How 'forgotten' are these 'Forgotten Pages' from Tchaikovsky?
The Storm and Hamlet are not his most famous works, but both
get occasional airings, both on CD and in the concert hall.
Fatum and the two dances at the end of the programme (both of
which are extracted from opera scores) are more unusual offerings.
But the composer's skill shines through each of these works.
Their melodies are perhaps a little less memorable than his
best, and the dramatic structure of the three tone poems is
not as focused as in his finest scores, but this is still great
music.
The lack of opus numbers on the sleeve could lead to some misunderstandings.
With that in mind, it is worth stating that the first track,
The Storm, is Tchaikovsky's Op.76, an early work that was only
performed and published posthumously (and not his Op.18, which
goes under a similar name). There is plenty of drama here, but
the narrative dimension (the work is based on a play by Ostrovsky)
is more difficult to pin down. Fatum has no such aspirations
to narrative structure, and so fares better. It is another early
work, but the composer's skills in melody and orchestration
are again evident. Hamlet is famous enough, I think, to justify
a higher place in the billing, and even a mention on the front
cover. Then there are the two dance movements at the end, which
after such dramatic tone poems, do feel like light fillers to
pad out the programme.
The recording was made in 1990, and while the political structure
of the Soviet Union may have been tumbling down around the players'
ears, the tradition of Soviet performance is still very much
in evidence in their playing. Everything is very strident, the
brass have a brash but narrow tone, the woodwind soloists play
exactly on the beat, and the strings always play with a sense
of determination, although that doesn't prevent them from taking
flight in the few sweeping, romantic melodies they are allotted.
Svetlanov drives everything on, giving a sense of inner purpose
to the music that often compensates for its lack of formal structuring.
Surprisingly given the date, the recording is analogue. The
sound quality isn't bad, but it is certainly not the best that
Soviet engineers could manage at the time. The string sound
could do with more clarity, and the back of the orchestra always
sounds frustratingly distant. The recording was made live, without
a second take or patch session, and while the orchestral playing
is certainly good enough to justify its release on CD, the concessions
that must be made for the sound make the project a little more
questionable.
Not that the audio should prevent anybody from paying the reissue
price they are asking for this disc. Is it a reissue? It claims
on the cover to be the first time on CD. Russians love anniversaries,
and the stated justification for the original concert was to
mark the 150th anniversary of Tchaikovsky's birth,
while the (re)issued recording marks the 170th anniversary.
Twenty years down the line, we also have another Russian legend
to commemorate, Svetlanov himself who died in 2002. And this
is classic Svetlanov: focused, driving, energetic, and above
all, deeply Russian.
Gavin Dixon
The State Academic Symphony Orchestra/Evgeny Svetlanov 
