SERGEI TANEYEV: Symphony No. 1 in E minor; Symphony No. 3 in D minor – Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra/ Thomas Sanderling, conductor – Naxos 8.570336, 75:50 *****:
Taneyev is a link composer; student and friend of Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein (though not many seem to have been friends of his), and teacher of both Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, his music is mostly overlooked with the exception of a few select pieces. His four symphonies are full of tremendously attractive ideas, and the craftsmanship is second to none. The first symphony, completed in 1873 is compared to Tchaikovsky’s second in the notes, though I find little overlap between them. Taneyev is far darker and complex, shedding the bombast that his teacher so obviously reveled in, and missing the long big lines that were to become a Tchaikovsky hallmark. This is not a criticism—in their place we get some very subtle and beautiful melodic turns that persuade us in ways other than sheer power. As an aside, the last movement of this work features the melody that Stravinsky uses so effectively in the Fourth Tableaux of Petrushka. Not bad for a student work.
His Third Symphony is a real romantic pot boiler, and again uses the material in a very economical and intelligent way. This man is a real composer with a genuine sense of craft. His teacher loved it, and it seems sad that there was only one performance in the composer’s lifetime. We are fortunate that Thomas Sanderling (son of Kurt) and his excellent Siberian Orchestra (and I mean it—they are superb) have decided to give this music its due. I have read in a few other places that this music is not particularly inspired; baloney! It is the discovery of an unknown voice well worth any serious listener’s time and money. The competition is a complete Chandos series that has four symphonies on two discs; I have not heard it, but have trouble imagining the interpretation to be superior to this one.
— Steven Ritter
