With three symphonies and the First Piano
Concerto behind him Tchaikovsky was on the brink of the Fourth
and
Manfred. The present set of incidental music – a series
of vignettes which perhaps formed a schematic for Sibelius’s
Tempest and Glazunov’s
King
of the Jews – was written for the play by Alexandr
Ostrovsky (1823-1886). This was the same Ostrovsky whose writings
were the inspiration for Tchaikovsky’s tone poem
The Storm
and his opera
The Voyevoda. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera
Snegurotchka is based on the same play as Tchaikovsky’s
incidental music.
The competition is not numerous. There’s a full
price Chandos item from Neeme Jarvi on CHAN 9324. Add to this
the pioneering complete version by Gauk tucked away as CD 8 in
a
Brilliant
Classics box. At the price there is nothing comparable available.
But this is not a case of faute de mieux. This is an exuberantly
vivid performance and recording which in Chistiakov’s hands makes
the most of the variegated delights offered by 20 miniature pen-portraits,
songs and atmosphere pieces. It seems that the bill for the premiere production
of the play complete with orchestral contribution came to 15000
roubles, ran to only nine evenings and then disappeared. The note
reminds us that Tchaikovsky recycled some of the music for his
score for
Hamlet in 1891 but his ambition was to fashion
an opera from this material. Tchaikovsky persisted with operas
as a form throughout his career but only struck gold with
Onegin.
The opera never transpired. That said, we should not disdain this
vernally enchanting score with its orchestral essays, its choral-solo
dialogues as in the chant-based
Carnival Procession and
its supernatural aspects. The music is often carefree as in the
effervescent and soulful
Melodrama and wistfully piping
Interlude. The exuberant second song for Lehl (tr.8) rushes
but its tongue-twisting does not cause Erassova any trouble. Quite
a few of the tracks have a greater impress of Russian nationalism
than we might expect given Tchaikovsky’s rejection of the style
in favour of a more hyper-personal dramatic approach. Some of
the tracks are balletic; others bring out pathos in a way typical
of this composer. The occasional concession to bombast can be
forgiven in the face of so much charm. It would perhaps have made
progress in the concert hall had Tchaikovsky made a 25 minute
suite from these episodes. The liner-notes are by Malcolm Macdonald.
Rob Barnett
Full track listing:
1. Introduction [4:50]
2. Dance and Choruses of the Birds [5:50]
3. Winter’s Monologue [3:15] (tenor)
4. Carnival Procession [6:50] (baritone)
5. Melodrama [2:00]
6. Interlude [1:15]
7. Lehl’s First Song [3:50] (mezzo)
8. Lehl’s Second Song [1:25] (mezzo)
9. Interlude [3:00]
10. Chant of the Blind Bards [4:00] (baritone)
11. Melodrama [4:00]
12. Chorus of the People and the Courtiers [2:10]
13. Round of the Young Maidens [2:25]
14. Dance of the Tumblers [4:40]
15. Lehl’s Third Song [6:40] (mezzo)
16. Brussila’s Song [1:20] (baritone)
17. Apparition of the Spirit of the Wood [0:50]
18. Interlude-The Spring Fairy [4:30]
19. Tsar Berendey’s March and Chorus [6:40]
20. Final Chorus [1:50] (mezzo)
Natalia Erassova (mezzo); Alexander Archipov (tenor); Nikolai Vassiliev
(baritone) 
