Boris TISHCHENKO (1939–2010)
Symphony No. 4, op. 61 (1974) [94:55]
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky (narrator)
rec. concert performance, 17 Nov 1978, Grand Hall, Leningrad Philharmonic, Russia
St. Petersburg Musical Archive series
NORTHERN FLOWERS NFPMA99117/8 [40:38 + 54:17]
With the Olympia label long gone Northern Flowers remains
in a salient position to more than fill the Soviet/ex-Soviet composer gap.
Tishchenko was born in St Petersburg (then Leningrad) and made his career
there. It is no surprise to find him figuring in Northern Flowers'
"St. Petersburg Musical Archive" series. He studied in the city,
coming at various times within the teaching ambit of Galina Ustvolskaya and
Vadim Salmanov. Postgraduate studies were pursued with Shostakovich (1962-1965).
He was a prolific composer with many symphonies to his name and some of these
are outside the numbered rank. To these can be added "two violin concertos,
two cello concertos, a piano concerto, five string quartets, two cello sonatas,
ten piano sonatas, a requiem, chamber and vocal works, the opera The Stolen
Sun, the operetta A Cockroach, three ballets The Twelve,
Fly-bee and Yaroslavna (The Eclipse), and incidental
music for theatre and film."
Apart from Tishchenko's eight numbered symphonies there are the following
works: French Symphony (1958); Pushkin Symphony (1967);
Sinfonia Robusta (1970), Blockade
Chronicle Symphony (1984) and his five part Dante
Symphony (1997-2005). As for the numbered symphonies these are 1
(1961); 2.
Marina
for
chorus and orchestra (1964); 3 (1967); 4 for narrator and orchestra (1974);
5 (1976); 6
for soprano, contralto and orchestra (1988); 7
(1994) and 8
(2008).
The Fourth Symphony is in five movements each dubbed a symphony in its own
right: 1. Sinfonia di forza; 2. Sinfonia di rabbia; 3. Sinfonia
di tristezza; 4. Sinfonia di crudelta; 5. Sinfonia di risorgimento
e tenerezza.
The Sinfonia di forza is built from protest and grimness with dissonant
and acidic strings to the fore. It 'speaks' as a staccato series
of incidents rather than a legato flow of ideas. Its uniformity of mood is
thoughtful and sour, 'relieved' only by severe clangour and
merciless severity. The Sinfonia di rabbia is a rage of side-drums
in jungle profusion, with growling and slow-flailing brass, gangling jagged
components and violent outbursts. Peace of a sort comes in malcontent moments
(14:15) concluded by a grippingly violent end. The Sinfonia di tristezza
makes room for clarinet writing that is not so much sorrowful as hesitant
but always under control. Tenderness does on occasion sing out from the strings
(10.00) on wings that flow freely and stratospherically. Horn writing reminiscent
of that in Robert Simpson's Fifth Symphony later entwines with the
violins. The sounds towards the end of this part of the Symphony recall the
terseness of the sounds in Sibelius’ Symphony 4. Finally the movement
ends in the very groaning grief the symphony rejected earlier. From this movement
and during the next two audience coughing becomes very prominent not that
I found this distracting from the musical argument but some may. The Sinfonia
di crudelta introduces an orator who sonorously and sometimes wildly
intones lines from Turgenev's Asya. There's also a
pistol shot. The music now takes on a pummelling belligerence off-set a little
by sumptuous string chorale writing constantly melting off into other directions
(5:18, 13.51). A devilish violin solo comes close to Shostakovich. After pages
of kaleidoscopic orchestration redolent of Shostakovich’s Symphony 15
we morph into a glum peroration and a murmur that carries over into the fifth
movement: Sinfonia di risorgimento e tenerezza (resurgence and tenderness)
carries the sense of a tide flowing in, clearing away harshness and supplanting
it with fulfilment and happiness. The strings ring out in a silvery chorale
and a starry processional that sings without drawing breath. Giant Easter
bells ring out and the monumentality is underscored by the organ (8.30). A
breath is taken by a flute pastorale - rather Nielsen-like in his more Palladian
moments. This aspect is picked up and heated by the strings again high in
their register. The music aspires with long-sustained, breath-defying lung
power. There's a touch of 1940s Vaughan Williams here. The music becomes
one extended, slow beatitude which is also voiced by the celesta. There is
applause at the end.
The notes are by Andrei Denisov translated by Sergey Suslov.
An impressive symphony performed by skilled and enthusiastic musicians heard
live in a more than decent recording. It's music that just occasionally
finds kindred feeling with Pettersson's Ninth Symphony. Dourness, striving,
struggle and the achievement of serenity and happiness are all reflected in
this epic five-part symphony.
Rob Barnett
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