Rimsky Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture [Maazel-The Cleveland Orchestra]

Well here's the Russian Easter Festival Overture again!, only two days ago was i writing about Ozawa conducting it [29th May 2010].

Here's how i got into the overture, i heard it for the first time while i was waiting in someone else's parked car for a couple of hours, with nothing else to do, i found a cassette tape, and played it [the radio did not work!], it was this overture, i immediately liked it, and played it four or five times in succession, never getting bored of it, but actually getting more excited by it, this overture still sounds fresh and vigorous as the first day i heard it anew.

Maazel is a minute slower than Ozawa, and in certain places [usually the more reflective], Maazel seems to hang around a little too long, there is however a nice bloom on the recording, so that resonant sounds come out wonderful, the deep pizzicato bass, and the timpani too.

What i loved in the Ozawa performance i loved here too, about a third of the way through there's some nice deep brass playing, and those busy frantic strings, and the timpani can't keep quiet [4:59-6:34], with a nice surge at [5:58], likewise two thirds of the way through the timpani have some nice hits [9:28-9:48], and then it explodes into brass v strings [9:48-11:48], the last part is near the end, the bells come out, especially the glockenspiel [12:59-13:48], at the very end the Overture is trying to copy the 1812, it's a lovely piece of music that should be better known.

Here's Gregory Carreno conducting this Overture on YouTube.

Rimsky Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture [Ozawa-Wiener Philharmoniker]

This is a very neglected overture, along with Rachmaninov's Isle Of The Dead, and Glazunov's Stenka Razin, when anyone thinks of a Russian overture, it's always Tchaikovsky's 1812, which is overplayed and overrated.

The booklet shot is great, i love colours, and the rainbow 'Scherazade' is wonderful, plus an imaginative photo by Fernando Van Teylingen.

Well the Russian Easter Festival Overture is a kaleidoscope of varied sounds and colour, the whole orchestra is used to paint a wonderful palette of noise, there's lots of stop/start and change of direction and speed, in essence the overture is like a huge set of loose variations on a couple of themes, it starts off with a soft chant by the wind [0:00-0:18], with pizzicato strings coming in [0:13+], and the violins coming in with the main melody [0:19-0:30], a beautiful and atmospheric start, which conjures up religious chanting monks, i seem to like the more robust moments, and a third of the way in the brass have a loud fanfare, while furious strings are busy in the background [5:19-5:55], likewise two thirds of the way through, low brass chant and the woodwind reply, while the same furious strings play [9:46-11:11], towards the end the Easter bells come out to play, while the growling brass chant again [12:30-13:20], i loved this overture the very first time i heard it, and it's still thrilling all these years later.

Here's Ozawa conducting this piece on YouTube.

Rimsky Korsakov - Scheherazade [Ozawa-Wiener Philharmoniker]

Just recently i seem to have had a nice dose of Scheherazade, earlier this month [5th April 2010] i enjoyed Maazel playing this work, i really do like this work, i bought this disc as it had such a wonderful cover shot on the booklet [by Fernando van Teylingen], this is a major factor in my disc buying!.

I've heard good and bad about the conducting of Seiji Ozawa, the jury's out in my corner, Ozawa is not a youngster anymore, he will be 75 this year, and at the moment he is out of action receiving treatment for cancer, this is a live recording from 1993, applause at the start and end of the work, [and coughing in between!].

The second movement, 'The Story Of The Kalander Prince', teems with all sorts of orchestral colours, like a flashy bird of paradise on display, one of the things i notice about this movement, is the extensive use of the piccolos/high woodwind, halfway through the piece there's this chattering of the piccolos/woodwind [6:24-6:30 & 6:53-6:59], a very nice device, before and after this there are two wonderful episodes where the strings throb in low pizzicato mode, the first is with an atmospheric solo cor anglais [4:38-5:18], and the second is probably the highlight of the movement, this time with piccolos making a blast on a few notes, and the bassoon replying in an extended tune [7:04-7:54], this is done three times, each time the piccolos sound more anxious, a wonderfully mesmerising flash of storytelling by Scheherazade.

Here's the start of the 2nd movement, conducted by Kurt Masur on YouTube.

Rimsky Korsakov - Scheherazade [Maazel-The Cleveland Orchestra]

Recorded in 1977, Lorin Maazel took over the Cleveland Orchestra job from no less than George Szell in 1972, he had big boots to fill, he held the post for ten years until 1982, making many fine recordings, and giving the Orchestra a different sound.

It's hard to put Scheherazade into a category, is it a Symphony in disguise?, four Tone Poems maybe?, i suppose it's a Symphonic Suite!, rather like Smetana's Ma Vlast, but Rimsky-Korsakov choosing four pieces, automatically throws up the idea of a Symphony.

The fourth movement is certainly a finale!, lots of flamboyant exuberance, it's a kaleidoscope of lots of shorter ideas, it's flits, flashes and darts about, skillfully woven together into seamless magic, certainly the music has this Arabic/Oriental flavour about it, the use of the tambourine [1:19-1:23], the seductive flute right after [1:23-1:33], lots of percussion, and that military side drum, certainly Rimsky-Korsakov makes full use of every instrument available to him, and everyone seems to get their turn, after lots of virtuosic playing, it builds up and up, and finally explodes into a release [7:42+], and the main theme is played triumphantly on full throttle, interspersed with crashes from the timpani, then there's this sad refrain softly on the violins [9:13+], which begins the coda, Scheherazade gets her solo/cadenza on the violin [Daniel Majeske], and the thing winds down, a mesmerising showpiece by Maazel.

Here's Ormandy conducting the fourth movement on YouTube.

Blog = Uncle Dave Lewis