Producer
Valentin Ivanov and his team show a peculiarly Russian defiance
when it comes to close-up miking. They exploit to the full the
reverberation of the Great Hall. If you have a nostalgic hankering
for the gaudy sonics of 1970s EMI-Melodiya LPs your pilgrimage
is complete. Yes, this does indeed sound like the Kondrashin version
of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. By the way the balance
on the vibraphone in tr.5 is exactly what I am looking for in
the next recording of Roy Harris's Seventh Symphony. Both player
and technicians allow the instrument to sing out and resound.
The
percussion in the Carmen Suite are rendered very closely
indeed. This is, after all, fun music so we need to leave our
purist po-faces at the door. Well, I suppose if you are even contemplating
listening to this Bizet confection (some would say rip-off) you
are not going to be a purist. I can imagine this disc being reached
down whenever someone wants to put their hifi through its paces.
Is it any worse than what Rubbra did to Farnaby, Britten to Purcell,
Bliss to Blow, Schuman to Billings? If these works do not attract
criticism for what they are the reason may be more to do with
an unspoken rule that it's OK to make an adaptation provided a
couple of centuries have passed since the composer died but that
arrangements made in one century of works completed the previous
century are up for censure.
The
suite is however full of tension and musical intrigue. Perhaps
DePreist on Delos makes a shade more of the Habanera but in general
he finds himself outpointed by the sheer cheek and shamelessness
of Rachlevsky and his much augmented orchestra.
The
Carmen piece is now notorious and recorded perhaps more
than a dozen times. The other two Shchedrin pieces are recorded
for the first time. The Photographs suite is an assemblage
of four genre pieces - character sketches really. The Ancient
Town of Aleksin is a reference to the composer's birthplace
sketched in mists and blurred outlines. The second movement, Cockroaches
throughout Moscow has the strings rawly skittering and skedaddling
hither and thither. This is a modern virtuosity derived from Elgar's
Introduction and Allegro for strings. The great sour grumbling
passacaglia that is the Stalin Cocktail traces its way
back to similar 'scorched earth' adagios in Shostakovich 6, 7,
8 and 12. The Evening Bells movement continues in a similar
dissonance-laced vein.
Glorification
was commissioned for the World Economic Forum at Davos. Earnest
virtuosity is how I would describe this music. The music has been
affected by the Penderecki Threnody. Shchedrin is remarkable
for the consistency of activity and invention across the entire
sound spectrum.
The
liner notes are excellent.
Overall
a disc of showcase highlights from a composer of brilliant aural
imagination. If you have any doubts try the Scene from Carmen
(tr.6) - a hysterical rat-run like a clockwork nutmeg and bradawl
gone berserk.
Rob
Barnett
Chamber Orchestra, Kremlin/Misha
Rachlevsky 
