality 3D recording, it is also an acoustic delight.

BALAKIREV: Symphony No. 2 / Russia