Igor Markevitch Tschaikovsky

Balakirev worked on the second of his twosymphonies between 1900 and 1908 and it was first performed at a Free Schoolconcert in April 1909 under the direction of Liapunov. Work on his firstsymphony had been resumed thirty years after the first sketches, with no traceof a change of style. Similarly the second symphony, which makes use of theScherzo planned in the 1860s for the earlier work, is in a style that hadpassed. This, after all, was the age of Stravinsky's Firebird. It is,nevertheless, a compelling enough work, testimony to Balakirev's craftsmanshipand to the Russian source of his his inspiration.

As with several other of Kipnis' albums, these could serve as either an eye opener for those uninitiated to the potential of the late 20th century harpsichord in the hands of these virtuoso musicians. And an introduction of the incredibly rich, varied music of the 18th Century. Igor Kipnis was so much more than a master of the keyboard, he helped introduce three generations to what the Baroque was all about.

The Song of Destiny is a dramatic overture dating from 1907 and in it and the Two Preludes on this disc Glazunov commands attention strongly. The Song uses the famous Fate theme from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and in a spirit of well-orchestrated gloom bites and strikes outwards and upwards. The atmosphere is very strong indeed and a far from obviously superior soul-mate would be Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead. One of his most powerful scores lit by Rimskian flashes.

A precocious pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov was able to add to a post-nationalist synthesis in Russian music, combining national inspiration with sound compositional technique. His Fantasy The Sea is programmatic, a homage to Wagner, and the Oriental Rhapsody follows an even more detailed and exotic narrative scheme.