GLAZUNOV: Symphonies 1 & 4

Moscow Symphony Orchestra;
Anissimov, Alexander

8.553561

Glazunov's First Symphony opens with an Allegro in 6 / 8 metre, its lilting first subject followed by a second, duly in the dominant key and entrusted to clarinets and bassoons. There are shifts of key, skilfully manipulated, in the central development section of the movement, followed by a recapitulation that varies the orchestration and proceeds to an emphatic coda. The Scherzo that forms the second movement, in the key of C major, is underpinned by an accompanying drone, in folk-style, from lower strings and bassoons, while violas and clarinets provide the first thematic element. The trio section, in A flat, allows the flute to propose a Polish theme, taken up by the first violins, before the transition is made back to the Scherzo itself, now mingled with reminiscences of the Polish melody. Clarinets and bassoons start the E minor slow movement, with its further suggestions of Slav thematic material. Violas and clarinets again provide a drone accompaniment, in syncopated rhythm, a Polish theme from the oboe. There are moments of relaxation and shifts of tonality in contrasting episodes as the music moves forward, dominated always by the principal theme that gives the movement its character. • Glazunov completed his Fourth Symphony in 1893, a work dedicated to Anton Rubinstein. Rimsky-Korsakov, present at the first performance in January 1894, found the orchestration cumbersome in places, particularly in the third movement, but his disciple Vasily Vasilyevich Yastrebtsev writes with approval of the symphony as marking a renaissance in Glazunov's creativity, drawing attention to the pictorial nature of the second movement as a reflection of Böcklin's painting Diana's Chase. The symphony ends in triumph, an example of Glazunov's assured craftsmanship and powers of invention that could only add to his already growing international reputation.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

02-03-1998

730099456128