Sergei Lyapunov - Orchestral Works (Evgeny Svetlanov)

Information

Composer: Sergei Lyapunov; Mily Balakirev

Solemn Overture on Russian themes, Op. 7
Żelazowa Wola, in memory of Chopin, Op. 37
Hashish, oriental symphonic poem, Op. 53
Polonaise, Op. 16
Balakirev - Islamey (orch. Lyapunov)

USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor

Date: 1986
Label: Melodiya

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Review

Lyapunov was a pupil of Tchaikovsky and more crucially, of Balakirev, whose formidably interventionist teaching methods he repaid with the lively orchestration of Islamey here recorded. There will be English music lovers, amateur pianists especially, who know his name as a composer of studies and other short pieces, some of whose titles and nature indicate an affinity for Poland in general, stronger than is common among Russians, and for Chopin in particular. His Polonaise is an energetic piece, cheerful, of no great moment, but genuine in its enthusiasm for the dance form and showing nothing of the sarcastically empty glitter with which some of the greatest Russian composers, Glinka and Mussorgsky among them, have indicated their corn for their Western neighbours.

The most attractive piece recorded here, indeed is the tribute to Chopin, named after his birth-place Zelazowa Wola. The somewhat inadequate sleeve-note indicates a programme concerning the infant Chopin surrounded by Polish folk-music and then (beautifully scored in the central section) by the melody of the famous Cradle song. The involvement is subtler than that; no mention, for instance, is made of the fact that the opening makes use of one of Chopin's strangest and most searching Mazurkas (Op. 17 No. 4 in A minor: here in B minor), which returns several times and closes the work on its drifting, harmonically enigmatic chords.

The Solemn Overture on Russian Themes is a fairly predictable piece of work that might have been written in an idle moment by the composer Lyapunov succeeded at the Imperial Chapel: Rimsky-Korsakov. It begins with jubilant, ceremonial panoply, moves into a lively dance, turns to a lyrical cor anglais solo, and goes through the paces of a not very testing fugato before rounding matters off cheerfully. It is well scored, in Rimsky-Korsakov vein: the recording makes rather heavy weather of the bass here and throughout the record, though it is perfectly acceptable. The ''Oriental Symphonic Poem'' Hashish is based on a poem by Golenishchev-Kutuzov (also poet of two of Mussorgsky's song cycles); and I suppose the nature of the enterprise pre-empts the criticism that it seems incoherent.

-- John Warrack, Gramophone

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Sergei Lyapunov (30 November [O.S. 18 November] 1859 – 8 November 1924) was a Russian composer and pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Karl Klindworth (piano) and Sergei Taneyev (composition). More attracted by the nationalist elements in music of the New Russian School than by the more cosmopolitan approach of Tchaikovsky and Taneyev, he became the most important member of Balakirev's latter-day circle. Lyapunov also enjoyed a successful career as a pianist, and made several tours of Western Europe. He is largely remembered for his 12 Transcendente Etudes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Lyapunov

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Evgeny Svetlanov (6 September 1928—3 May 2002) was a Russian conductor, composer and though less well-known, a pianist. Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. He was principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra) from 1965 to 2000. Svetlanov was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works as he covered the whole range of Russian music, from Mikhail Glinka to the present day. He was also one of the few Russian conductors to conduct the entire symphonic output of Gustav Mahler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Svetlanov

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