Russian Nights [Hybrid SACD]

Russian Nights [Hybrid SACD]

Russian Nights [Hybrid SACD]
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Composer: Mikhail Glinka
Composer: Mikhail Mikhaylovich Ippolitov-Ivanov
Composer: Sergey Prokofiev
Composer: Alexander Borodin
Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Composer: Anatol Lyadov
Composer: Aram Khachaturian
Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Conductor: Erich Kunzel
Orchestra: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Super Audio CD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2007-02-27
Music Label: Telarc
Soundtracks:
  1. Ruslan and Lyudmila, opera in 5 acts, G. xiv: Overture
  2. Caucasian Sketches, suite for orchestra, Op. 10: Procession of the Sardar
  3. The Love for Three Oranges, suite for orchestra, Op. 33 bis: March
  4. Prince Igor, opera (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov & Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances
  5. Enchanted Lake, for orchestra, Op. 62
  6. Spartacus, ballet: Love Theme
  7. Nutcracker, suite from the ballet, Op. 71a: Russian Dance (Trepak)
  8. Boris Godunov, opera: Polonaise
  9. Musical Snuffbox, for piano (or orchestra), Op. 32
  10. The Swan Lake, suite, Op. 20a: Hungarian Dance (Czardas)

Music reviews of Russian Nights [Hybrid SACD]

Music Review: Near Ideal Recordings of Popular Russian Classics!
Rating: 5 Stars


That the late Erich Kunzel and SACD were made for each other almost goes without saying. Kunzel was master of the pops idea in music: lush, elegant and often extrovert performances of popular orchestral classics meant to entertain and dazzle music-lovers of less than austere, scholarly appetites. Though he got started well before digital recordings, he was more than ready when such advances in recording technology made their débuts, and he took full advantage to produce audiophile disks one could use to show off fancy audio equipment to awed listeners. A lot of the pure pleasure of musical sound was shared in this way!

This recording, then, of 11 popular Russian orchestral classics promises stimulating and aesthetically delightful music, and it does not disappoint. From the initial Glinka overture all the way to the final Tchaikovsky dance we are treated to well over an hour of sonic pleasure from the Russian repertory. Even without the printed program you might guess a number of the pieces included, for nearly all are quite familiar 19th century works or excerpts.

I listened to the Hybrid SACD's standard CD layer as well as its 2-channel DSD stereo version [via Sennheiser HD 280 headphones], thus my remarks ought to apply to the CD as well as to the SACD.

Compared to western Europe, Russia got rather a late start in classical music, though it had always enjoyed a rich supply of folk songs and dances, along with religious music centered on Orthodox ritual. Not until about the 18th century did its monarchs began to import western music and musicians (mostly for the delectation of the nobility) to cultural centers such as St. Petersburg and to foster education in western musical styles. It remained for the 19th century to begin a synthesis of native Russian musical elements with western compositional styles. Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) is credited as the first composer to achieve notable success in that endeavor, moving toward a distinctively Russian classical music style and thereby earning himself the eponym "Father of Russian Music."

Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla is his second and last important opera, based on Pushkin's 1820 fairy tale poem of the same name involving a young couple, a kidnapping, evil creatures, sorcerers, etc. While dramatically less than coherent, the work does integrate Russian folk tunes into its musical material. The overture, however, sounds to me little different from standard European operatic music, with which Glinka grew quite familiar during his travels to Italy and other parts of Europe. As presented here it is a lively, interesting, melodic, well-written piece which has earned it considerable popularity apart from its opera. The Cincinnati Pops' string section, in particular, wows us with its virtuosic precision in very fast scale-like passages!

Ippolitov-Ivanov's Procession of the Sardar is, on the other hand, quite self-consciously exotic in character from the very outset. The Sardar, being an Eastern potentate, would naturally travel ceremoniously with a retinue, and the music here portrays such a procession. The piece is the last, and by far the most popular, of 4 "songs" included in the first suite of Caucasian Sketches [Kavkazkiye Eskizi] written in 1894. Two years later came the second suite of this colorful music incorporating folk tunes from Georgia, where Ippolitov-Ivanov worked upon graduation from the St. Petersburg conservatory as a composition student of Rimsky-Korsakov. He must have been a good student, for his music reflects clearly his teacher's harmonic language, his interest in non-Slavic music, and his brilliant command of orchestration.

Prokofiev's march from his fairy tale opera "The Love of Three Oranges" brings us suddenly to the 20th century, and a sophisticated, fully developed Russian compositional style. The march starts out with a repeated single-note "fanfare" which briefly introduces in the woodwinds the originally elfin theme, which grows with repetition so that by the end of the short piece it is full-voiced and emphatic, a suitable theme song for the 1944-58 radio program "The FBI in Peace and War" (though J. Edgar Hoover would have detested any implied "commie" connection).

The Polovtsian Dances originated as lavish entertainment provided by a Polovtsian khan for his Russian captive, Prince Igor, in Borodin's opera named for the latter. Graceful maidens alternate with vigorously athletic young warriors to do their balletic stuff, as colorful, exotic music brilliantly sets the pace. These dances have a hugely successful concert life of their own, apart from the opera, and here Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops deliver them ideally. The pieces are imaginatively conceived and orchestrated--with some help--by the talented, but "dilettante," Balakirev-taught composer while not engaged in doing chemistry research/teaching.

Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, occupying tracks 5-9, is the big banana here, occupying tracks 5-9 and lasting nearly 16 minutes. Starting with a short, brilliant Alborada [Morning Song], the work moves on to a substantial set of variations beginning with a very sweet, slowish, melody in the horns accompanied by a quiet background of lower strings. Next the Alborada returns essentially unchanged. The 4th movement is a "scene" and "gypsy song" lasting about as long as the earlier variations (5 minutes). Introduced by the snare drum and brass, the music moves on to a virtuosic, gypsy-like melody first played by a solo violin, then echoed by flute, clarinet, and other instruments, including the harp. The whole movement is colorful, rather exotic, and dancelike: a brilliant display of Rimsky's mastery of orchestration. The movement ends by leading up to the attached 5th movement, an Asturian fandango, initiated by a strong brass motif followed by strings with rhythmic touches played by castanets. The whole movement is animated, tuneful, brilliant, and dancelike, providing an exciting close to the work. A Russian naval officer for much of his life, Rimsky "saw the world" and listened to its music, including that of Spain, which provided authentic material for this work, one of the composer's best and most popular orchestral pieces.

A striking contrast is provided by Anatol Liadov's "Enchanted Lake," a quiet, tranquil tone painting, the sonic equivalent of a lovely landscape. Though not at all exciting, the piece presents lovely patterns of orchestral color in an expertly crafted piece of what I hear as genuine impressionism.

The ethnic Armenian composer Aram Khatchaturian was born in the Caucasian city of Tiflis [Tblisi], Georgia, in the Russian Empire, just after the turn of the 20th century. In spite of his parents' poverty, his obvious musical talent earned him a musical education in Moscow at the Gnessin Institute and later the Moscow Conservatory, where he eventually became a professor. A decade after writing his successful ballet Gayane, with its famous Sabre Dance, he undertook another about a leader of the third slave revolt against the Roman republic in 73-71 BC. The paucity of solid personal details about the slave/gladiator Spartacus spawned many fanciful tales surrounding his life and exploits. One such tale, true or not, tells of his wife being sold away to a wealthy Roman and his daring rescue of her. The "love theme" presented here portrays convincingly his yearning for her and their eventual reunion. It is the most popular musical excerpt from the ballet.

Tchaikovsky's Trepak [Cossack dance] from the Nutcracker ballet is so very well known it needs no introducton, nor does its hugely famous composer. Its lively music lasts only a bit over a minute--a rousing, high-stepping miniature.

Modest Mussorgsky's successful and admired opera Boris Godunov provides the next piece, a fine Polonaise. This slow Polish dance in 3/4 time originated with the common folk, but became gentrified enough for Russian and European royal courts, where richly dressed courtiers stepped proudly through its dignified paces. Mussorgsky shows a keen understanding of the musical patterns characteristic of the dance, perhaps because he was born into the nobility, or perhaps because as an excellent pianist he played dance music, along with other types, for admiring young ladies.

Liadov returns to offer us a tender bit of children's music, called here "The Music Box," but titled "Muzikalnaya Tabakerka" [Musical Snuffbox] by the composer, who wrote it as a piano piece for his son Mikhail, a piano student. Later Liadov arranged it as we hear it, for flutes, clarinets, harp, and bells. Though the composer was known as a demanding music critic, we see a most charming side of him as he expertly evokes the sound of the small clockwork instrument.

The final offering is Tchaikovsky's Csardas from his Swan Lake ballet, a Hungarian music form with a stately introduction followed by a soft, delicate section leading to a lively dance which grows wilder as it proceeds toward its resounding ending.

I believe Kunzel and the Pops were aiming at ideal performances of this repertoire and I believe they very largely succeeded. The playing and recording quality are excellent: presentation is appropriate and persuasive without being overhyped. I heartily recommend this disk to anyone with a taste for Russian classical music.
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