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             


CD REVIEW

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

 

Availablity
CD: Classical CDs

 

The Georgian Composers Collection
Sulkan TSINTSADZE (1925-1992)
Four Miniatures for string orchestra (1940s) [9:35]
Otar TAKTAKISHVILI (1924-1989)
Megrelian Songs for tenor, male voices and chamber orchestra (1973) [21:02]
Redjeb JORDANIA Concerto Classico in D major for solo percussionist and symphonic winds (1954) [31:14]
Strings of Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra/Vakhtang Jordania (Miniatures); Zurab Sotkilava (tenor); Rustavi Vocal Ensemble/Anzor Erkomaishvili; Leningrad Chamber Orchestra/Vakhtang Jordania (Megrelian); Alexei Amosov (percussion); Winds and Brass of the Russian Federal Orchestra/Vakhtang Jordania (Concerto)
rec. 1978 (Miniatures); 1976, Capella Hall, St Petersburg.
ANGELOK1 CD-7770 [61:51]
Experience Classicsonline

The catalogue of Angelok1 is dominated by recordings made by the conductor Vakhtang Jordania. The composer Redjeb Jordania - whose Concerto Classico appears here - is his cousin. Vakhtang was born in Georgia in 1943 and in 1971 won the Karajan conducting prize. He defected to the USA with his famous girlfriend, the violinist Viktoria Mullova, in 1983. There he became music director of various state level orchestras including those at Chattanooga and Spokane. He died in Virginia in 2005.
 
Georgian composers include among the more famous names Kancheli (b. 1935) taken up strongly in the West (try ECM) and Andrea Balanchivadze (1906-1992), Alexi Machavariani (1913-1995), Sulkan Nasidze (1927-1996) and that doyen of Georgian composers Zakharia Paliashvili (1871-1933). The latter wrote three operas: Absalom and Eteri (1918), Daisi (1923) and Latavra (1926). Those who lived through the late LP era may remember a DGG two LP set of the first of these - a very exotic item at the time.
 
Sulkhan Tsintsadze's four Miniatures began as a work for string quartet. It became phenomenally successful and this gave rise to the composer's string orchestra version as heard here. To Western ears this work has a certain exoticism, a quality familiar from the music of Hovhaness. In the Shepherd's Song we hear some memorable bagpipe effects. After the heavily dancing first movement with its redolence of Holst’s Brook Green and St Paul's, the remaining movements are more subtle and otherworldly.
 
Taktakishvili is not unknown and a number of his works have been taken up internationally. He wrote two symphonies (1949 and 1953), two oratorios (Eternal Burning Fireside, 1963; In the Steps of Rustaveli, 1964) and four operas: Minidya (1961), The Robbery of the Moon (1976), The Woman-Chaser (1977-80) and The First Love (1980). There are concertos for piano (1950, 1975 and 1980s), violin (1957, 1976, 1987), cello (1977) and trumpet. Many of these were recorded by Melodiya in the 1960s and 1970s but few have reappeared on CD which is a very great pity. An exception is the turbulent Second Symphony which can be found - with some effort - on Russian Disc.
 
The Georgian highlands of Samegrelo are the homeland of the Megrelian or Mogrelian language. The nine Taktakishvili songs with orchestra, tenor and vocal ensemble are a vibrant example of Soviet ethnic at its best. This is a work of romantic soul and countryside enchantment. As folk-derived material it can be bracketed with Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne and Marek's similarly beguiling song-cycles (Koch). This one is distinguished by the wild abandon and reflection of the highland life - a little like that of the robber camp in Szymanowski's Harnasie. The difference is that in the case of the Taktakishvili work the orchestra and tenor are joined by the Rustavi Vocal Ensemble who contribute with harsh fibre in the herding call of the Odoia movement which in effect recalls the Estonian, Veljo Tormis. Throughout, Zurab Sotkilova takes his prominent role with what feels like authentic folk flavour. This registers in much the same way as the best altos and mezzos in de Falla's El Amor Brujo. The songs sound as if they have not left behind the rustic humour of the workplace. For example, try the happy shouted dialogue between soloist and choir in Little Jackal (song 10). From the odd low level clicks this recording seems to have been taken from an LP but the results sound very satisfactory indeed.
 
Redjeb Jordania studied with Karl Amadeus Hartmann. If you google him you will find a fascinating interview. His Concerto Classico is said to have been inspired by Prokofiev's Classical Symphony but is for percussion and wind orchestra. It is here presented in a single 30 minute movement. It is the most modernistic of the works collected here. It has an unruly, dry, Stravinskian grunt and thud and a brazen arrogant wheeze. It's clearly a display piece for the percussionist. I hear no resemblance to the Prokofiev. In a single 30 minute track the work is quite indigestible. It's a pity that its segments were not separately tracked. As it was I found that it made little favourable impression on me although percussion fans may find differently. I would like to hear other music by Jordania but will pass on this one.
 
Do have a look at the Georgian Music website for further information.
 
A brave cross-section of Georgian classical music: two hits and a miss.
 
Rob Barnett
 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos 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

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.