April 3, 2014

  • Fabulous New Monumental Gliere!

     

    Gliere: Symphony No. 3 “Il’ya Muromets”
    Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
    Naxos 8.573161
    Total Time:  71:40
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    The music of Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956) tends to fall, like so many turn of the 20th century composers, between the cracks of Romanticism and Modernism.  Quickly overshadowed by Rachmaninoff and later Prokofiev (who was one of his more famous students) and Shostakovich, Gliere’s name has managed to appear in concert through lighter fare like his most famous work the “Russian Sailor’s Dance” from The Red Poppy ballet.  Gliere’s musical aesthetic tended to continue the link to that of the Mighty Handful composers such as Mussorgsky and Glinka.  Already in Gliere’s music is that more impressionistic use of harmony coupled with brilliant orchestral writing of the Romantic period.  In this new release, one certainly hears these components in probably one of the best cases for this complete symphony.

    It may be hard to believe, but Gliere’s third symphony was completed the same year that Mahler died, 1911.  As such, it is somewhat appropriate to come to this massive work through the lens of Mahler.  However, where Mahler’s symphonies derive from a sense of religious and personal conflicts, Gliere’s finds inspiration in the mythology and Russian folk lore.  The symphony is cast in four large tone poems each with a specific storyline.  The result is that one ought to come at the work from that perspective so that these massive landscapes and picturesque stories can flow better.  One must allow the story to carry the music, letting the amazing orchestral colors do their work the first couple of listens.  Then one can begin to approach the work’s structural ideas and thematic development.

    The opening movement, “Wandering Pilgrims”, begins with a chant theme cast against a dark landscape.  As it rises out of this texture the orchestra begins to gradually increase in intensity and volume as it moves quickly to unfold the underlying inspirational narrative.  Here we first meet Il’ya Muromets who is at the castle of Prince Vladimir.  The chant tune represents pilgrims who encourage him to find the great warrior Svygator.  Once Muromets accomplishes this task, he essentially takes on the strength of this ancient warrior, represented by fabulous brass writing.  The second movement moved to follow “Solovey, the Brigand.”  Gliere begins this movement in a forest, allowing for a depiction of nature through interplay of darkness and light.  It opens with some rather unusual eerie string writing that certainly has its foot firmly in the new century but maintains great colorful writing with bird-like flutes and dark low woodwinds.  Woodwinds are used to represent Solovey’s whistle and the moment he is struck by an arrow.  His fate will find him soon roped and drug behind Muromets’ horse back to the castle where we are treated to a feast “At the Court of Vladimir” in the third, and shortest movement (a mere seven minutes compared to the 20-plus for the other three!).  The dance-like atmosphere will be interrupted by a couple of significant dramatic moments, including a beheading!   The Bogatyr Knights and Muromets head off into battle in the final movement but are defeated and turned to stone.  Gliere revisits the chant melody, as well as other references to the earlier movements, while also providing for an appropriate elegy for this great hero and a nod to a bygone age.

    No less than the great Leopold Stokowski though would champion this work and recorded the work.  His successor to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, would make a great recording of the piece in the early 1970, though these maintained a variety of cuts.  Since then, it has appeared on labels specializing in sonic reproduction such as Telarc and Chandos.  Back when Marco Polo first entered the fray, they included a Gliere cycle that featured a Slovak orchestra.  Donald Johanos actually conducted just the third symphony from that series and it was a highlight though its excitement was perhaps due as much to the players’ being challenged and with a poorer sound.  Naxos later reissued these a few years later.  Now, they have turned to one of their great discoveries, the Buffalo Phiharmonic, to perhaps revisit Gliere’s symphonic output.  The orchestra’s conductor JoAnn Falletta, has certainly helped grow this orchestra into one of the country’s premiere regional ensembles recalling its days on LP with Michael Tilson Thomas.  The number of great releases coming from the orchestra has been phenomenal and this latest release may just be one of their finest yet.  The detail in this recording allows the great variety of solos and sections to really shine through and the audio is simply perfect.  Falletta’s notes share how once approached to consider recording the work, one she always had her eye on, she determined to make it the centerpiece of the orchestra’s season.  How fortunate Buffalo audiences were to be able to hear this greatest of Gliere’s works live in concert!  Now they have a historical document to remind them how significant this event was and with stellar performances that should make all involved in this project quite proud.  There are so many amazing details brought to life that the work has an amazing freshness here that should convert even the most hesitant to the music’s worth.  Falletta has also restored the work to its original construction removing commonly taken cuts to allow the music’s overall structure to be experienced.  The result is simply amazing to hear and continuously engaging!