Tag: USSR Symphony Orchestra
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Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1; Isle of the Dead – Evgeny Svetlanov, USSR Symphony Orchestra
“Svetlanov’s volcanic 1966 recording … heartbreakingly intense yet grippingly coherent conception, brimful of insight and flair … shoots off like a rocket … finale enshrines as adrenalin-fuelled a ride to the abyss as you will ever hear … the pathos of the symphony’s Largo has to be heard to be believed (decibel levels defeated plucky Soviet…
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Rimsky Korsakov: Suites & Overtures
“..excellent performances of some captivatingly colourful music. (Russian Easter Festival) splendidly exuberant playing from players who naturally have the stuff of the music in their bones…marvellous gravity and resonance. …(Dubinushka) only a trifle, but quite a rare one. Rimsky-Korsakov heard the song during the 1905 “revolution” – both his liberal instincts and his musical invention…
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Scriabin: Symphony No.1 & Poem of Ecstasy
“This ‘poème de l’extase is something else altogether. …this develops into a thrillingly intense, even intimidating experience. Subtle refinement is scarcely on the agenda, yet the sheer theatrical fervour of this account is hard to resist, and those malignant sneers from muted USSR SO trombones at 8:27 onwards have to heard to be believed (was…
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Borodin & Kalinnikov: 1st Symphonies
“Svetlanov’s performance is a welcome replacement of a charming and most accomplished work by a talented composer who died tragically young … Svetlanov gives a splendidly energetic yet sensitive performance, and he is rewarded with beautiful lyrical playing in the Andante but also in the graceful, fresh lines of the opening movement. It is a…
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Sergei Rachmaninov: The Bells
“always something special about a Russian performance. The slavonic fervour and natural intensity of the singing, both solo and choral, give a gripping added immediacy here to The Bells … an added edge is the inclusion of the stirring cantata called Spring: an immediately attractive piece quite superbly sung by its baritone soloist, Sergei Yakovenko…
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Glinka Overtures & Dances
“An eminently recommendable survey of Glinka’s orchestral output … playing of the USSR Symphony is expert and idiomatic” (Penguin Guide) “firm and lively as one would expect from Svetlanov and a Russian orchestra very much on home ground. The recordings do full justice to Glinka’s beautiful scoring. An enjoyable record, not to by missed by…
