* RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Orchestral Suites = Suite from “Snow Maiden;” Suite from “Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya;” Third Act of “Mlada” (“Nuit sur le Mont Griglav”) – Russian National Orchestra/ Mikhail Pletnev – PentaTone

by | Apr 15, 2010 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Orchestral Suites = Suite from “Snow Maiden;” Suite from “Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya;” Third Act of “Mlada” (“Nuit sur le Mont Griglav”) – Russian National Orchestra/ Mikhail Pletnev – PentaTone multichannel SACD PTC 5186 362, 60:32 [Distr. by Naxos] *****:

An impressive showcase of some of the lesser-known examples of the symphonic orchestration skills of one of its masters. Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the most influential composers of both opera and instrumental music in the history of Russian music. These two four-movement suites and the five selections from his ballet opera Mlada are performed with gusto by Russian players totally imbued with the spirit of the works and recorded in the highest-quality hi-res surround.

The Snow Maiden was not a great success as an opera, but its music – which combined the ordinary, the magical and the grotesque – has found more popularity as orchestral suites. The Invisible City of Kitezh was an opera concerning a holy heroine who could commune with the forest animals, and who saves her city from destruction by the Tartars by rendering it invisible thru her prayers. This suite’s final section – Death of Fevroniya – is a spectacular and colorful eight-minute tone poem.

It is with the music from the last act of the magical opera-ballet Mlada that things ramp up to the most exciting sonic experience on the disc. Here is a nearly half-hour witches’ pot of orchestral hijinks which matches and equals Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. The opera is about conflicts between ordinary mortals and the gods, and involves the Black God Cernomor, the evil Kashchei (who we remember from The Firebird), the pagan god Radegast, and would you believe Cleopatra.  Throw in some ghosts, a witches’ sabbath, and the final scene features a sunset and rainbow.  In the Apparition of Cleopatra section the screaming flutes may remind one of Stravinsky’s portrayal of King Kashchei. I had this music for years on an old prerecorded tape at 3 ¾ speed, but even under those conditions it provided exciting listening.  What an improvement PentaTone’s hi-res surround makes on that one!

 – John Sunier

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01