Valeri Lilov

Chandos’s previous Prokofiev series, recorded in the 80s with Neëme Järvi and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is still probably the most recommendable complete cycle available. Chandos now seem to feel the need to start again, the reason possibly being that they are now using ‘authentically’ all-Russian forces. Whatever the company’s motivation (or if indeed it is to be a complete cycle), the results are impressively powerful, and the coupling stimulating and generous.

The title of this disc is somewhat misleading, as there is very little music on it originally composed by Shostakovich. The Overture (Entr’Acte) to Poor Columbus was written by Shostakovich at the behest of Soviet officials to add the appropriate political “spin” to Ervin Dressel’s opera. It’s in the chaotic style of the Russian master’s other theater works of the period, notably The Nose and The Bolt. Cut from the same stylistic cloth are the Two Preludes of 1920, orchestrated by Alfred Schnittke to sound nearly as if written by Shostakovich himself.

Chandos presents the premiere recording of the one-act opera 'A Feast in Time of Plague', Three Scherzos, Op.82 and three songs for solo voice and orchestra. César Cui is the least-known member of the group of five Russian nationalist composers (with Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Borodin) who together became known as 'The Mighty Handful'. He was considered to be the most dramatic of these composers. His music is highly tuneful and approachable, full of the colour we expect from the Russian romantic tradition.

Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) is an exceptional figure in 19th-century Russian music. He had nothing in common with the Russian National School. Taneyev's abstract approach to composing was in stark contrast to the outbursts of emotion that we encounter in many of his contemporaries. People tend to call him the Russian Brahms, were it not for Taneyev's disapproval of his music. Taneyev was a composition student of Tchaikovsky and, as a pianist, provided the premieres of Tchaikovsky's works for piano and orchestra. A close friendship developed between the two, which would last until Tchaikovsky's death, despite the sincerity with which Taneyev was one of the few in the Tchaikovsky area to dare to criticize his work.

Prokofiev's score for Ivan the Terrible is some of the best film music ever written, fusing the composer's melodic gifts, his salty version of high-romantic orchestration, his love of grand church chants and thrilling marches. Despite the lack of Eisenstein's visuals, this powerful recording captures much of the film's epic grandeur, with Polyansky drawing some massive climaxes and breathtaking moments of intimacy from his forces.