Taneyev is called “the
Russian Bach”* and Russian critics reportedly consider this
work of his to be the third greatest piece of choral music
ever written, right after Rachmaninov’s Vespers Op.37
and the Bach Mass in b. In the West, Bach enthusiasts
might not completely agree; however, you owe it to yourself
to hear this magnificent music, performed here with tremendous
artistry and enthusiasm.
Taneyev was a teacher
of Skriabin and Rachmaninov, musical godfather to Prokofiev,
friend of Tolstoy, student and close friend of Tchaikovsky,
and by all accounts one of the most widely beloved of all
musical figures in Russia. He performed the Russian premiere
of the “unplayable” Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto**. Taneyev’s
death at the age of 59 in 1915, from pneumonia resulting
from attending Skriabin’s funeral on a blustery winter day,
came at a time when he was producing his greatest and most
extroverted music. No doubt had he lived he would have produced
large popular orchestral and choral masterworks and be much
more widely appreciated.
Jakov Petrovich Polonsky
(1819-1898) was a long-term good friend of Taneyev and provided
him with texts for a number of his works. The completion
of this work coincided with the tenth anniversary of Polonsky’s
death. The titles of these poems are:
Four part settings:
Na Mogile (At
the tombstone)
Vecher (Evening)
Razvalinu Bashni
(A tower in ruins)
Posmotri, kakaya
mgla (Look, such a mist!)
Five part settings
Na korable
(On the boat)
Molitva (Prayer)
Iz veshchnosti
musyka (Music heard from eternity)
Prometei (Prometheus)
Six and eight
part settings:
Uvidal iz-za
tuchi utyos (From behind the clouds)
Zvyozdy (Stars)
Po goram dve
khmurykjtuchi (Two sullen clouds)
V dni, kogda
nad sonnym morem (On a warm quiet day)
Barry Brenesal writing
in Fanfare pointed out the extravagant difficulty
of this music with its cruelly exposed entries on unprepared
tones, and occasional passages in which up to four vocal
parts actively pursue separate lines outside a strict polyphonic
framework. It is no surprise then that the only recordings
of the work are by extremely skilled professional or academic
choruses. This recording by Pyotr Kondrashin, presumably
from the same famous Russian musical family as Kyril, is
excellent and allows the complex multiple vocal lines to
be heard clearly while maintaining a realistic ambience.
These works have also been recorded by Tönu Kaljuste conducting
the Netherlands Chamber Choir on a Globe CD 5197. I have
not heard this release, however this group has made some
other fine recordings.
Paul Shoemaker
*Cellist Werner Thomas-Mifune calls him the “Russian Brahms” and
upon hearing the Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29, one might
call him the “Russian Gershwin”. Clearly a musician of many talents.
**The world premiere was given by Hans von Bülow in Boston, USA.
Voronezh
Chamber Choir/Oleg Shepel 
