Glazunov - The Seasons [Jarvi-The Scottish National Orchestra]This is the first time Glazunov appears in my Blog, he is somewhat of an unknown Composer to me, i've never warmed to his Symphonies, they're so average, nothing special at all, but i do rate his Stenka Razin!, a colourful Symphonic Poem that has some lovely rhythms and orchestration to it, and his Piano Concertos too.
Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, born in 1937, he seems to have recorded a cycle of discs on every major Composer, mainly for Chandos, he recorded this disc back in 1987.
The Seasons is a Ballet, roughly akin to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, Winter has glitter to it, shorter pithy scenes / dances that sparkle, it's only in Summer and Autumn that there's a real Symphonic glow to the work, and it's the Barcarolle of Summer that i liked the best, it's barely over 2 minutes long, but it has a pastoralness to it, almost waltzy-like, the truly sweet and beautiful violins steal in [0:16+], so memorable, like Tchaikovsky at his very best, it's over almost before it's started, you can see that Glazunov copied the essence of the Nutcracker to produce this lovely Ballet, which is well worth hearing.
Here's Jarvi conducting Summer on YouTube, the Barcarolle starts at 3:52.
