Apart
from the ever-popular Capriccio espagnol, the music on
this disc is rarely recorded and rarely heard. In truth this
statement applies to a lot Rimsky-Korsakov, which doesn’t necessarily
mean that the music is bad, It seems that Capriccio, Scheherazade
and Russian Easter Festival Overture, which incidentally
have consecutive opus numbers, have totally over-shadowed his
other works. The operas are performed in Russia – some of them
at least – but are seldom seen in the West; recordings are few
and far between. I had a box with four of them for review a
couple of years ago but after that – nothing. The two, represented
here by their overtures, were written more than thirty years
apart. The Maid of Pskov was his first work in the genre
while The Tsar’s Bride was the ninth of fifteen in total.
Hearing them now more or less together one has no feeling of
the early one being a prentice work and the later a mature master.
This is natural perhaps since both deal with Russia’s old history,
more precisely with Ivan the Terrible and with librettos by
the same writer, Lev Mey. What is at once evident when hearing
The Maid of Pskov is the superb orchestration. R-K had
learnt his trade thoroughly. All through this programme there
is ample proof of his superior ear for colour and his inventive
juxtaposition of solo instruments with full orchestra. Both
overtures are alive with contrasts and are fine acquaintances
without being especially memorable.
That
also goes for the Legend, which is in five movements
played attacca. The first half of the work felt more
like a preamble, a warming up. The last movement took some time
to catch this listener’s interest. The Neapolitan Song,
is a different matter, being nothing other than a charming,
brilliantly coloured, partly boisterous arrangement of Denza’s
song Funiculì, funicula, written to celebrate the installation
of the first funicular railway up Vesuvius.
The
longest work on the disc, the Sinfonietta on Russian Themes,
started life as a four-movement string quartet, written 1878-79.
Neither the performers nor the composer liked it so he rewrote
it for orchestra, dropping the last movement and also the descriptive
titles. The first movement, Allegretto pastorale (originally
‘In the field’), is warm, light-hearted and pastoral or at least
rural. The second, Adagio (‘At the devichnik’ which is
an eve-of-wedding girls’ party), has a beautiful theme, presented
by the French horn. Later there is some skilful contrapuntal
writing and the whole movement is nicely varied. The Scherzo-Finale,
marked vivo (‘In the khorovod’, which is a round dance)
is a kind of whirling perpetuum mobile – fresh, invigorating
music!
Like
Glinka before him, Rimsky-Korsakov was also attracted by Spain.
‘The Spanish themes, of dance character, furnished me with rich
material for employing colourful orchestral effects’ he wrote.
Both musicians and audiences liked what they heard. My first
recording of Capriccio espagnol was with the other
Manchester orchestra, the Hallé, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
on a 7 inch 33rpm record. This meant that I had to get up and
turn it over in the middle of the work. My memories of Sir John’s
reading are that he strived for a leaner sound and a slightly
lighter touch than Vassily Sinaisky. It may be that the more
compressed dynamics and the mono recording in combination with
my far from sophisticated listening equipment conveyed this
impression. Initially I found the Alborada too heavily
accented and the second movement Variazione a bit dragging
At the same time I admired the concentration and intensity of
the playing. The return of the Alborada actually felt
lighter, but returning to the opening showed that they were
very much alike so I believe I had already got accustomed to
Sinaisky’s reading. The rest of the work was sheer joy: the
‘gypsy’ movement earthbound and atmospheric with excellent instrumental
solos and the Fandango a knock-out, followed by a licentiously
furious coda. Bravo!
As
principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Sinaisky obviously
has superb rapport with the musicians. The playing is uniformly
good while the spacious recording produces a meaty sound that
gives full due to the fortissimos and lets us hear all the delicacies
of Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral colours. John Warrack contributes
insightful liner notes, where he also quotes the composer, who
was irritated by critics and public who thought that Capriccio
espagnol was magnificently orchestrated. It was, R-K stated,
a brilliant composition where the colours and use of solo instruments
were the essence of the work, not the clothing. I agree.
Not
everything here is top-drawer music perhaps. On the other hand
it is always interesting and fascinating to investigate the
lesser-known works of great composers and possibly find new
friends for life. Inquisitive readers might make discoveries
here.
Göran
Forsling
BBC Philharmonic/Vassily
Sinaisky 
