Orchestral Suites from Russian Operas
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
Russlan and Ludmilla: Suite (1842)
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Ivan the Terrible: Suite (1898)
May Night: Overture (1880)*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
The Tsarina’s Slippers: Suite (arr. Saradjeff) (1885)*
London Symphony Orchestra, *Philharmonia Orchestra/Anatole Fistoulari
rec. Abbey Road Studio 1, London, 1951, 1953
Guild GHCD 2408 [72′]
Anatole Fistoulari’s long, distinguished conducting career was, from a discographic perspective, poorly timed, Most of his monaural recordings didn’t survive far into the stereo era. His Sylvia and Giselle on Mercury were praised, but the label itself kept ducking in and out of the catalogue. His Decca recording of an orchestral suite from Walton’s Façade – no poems, just music – which I reviewed here in an audiophile transfer (HDTT HDCD152) some years back, still comes up surprisingly fresh, but hardly represents his career as a whole.
So these early-’50s productions, recorded for Parlophone – a label I’d only previously associated with historical opera – should help fill in the gaps in our knowledge. The performances, while variable, are stylish; the more pressing question is how well you accept mono sound in this richly coloured repertoire.
This selection from Glinka’s opera Russlan and Ludmilla begins with the Overture, which may seem superfluous – it’s a repertoire staple in Pops-ish concerts and collections of Russian favorites. But it’s worth remembering that in 1951, when this was recorded, it would have been far less familiar. Fistoulari’s reading is good, though the slightly shaggy sound of the string runs suggests that everyone wasn’t reaching the notes at quite the same time.
But the two characteristic dance movements have a fetching delicacy and rhythmic ease – I could imagine Richard Bonynge, in his ballet-music period, having a grand time with the waltz of the Fairy Dance. The Oriental Dances, conversely, begin as proclamatory and then richly lyrical before taking on a dancing lift. Tchernomor’s March sounds vaguely familiar, though I couldn’t tell you why.
Selections from Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas are few and far between – at least outside of Russia – so this suite from Ivan the Terrible will be useful. The Overture has the sort of brooding opening that Rimsky enjoyed, but the scampering Allegro builds quickly; the clarinet theme over smooth chords has a folklike contour, turning wistful when the horn adopts it in the recap. The first of the two Intermezzos, with its suggestion of a ticking clock or a heartbeat, is vaguely ominous; the second, after a searching piano chorale, moves into a long-breathed clarinet duet over a single-line accompaniment. The concluding Royal Hunt and Storm sounds nothing like Berlioz, especially in its meditative opening bars. The trumpet calls sound rather sprightly for a “hunt”; the piece is bustling, with protracted cadences.
The Tchaikovsky suite comes off best here. For starters, Fistoulari is working with the handpicked players of Walter Legge’s Philharmonia Orchestra – the LSO was still in its scrappy postwar rebuilding process. The 1953 sonics are also altogether more vivid, with only a touch of distortion to mar the Finale‘s tutti.
The opera identified here as The Tsarina’s Slippers is better known as Tcherevichky, as the booklet spells it, or, in biographies of the composer, as Vakula the Smith. The excerpts are typical early Tchaikovsky: Rimsky may, historically, be the great orchestrator, but Tchaikovsky, benefiting from his superior melodic craftsmanship and variety of textures, produces the more magical, delicate effects. A heartily accented passage in the repetitive Act II Introduction recalls folk influences. The Cossack Dance, oddly, sounds like it’s going to turn into the “Dance of the Little Swans.”
The producers have thrown in Fistoulari’s 1951 recording of the May Night Overture, a piece we don’t hear nearly often enough these days. The Philharmonia sounds a bit less sleek here; the conductor’s feel for the piece is good, but outclassed in analogue stereo by the gleaming Ansermet (Decca) and the full-blooded Svetlanov (Melodiya and various licensings).
There you have it. Up to you now.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
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