Janis IVANOVS (1906-83)
Orchestral Music - Vol. 6 (1955-57)
Suite from the film music for The Late Frost in Spring^* (1955) [18.57]
Symphony No. 8 ^** (1956) [33.24]
Lacplessis - symphonic poem^*** (1957?) [14:12]
Latvian National SO conducted by Imants Resnis ^* Edgars Tons ^** Vassily Sinaisky^***
All recordings from sound archive of Latvijas Radio Recorded: * 1987; ** 1961 *** 1978
CAMPION CAMEO 2013 [66.37] mid-price series

The 1955 film The Late Frost in Spring was an adaptation of a novel on a rustic drama. The novel was by one of Ivanovs' favourite authors, Rudolfs Blaumanis (1863-1908). The music commissioned was to be in short sections the longest of which is 5.40 (Matisins). The notes tell us that the themes are drawn from Ivanovs 'lost' Second Symphony. It was lost when the film was first released. When the Symphony resurfaced 1985 Latvian audiences attending the concert revival found themselves already familiar with the symphony's themes from the film music. The music is pastoral tragic (listen to the chaste and lonely flute at 5.01 in track 7), highly romantic, slightly cool (as befits the title) having parallels with Rota's Romeo and Juliet as well as Prokofiev's ballet, on the one hand and