Gliere was one of the leaders of concert music during the Soviet era. It was easy for him to fit into the Stalinist strictures of a “proletarian” music which avoided musical modernism. The 19th century was still very real to Gliere (as it was to Rachmaninoff), so he just went on writing what he was most skilled at anyway. His most unusual work, the very cinematic Ilya Murometz Symphony, has some wild effects in it but basically conforms to Late Romantic structures and styles. His Red Poppy Ballet accompanies a typical Soviet West-bashing scenario but its catchy melodies and rhythms get a great reception at American pops concerts.
While his symphonies seem to me like typical Soviet “peoples’ music,” Gliere’s concertos catch my ear with their gorgeous melodies, vigorous rhythms and elegant construction. This SACD presents two of them which deserve more attention. The 40-minute-length Cello Concerto was one of the very first Soviet cello concertos ever written. It has touches of Tchaikovsky and Borodin – even an allusion to the latter’s Polovtsian Dances. An air of melancholy is heard in some of the passages of this Romantic concerto.
The Concerto for French Horn is full of Russian folk themes delivered in an aria-like form and is lighter in style and of course shorter in length than the cello concerto. The soloist achieves a remarkably rich tone and proves quite a virtuoso in the difficult part. Philippe Herreweghe is now the musical director of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, based in Antwerp, Belgium. He conducts the pre-Romantic repertory and leaves the rest to other conductors such as Marc Soustrot. The 5.0 surround provides a wide soundstage and good impression of the venue.
– John Sunier
