Khrennikov was named
a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1973,
the year in which his First Symphony
was recorded and in which his Third
and last Symphony was completed. He
studied composition with Shebalin and
piano with Neuhaus - combing the two
when he premiered his First Piano Concerto
in 1933. He was much occupied with the
political life of the USSR and rose
to high office. In May 1945 he entered
Berlin with the Soviet Army. In 1947
he joined the Communist party and became
a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. This
Elets-born, tenth child of a modest
provincial family became secretary-general
of the Union of Soviet Composers. His
compositional output includes six operas,
a ballet and an operetta as well as
film music and incidental music alongside
chamber pieces, songs and choruses.
There are two of the three piano concertos
on the Swiss Relief label review,
two violin concertos review
, a cello concerto and much else.
The First Symphony
is Khrennikov's graduation exercise
from the Moscow Conservatoire premiered
in Moscow on 10 October 1955. It combines
the engaging and cheery playfulness
of Prokofiev with the arching heroic
songful writing of Miaskovsky. The central
movement uses a rising and dipping theme
for strings and memorably describes
a curve typical of Miaskovsky and of
Khrennikov's teacher, Vissarion Shebalin.
A distinctive Arctic heroism saturates
the serious melody that rises in the
finale. It's just a shame that the composer
shied from closing the work with that
noble theme. Clearly he felt it necessary
to return to the knockabout wheeziness
with which the movement begins. It is
similar, in that respect, to the clowning
movements in Shostakovich 6 and 9.
The wartime Second
Symphony expresses ‘the irresistible
will to defeat the Fascist foe’. It
has the heroically whooping energy
we expect from a work of those times,
galloping away, sustained, tense, adrenaline-soaked
and hortatory. Its ‘cavalry charge’
power in the first movement can be likened
to similar moments in Miaskovsky's Symphonies
22, 24 and 25. The brass make a gloriously
ripe sound - tragic and heroic at the
same time. As the first movement closes
I became sure that Khrennikov's frame
of reference must have included Tchaikovsky's
Pathétique. The nostalgia-soaked
autumnal scene of 7.10 is similar to
Miaskovsky. This precedes a final convulsive
'assault’ with heaven-scouring brass.
The second movement is plangently thoughtful
and is led off by a reflective clarinet
solo. There is no bitterness here, more
a case of a leisurely resigned tiredness
rising to Tchaikovskian nobility à
la Pathétique (tr. 5 5:03).
The thrusting and capering clarinet
and bassoon initiate the third movement.
Their playfulness contrasts with a long
melody typical of early Scriabin. The
movement ends in riotous fury and a
retching profound braying from the brass.
The finale has rasping brass but lacks
an Odysseyan sense of homecoming. It
has grandeur aplenty but is a notch
or two slacker than the first two movements.
It all finishes too early but it is
still good fun and the trembling blaze
at the end is well worth hearing. This
work was premiered in Moscow on 10 January
1943. The present recording was issued
on a Vox-Melodiya CD coupled with the
Second Violin Concerto but that disc
has now disappeared from sight (do any
of you have a copy?).
The Third Symphony
is the most Shostakovich-like of
the three. The first movement is relentlessly
active, racing away with acid humour
mixed in; circus knockabout stuff. The
second movement has a high, sleek and
quiet romantic theme for stratospheric
violins like a hybrid of the dreamy
focus-slither of Silvestrov’s Fifth
Symphony and of the Grand Adagio
from Khachaturian's Spartacus.
The acrid chronometer 'tick' at the
end of the third movement recalls the
Shostakovich Fifteenth Symphony. The
finale is effective after some vapid
gestures. The high strings swoon fit
to burst and very high in the register.
They make connections back to the ultra-high
passages in the second movement. This
Himalaya-mystery sounds extremely filmic
- part Steiner, part Jarré, part
Silvestrov.
All three symphonies
are fastidiously constructed and tellingly
orchestrated. Khrennikov had a long
and no doubt bruising apprenticeship
in the Soviet film industry. However
the orchestrational skills it imparted
served him well.
The playing is outstanding
with the USSR Symphony Orchestra at
the peak of their dizzyingly virtuosic
powers under Svetlanov's inspirational
conducting. The 1970s Russian brass
are regally commanding complete with
unabashed vibrato.
This coupling has appeared
before on the Scribendum label review
but the present version is to
be preferred not least because of the
extensive notes.
The same label has
also recorded other Khrennikov: there’s
a disc apiece for his chamber music,
three piano concertos and film music.
I only hope that DI Music (who handle
this label in the UK) are able to source
review copies and if Kapelmeister read
this I would be grateful if they would
contact me.
Khrennikov has had
a knee-jerk drubbing in many quarters
- seemingly richly merited in relation
to his activities as a bureaucrat. His
music, however, has its bright-eyed
virtues. Some of it is sub-Shostakovich
but much has a noble bearing and is
impressively laid out. The First Symphony
is excellent as are the first two movements
of the Second and much of the Third.
Give it a try. Sniffy and politically
correct friends may yet get a surprise
if you play one of these symphonies
to them without telling them who wrote
it until after it has finished. Tell
them beforehand and you can virtually
guarantee it will condemned unheard
as slipshod and shallow.
Rob Barnett
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Evgeny Svetlanov
for
details
