Rachmaninov Rozhdestvensky

Horacio Gutierrez was born in 1948 in Habana... In 1970 Horacio Gutierrez took part in the 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition and got the title of laureate.

from the LP cover

While the Symphony No. 6 in C minor, Op. 58, of 1896 by Alexander Glazunov is not the most personally characteristic of his eight completed symphonies – the optimistic Third or the Olympian Fifth are more typical of his confident symphonic aesthetic – it is arguably the most typically Russian of his symphonies. Part of the reason for this is the scoring – violins in octaves above massed brass at its climaxes à la Tchaikovsky and gorgeously colorful woodwind writing in its central movements – part of it is the themes – ardent and powerful with a yearning quality characteristic of fin de siècle Russian symphonies – but most of it is the furious tone of the opening movement.

This is a very compelling performance of Tchaikovsky's Op.44. Perhaps too expansive for my taste, but skilfully well played and always convincent. Postnikova and Rozhdestvensky make a good match in this music and as a great advantage, they chose the composer's original version. While she is known to many for her recordings of the complete piano output of Tchaikovsky and all five piano concertos of Prokofiev, Viktoria Postnikova has played a broad range of solo, chamber, and concerto repertory, from J.S. Bach and Haydn to Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Shostakovich. In addition, Postnikova has played less traditional fare by Busoni, Ives, and Janácek, and contemporary works by Schnittke and Boris Tishchenko.

Nikolay Yakovlevich Myaskovsky (1881-1950), the Musical Conscience of Moscow, has been deemed by many as the greatest of Soviet symphonists. And listening to his symphonies, it is not hard to see why. Hardly free from the problems with some of the turgidness, redundancy, and plainness in the writing, his music is real stuff, hardly facile, and honest in its communicative utterance. He was indeed a Twentieth Century Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, not as an epigone, but as a man not afraid to express himself and at the same time allow his music to remain accessible.

Rachmaninov - Vespers Op.37 - Valeri Polyansky (1990)
Melodiya | USSR | SUCD 10-00105 | 1990 | 1 CD | EAC Rip | FLAC (img + cue), LOG | Covers (jpg 300 dpi) | TT 66:32 | RAR 207 MB + 3% Recovery
Classical / Choir / Vocal

S.Rachmanihov wrote "Vespers" in 1915. It is a work of large scope, fully in keeping with the requirements of the genre and style of church music. At the same time "Vespers" bears the mark of the composer's unbounded imagination and is imbued with the poetry of antiquity and the enchantment of Russian folk art.

Mstislav Rostropovich's 75th birthday is the occasion for this two-disc set of prime recordings by the protean artist. The Dvorák Concerto with Karajan's overrefined conducting, one of the better of the cellist's five recordings of this masterpiece, is not as lively as his version with Ozawa or as idiomatic as his early recording with Talich and the Czech Philharmonic in monophonic sound. The Schumann Concerto, here with Rozhdestvensky and the Leningrad Philharmonic, is incisively Romantic, but disciplined and done with a ravishing tone, vividly recorded.

Our series of historic radio recordings from Russian archives has proved very popular all over the world. Many people have chosen performance over recording quality. – which, when necessary, we have improved optimally. – Thus allowing themselves the infinite joy of listening to legendary performers. The musicians in this large set are all (living) legends indeed: pianists, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Lazar Berman, Evgeny Kissin; violinists David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Viktor Tretiakov and Gidon Kremer; cellists Rostropovich and Daniel Shafran. Solo works, chamber music and works with orchestra are included.

Our series of historic radio recordings from Russian archives has proved very popular all over the world. Many people have chosen performance over recording quality. – which, when necessary, we have improved optimally. – Thus allowing themselves the infinite joy of listening to legendary performers. The musicians in this large set are all (living) legends indeed: pianists, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Lazar Berman, Evgeny Kissin; violinists David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Viktor Tretiakov and Gidon Kremer; cellists Rostropovich and Daniel Shafran. Solo works, chamber music and works with orchestra are included.