A Musical Journey: Russia and Ukraine
A musical visit to St Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa & the Crimea
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony 5, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Antoni
Wit (Naxos 8.550716)
Marche Slave, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Stephen Gunzenhauser
(Naxos 8.550191)
Aspect Ratio 4:3 NTSC No region coding
NAXOS 2.110290 DVD [56:52]
I imagine that the original idea behind the Naxos series of
‘Musical Journeys’ was to popularise further its
recordings so it was clever for them to have made films of places
that would be of interest either to those contemplating a trip
there or as a memento for those who have already been and using
their recordings to accompany the film. However, if either of
those had been the reason that I had sought this one out I’m
not sure that it would have left me as eager with anticipation
to visit as much as it should have done or as a fond memory
of a holiday. As it is I have been to both St Petersburg and
Moscow and can report that this DVD is a catalogue of missed
opportunities. We start in St Petersburg with atmospheric scenes
of fluttering leaves in the Smolensk Cemetery which is not of
particular interest architecturally and move on to the Lomonosov
Palace and Gardens, The Hermitage Pavilion Hall with views of
the main staircase from several angles and to the Smolny Convent
via some shots of the city of St Petersburg during the White
Nights with the statue of Peter the Great in silhouette and
several of the Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge in various stages of opening.
True we see some of the Hermitage/Winter Palace from the river
but not much of the magnificent interiors, and no St Peter &
Paul Fortress, no Admiralty, no Nevsky Prospect and its wonderful
palaces, no St Isaac’s Cathedral or Church on Spilled
Blood and no visit to the Summer Palace of Petrodvorets.
St Petersburg is a gorgeous city and, like Venice it was built
on a swamp and thus truly miraculous, and because it was meticulously
planned by Peter the Great, it is a model town that is ‘all
of a piece’ and grand in the true sense of the word but
you might not fully appreciate that from this DVD. In Moscow
we see a bit more in less time but still there is, I feel, a
failure to capture the atmosphere of this intriguing city that
is so very different from most of the other European capital
cities. What visit to Moscow would not include a look at the
Tretyakov Art Gallery for example or views from the Sparrow
Hills.
I cannot comment on the section on Ukraine as I’ve only
been to Lviv and in any case much of it was related to Pushkin
with many representations of his face in paintings or statues
plus some views of the Crimea and Odessa. I imagine many Ukrainians
would be ready to take issue with the overall impression given
that was distinctly lack lustre. The filming dates from 1994
only four years after the collapse of communism so I think that
it is high time that the project was undertaken again since
there have been many changes and at least superficially things
look better than before with much cleaning up having been done.
The music itself is treated to very workmanlike accounts in
both cases and if people don’t know these famous works
I’m sure they could do worse than buy the CDs they are
from which at reasonable Naxos prices are always a great place
to start exploring great music.
Steve Arloff
A catalogue of missed opportunities.