MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Support us financially by purchasing this from

Mikhail IPPOLITOV-IVANOV (1859-1935)
Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 46 (1908) [36:14]
Turkish Fragments, Op. 62 (1930) [14:48]
Turkish March, Op. 55 (1932) [4:48]
Singapore Symphony Orchestra/Choo Hoey
rec. 1984, Victoria Memorial Hall, Singapore
NAXOS 8.573508 [55:50]

For decades, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov was the one-trick pony of Russian music, known, if at all, only for the rousing, splashy Procession of the Sardar from his Caucasian Sketches suite (I had an abbreviated piano reduction of it in a book called Melodies Everyone Loves: it was that sort of piece). During the CD boom the Marco Polo label, the full-priced member of the Naxos stable, offered a fresh recording of the Sketches -- which still didn't suffer from excessive attention -- along with a full series of his longer-form symphonic works. This program was originally among those issues, which explains the comparatively antique recording date. I'd owned that LP and, later, its CD transfer, so for me, this was like revisiting an old friend.

The symphony's opening wind solos -- a plaintive oboe, a searching clarinet, a warm horn -- immediately and unmistakably place it in the Russian Romantic tradition. The lyrical, conjunct themes are the sort people are apt to call "melodic," although it's the rhythmic patterns, more than the tunes themselves that resonate. In each of the outer movements, the first theme's motivic rhythm continues as an accompaniment to a broader, cantabile group. After a peremptory call to attention, the Scherzo, with scurrying moto perpetuo violins, is active, set off by a chorale-like, expansive Trio and given a condensed recap. The Elegia's simple, square woodwind intonations recall Orthodox chant, though Ippolitov-Ivanov otherwise makes little use of Russian melodic motifs. Throughout the score, the composer's deployment of solo wind colours is almost profligate, though still fetching.

The Turkish Fragments supposedly reflect the composer's interest in "the music of the Turkic peoples." The suite is similar in spirit to the Caucasian Sketches, colourful and rhythmically infectious, although again, one remembers the effect more than the actual themes. The opening Caravan, save for some modal melodic bits, could be a hearty dance out of Smetana or Weinberger. At Rest begins in a Khachaturian-ish dreamy mood before moving into a sort of tarantella (!) and then a graceful waltz episode. Night, too, recalls Khachaturian, this time in a waltzy reflection of the Lullaby from Gayaneh. The closing Festival returns to a cheerful Slavic bustle.

In the way that other composers wrote "concert waltzes" (i.e., not for dancing) and "concert études" (you get the idea), the Turkish March is a "concert march": it cuts a strong rhythmic and melodic profile, but it's hard to visualize anyone actually marching to it. The annotator, Keith Anderson, hears Turkish influence in it, but I don't.

The Singapore Symphony under Choo Hoey's direction plays everything capably; the homophonic chords in the symphony's first movement are powerful. I can imagine any of the London orchestras supplying greater tonal finish, but not necessarily mustering a comparable empathy and enthusiasm. The reproduction is excellent.

I'm delighted to have this again.

Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
 
Previous review: Paul Corfield Godfrey
 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing