As the 2011 Proms seasons rapidly approaches, this DVD whisks
us back thirty seasons to two fine Proms given by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra which, by coincidence, also hail
from a season exactly twenty seasons before my first teenage
Promenade. That first taste of the Proms magic also featured
the BBC Symphony in Russian classics and was to be conducted
by another great Russian maestro, Yevgeny Svetlanov; alas, he
was ill and died the following year and I never got to see him.
Rozhdestzensky is still with us but, for some reason, only a
very occasional visitor to the UK and more's the pity; in his
excellent booklet notes, David Nice asks 'Is Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
the greatest ever conductor of ballet scores?', and, on the
evidence of this Nutcracker, which is ideally paced at every
turn, it's hard to disagree.
Although proportioned something like a conventional concert
programme, this selection of performances actually derives from
two 1981 Proms, during Rozhdestvensky's relatively brief tenure
as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony. The 2nd Act of the Nutcracker
was filmed at the end of July and was preceded by a choral version
of Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain (the choir can
be seen seated behind the orchestra during the Tchaikovsky),
Prokofiev's Ugly Ducking and Scriabin's Prometheus.
The Glinka items are extracted from a daring programme, mixing
Viennese waltzes with double piano concertos, including Bartók's
Concerto for two pianos and percussion. A punchy and swift performance
of Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila opens the
programme, followed by three wonderful dances from his opera
A Life for the Tsar, the second of which has an energetically
skipping rhythmic quality and which I recall fondly from its
use in the climactic ball sequence from Alexander Sokurov's
film Russian Ark, a remarkable single-take trawl through
Russian history.
One of the advantages of seeing rather than merely hearing a
performance such as this is the chance it affords to study the
conductor's technique, and Rozhdestvensky's manner throughout
the programme is minimal but precisely calibrated. The camera
frequently cuts to an inert Rozhdestvensky, apparently doing
nothing at all, but he is the master of conveying a world of
meaning with a raised eyebrow and his hands can suggest a sculptor
at work when he wishes. As already noted, tempos are perfectly
judged in the Tchaikovsky, treading a fine line between grandeur
and excitement and the BBC Symphony Orchestra's playing is every
bit as plush and lively as one would expect from a Russian orchestra.
Rozhdestvensky's speeds are adjusted for the concert hall: some
of them would be tricky to dance to, such as a sweeping but
forward driving Pas de deux (The Prince and the Sugar Plum
Fairy). It's only a shame that we couldn't have the complete
ballet; Rozhdestvensky in the full score does appear on a pricey
Melodiya set (MELCD1000665), but it's terrific to have at least
half and it's a performance I can imagine returning to often.
Andrew Morris
Follow Andrew’s string music blog at http://devilstrillblog.blogspot.com/
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Gennadi Rozhdestvensky 
ICAD5027
[65:08] 
