MIKHAIL GLINKA: ‘Orchestral Works’ = Overture in D major; Overture in G minor; Romance ‘Do not Call Her Heavenly’; Symphony in Bb major; Romance ‘Cradle Song’; Three Dances for ‘A Life for the Tsar’; Romance ‘The Midnight Review’; Kamarinskaya; Romance ‘Soon You Will Forget Me’; Valse-Fantaisie – Musica Viva/ soloists/Alexander Rudin – Fuga Libera Recordings FUG571, 72:45 (Distr. by Allegro) ****:
Glinka’s place in history might forever be the "other" great 19th century Russian composer, who, in fact, never rose in fame by the end of his life as Tchaikovsky was already in his prime. None the less, Glinka produced many concert, chamber and stage works, some of which remain often played staples of the repertory (most notably the overtures to "Russlan and Ludmilla" and the "Life for the Czar" and his "Kamarinskaya", heard here).
Glinka’s early overtures sound more than a little like Rossini, especially in the wind writing in the "Overture in D" from 1822. The g-minor overture has a different feel all together. The very ominous opening and generally dark tone is a bit more operatic, perhaps even Mozartian, although these pieces are intended as concert overtures.
What was particularly interesting to me about this interesting little collection is hearing some of Glinka’s orchestrated songs. Each work represented here is very attractive and showcases the composer’s gift for melody. Soprano Olga Senderskaya displays a very restrained and pretty timbre, ideal to Glinka’s settings of poems by Nikolaj Pavlov, "Do not Call her Heavenly" and Yulia Zhadovskaya, "Soon you will Forget me". Similarly lovely blends of vocal timbre and voice are to be found by Alina Shakirova in her rendition of the "Cradle Song" by Kukolnyik and the very different "The Midnight Review" after Zhukovsky, sung here by Petr Novikov. Glinka composed a wide body of songs for solo voice and piano but, apparently, only orchestrated the four heard here.
Glinka’s unfinished Symphony in Bb exists only in the six minute restoration by Petr Klimov. What a shame it seems that we will never hear what the composer envisioned for this fragment is well constructed and exciting with strong wind writing (practically a clarinet concerto!). This would serve well, as it was probably intended, as the first movement of a concise, traditional four movement symphony, written when Glinka was but eighteen!
The Musica Viva, originally the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, under the skilled direction of Alexander Rudin, performs exceptionally well throughout this collection. They bring a clarity and wonderful soloistic playing style to some of the better known works here. The solo parts for violin, cello,flute, clarinet and oboe in the "Three Dances" from "A Life for the Tsar’" really shine in this masterwork, not played often enough.
The Moscow ensemble gives a rousing reading of Glinka’s breakthrough work, "Kamarinskaya (Russian scherzo – wedding song and dance)". Composed in 1848 for a festival at the Palace of the royal family, this work placed Glinka, at the time, near the top of the list of young promising Russian composers, along with Anton Rubinstein. Rudin’s performance is also of Glinka’s original orchestration, of chamber orchestra proportions, not the beefier ones with doubled or tripled strings. The results are clean and attractive.
This disc also includes the last of the many versions that Glinka produced of his "Valse-Fantaisie". This is a Russian waltz at its core, sparkling but with just a tinge of pathos, in contrast to the Viennese models of the same era.
This is a very nice collection, with fine performances and excellent technical value. Fuga Libera is a Belgian label. If their specialty is lesser-known classical repertory, I look forward to others for this is a very impressive set of wonderful, but not very well known, works.
— Daniel Coombs
