Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Vasily Kalinnikov - Symphonies

I meant to post this disc last night after the 1st Kalinnikov post however I passed out...whilst sitting at my computer. That's never happened to me before, I guess posting Kalinnikov is just too much of an exciting, energy-taxing venture. Ha.


Kalinnikov wrote only two symphonies (due to his ill health and short life; with such symphonic talent I have to imagine several more would have been written. That's always such a sad sad thought, creativity's progression unfulfilled...especially with music like this.) Somewhat of a nationalist, Kalinnikov eschewed the idea of following a strict program and chose to portray his native soil with music that evoked images and folk songs of his homeland. Kalinnikov’s reputation rests largely upon a single orchestral work, the Symphony No. 1 in G Minor. The symphony first appeared on the program of the Russian Musical Society in Kiev, where the second and third movements were encored. The positive reaction of the Ukrainian audience led to a wider dissemination of the score. It eventually found its way to concert venues in Moscow, Berlin, Paris, and Vienna; it remains in the repertoire of Russian orchestras to this day. The most striking features of this work are the reutilization of material from the first movement in the symphony’s finale and the sweeping melody that is offered by the strings after the unison introduction. There are some echoes of Tchaikovsky in the symphonies; however Kalinnikov's music unfolds in unexpected ways, due to his sustained creativity and tremendous flair. "Refreshing" always comes to mind for me with this symphony especially; I feel like "giving" it that subtitle (Symphony No.1 "The Refreshing") although I doubt that would make it official. From the start one is struck by the beautiful, balletic nature of the symphony, dance rhythms with imo such grace and charm- well I feel like either dancing or passing out from too much joy. The second movement (Andante commodamente) is one of the gentlest, most luminous idylls, the undulating strings and droplets of harp make this a transporting, floating world
for my ears and mind. The Scherzo continues with the lovely dance tunes, Russian to the core, and summons up images for me as does the whole symphony, of icy landscapes with onion-domed churches, peasant weddings, celebrations.. The Finale brings some thematic material from the first movement, which is a pleasure to hear once again; the symphony ends with perfection intact imo- lithe, characterful and brimming with life to the very last moment.


The second symphony, although more developed than the first, was less successful. I think it's of the same quality as No. 1, and it deserves to be much better known.  It is indeed the 1st that I prefer however, it's simply one of the most memorable of symphonies to my ears. The Second Symphony too displays Kalinnikov's individual process of thematic transformation, his tendency to move into unexpected keys, and his disposition to build themes largely from seconds and thirds. Like the two equally well-crafted and rarely heard symphonies of his countryman, Sergei Taneyev, the symphonies of Kalinnikov have never achieved that much popularity outside of his homeland. Again had he lived longer, his name might have been mentioned in the same sentence as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff (who was very fond of Kalinnikov and his music), but this is something unknowable. 


Enjoy!

Kalinnikov_ Symphonies_Tz.zip

http://www47.zippyshare.com/v/86423741/file.html

13 comments:

Franz said...

The first symphony is a real "MUST" for people loving russian romantic music.
At the momemnt there are many recording of this symphony. Each one has his own "pro & contra".
Svetlanov (1975), Dudarova (too fast in my opinion), Friedman (broad tempi...), Kuchar (too much reverberation..). There is also a new recording on BIS with Malaysian Orchestra conducted by Kees Bakel but don't have it.
This Symphony should be in repertoire but unfortunately outside Russia is not well known.
The Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana played it in Palermo (Sicily) last year with great success.
Thank you for your interesting blog.
PS why don't use FLAC instead of m4u (better quality of sound and no losses!)

theblueamos said...

I feel like putting a sugar cube under my tongue.Thank you for this very beautiful revelation.

Tzadik said...

Hi Franz. Yes I have the other recordings, except the BIS, which I have read wonderful reviews for. Well I prefer lossless myself of course, who woudn't as a serious music lover? Frankly it's less time consuming to upload 320 mp3s/m4as. I have all the discs so it's lossless for me-however if I post lossless I would be posting less, or at least it would be a slower stream of posts, due to reality (work..) Tz

Tzadik said...

Hey tba! Like the sugar cube thought ;) The symphonies are just great, have a good listen sitting down, eyes closed....take the journey. Kind regards, Tz

Anonymous said...

Thanks again!

But I too would suggest you use lossless. Does it matter in terms of uploading time whether it is mp3 or lossless? I do not think so. I upload lossless, and if I would make mp3s, it would not save me any time, since most of my time is consumed with preparing files, doing scans, making archives, writing posts etc. I does not really matter what bit rate of the files is.

Keep posting though! :)))))

Piterets

Franz said...

Hi Tzak! Me too I own all the Kalinnikov CDs I mentioned in my previous comment except for the BIS with Malaysian Orchestra....
Hope you will upload with a lossless format but anyway thank you for your interesting blog which allows us to discover less known composers

Tzadik said...

Piterets well maybe I will go lossless at some point, there is an easy apple-lossless via itunes anyhow. Not flac files of course..

Tzadik said...

Hey Franz. Yes, I would really like to hear the BIS recording! Going lossless as i said to Piterets is a possibility, but we'll see. Tz

PJ said...

Lossless, PLEASE!!! Always and only! Quantity doesn't turn intself into quality, whatever one of the classics thought... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Either way is fine to me for your share i thank you

Tzadik said...

PJ I know it's better, I still will have to see. I might try the apple loslesss (alac), assuming people can open them on VLC or something else.

Tzadik said...

Np anon, you are welcome

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much! An excellent blog!