The Anthology of Russian
Symphony Music – or Symphonic as one
ought to amend it – was a colossal undertaking.
Svetlanov and the USSR Symphony Orchestra,
though there’s one appearance here by
the Bolshoi, proved to be, and remain,
exponents of the most galvanising and
expert kind. Not every performance is
necessarily the greatest ever committed
to disc but a fair few are.
This three-disc set
is devoted to Glinka. It’s necessarily,
given the repertoire, rather "bitty"
– and one can here make a distinction
with other sets; the Rachmaninoff for
example or the Arensky. So whilst there
are fewer opportunities for wide ranging
symphonic control there are certainly
opportunities for convulsive dance rhythms,
topical colour, and vibrant personality.
The Patriotic Song
is grandly orchestrated by Svetlanov’s
teacher Alexander Gauk, to whom Brilliant
has just devoted a large retrospective
box set; and not before time. There
is a florid, but unidentified, tenor
in the Prayer. Meanwhile Glinka’s Hummel
arrangement moves from bombast to gossamer
with delightful elegance. The Overture
in G minor has strong Beethovenian currents
whereas its companion overture, the
one in D major, cleaves closer to Rossini.
The Symphony on Two Russian Themes of
1834 is heard in the edition made by
Shebalin and there’s plenty of folkloric
colour here and potent, stoic lyricism.
The second disc opens
with Jota Aragonesa, Spanish Overture
No. 1, whose stern Iberian opening soon
opens out into burnished colour. True
there’s something of a generic postcard
feel but when the performance is as
gutsy as this one you won’t mind at
all. There’s more Spanishry in Summer
Night in Madrid, which is ebulliently
dispatched – the strings are especially
captivating here. Vitality and excitement
are the qualities that inform this and
so much else in this set. The incidental
music to Prince Kholmsky allows
one to appreciate the noble side of
Glinka’s imagination – try the Entr’acte
to Act II – as well as his deft skill
at characterisation of which the slightly
pomposo feel of the Act IV Entr’acte
is a classic example. The Premiere Polka
was orchestrated by Balakirev – it’s
a snappy, buoyant and light hearted
affair.
The final disc delves
deeper into operatic overtures and incidental
music. The winds are at their most eloquent
in the overture to Ivan Susanin where
we find the trumpets at their most exciting
and blaring. Talking of this opera there’s
a lissom Cracovienne, and a deliciously
sprung Waltz. The overture to Ruslan
and Ludmila is taken at a Svetlanov,
therefore not Mravinsky, tempo. And
there are exotic aural delights a-plenty
here not least in the Oriental dances
from Chernomor’s Castle. To end
there’s the attractive lyricism
of the Andante cantabile and Rondo.
The booklet is in Russian
and English – the latter deftly written
by MusicWeb’s Rob Barnett. Those who
like full-blooded but often subtly contoured
music making will take this opportunity
to collate their Glinka-Svetlanov. These
performances have all been around before
so far as I can tell. A tranche was
on Moscow Studio Archives 20017 for
example whilst others turned up on Le
Chant du Monde LDC278 819 – and so on.
Here though the collection is in Anthology
livery and well worthy of your time.
Jonathan Woolf
USSR Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Evgeny
Svetlanov 
