Yevgeny Svetlanov (conductor)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Overture to The Queen of Spades, op. 68
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, CD87
La Mer, CD111
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
5 Études-Tableaux, P160, nos. 2 and 5 (orch. Ottorino Respighi)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34
Philharmonia Orchestra (Tchaikovsky, Debussy)
BBC Symphony Orchestra (Rachmaninoff)
London Symphony Orchestra (Prokofiev)
rec. 1979 (Prokofiev), 1999 (Rachmaninoff), 2001 (Tchaikovsky, Debussy), London
ICA Classics ICAC5181 [66]
Yevgeny Svetlanov, who died in 2002, was seen in this country as the archetypal Russian conductor, with performances full of unbridled, sweeping passion. That impression is not that far from the truth except, as this fine CD demonstrates, there was much more to Svetlanov than that stereotype suggests.
Chronologically, the programme works backwards, from Svetlanov’s 2002 concerts with Philharmonia, then his appearances with the BBC SO a few years earlier, and finally all the way back to 1979 with the LSO. All these took place in London’s Royal Festival Hall, and all were recorded originally by the BBC. The live recordings are far from perfect, but are nevertheless entirely acceptable, and there is very little in the way of disturbing audience noise (bar one infuriating cough at a magical moment in the Debussy Prélude).
In his homeland, Svetlanov was most celebrated for his work in the opera house, and he conducted at the Bolshoi for many years, including a spell as its director from 1962-64, so the brief but powerfully emotional overture to Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades makes a suitable opener, and is given a characteristically no-holds-barred reading. The booklet notes contain lots of fascinating comments from musicians who played in these concerts; Andrew Smith, the Philharmonia’s timpanist at the time, tells how Svetlanov wanted the brass to sound ‘almost brash in their intensity’, something that was not appreciated by David Mason, although John Wallace, who succeeded him as principal trumpet, was quite happy to give Svetlanov what he wanted – the works! – and you can hear that in the tremendously forthright brass playing in the Tchaikovsky.
Debussy, of course, requires something rather different, but in both the Debussy works here Svetlanov reveals another side to his musical personality. In the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, he balances the complex textures superbly (balance being the job of the musicians, including the conductor, and not the sound engineers), and allows the wonderful players – masterly performers such as Kenneth Smith (flute), Gordon Hunt (oboe), Robin O’Neill (bassoon) – freedom to shape their beautiful solo lines. As well as delicate intimacy, Svetlanov finds the essential intense emotional core of this great work, often revealed in great stillness.
The same ineffable qualities persist in La Mer, though of course there’s much more physical dynamism here than in the Prélude. The detail is all there, but the climaxes are built with huge energy, and Svetlanov’s instinct to give the orchestra its full head at the big moments make for an exhilarating experience. Of course, as anybody who has been to a few concerts will know, funny things can happen in live events, and the ending of La Mer is an interesting case in point. Debussy writes a brilliant final chord for pretty well the full orchestra, all placed high in their registers, and supported by a cymbal roll. That cuts off abruptly on the first beat of the final bar, followed by a final ‘thump’ in timpani and strings. – but it doesn’t quite happen like that in this performance; that ‘thump’ is simultaneous with the cut-off of the full orchestra chord. It doesn’t really matter that much, except that it’s clearly not what Debussy intended. Was it just a rare error on conduct’s/orchestra’s part? Or did Svetlanov perhaps think he was ‘improving’ Debussy’s admittedly slightly accident-prone ending? We shall almost certainly never know.
Next up is the BBC SO, recorded under Svetlanov in 1999, playing Respighi’s orchestrations of two of Rachmaninov’s Étude-tableaux (‘Study-pictures’). The piano originals of these come in two sets, op.33 of 1911, and op 39 of 1914. (The op. 39 set being the last music he composed before leaving Russia for good). Despite their descriptive nature, Rachmaninov gave them no titles, but when he came to orchestrate them in 1931, Respighi, having sought Rachmaninov’s permission and discussed the music with him, was able to give them titles. Of the two here, the first is from the op.39 set, the second from op.33. I won’t pretend that the rather banal title of the first, ‘The Sea and Seagulls’, really gives much idea of the heavy-hearted, searching character of this quite extended piece (over nine minutes), but Respighi made, unsurprisingly, a fine job of orchestrating it, and the orchestra play it superbly. The other piece, ‘The Fair’, is much shorter, and is, as its title suggests, a much more extrovert piece, full of energy and brilliance.
Finally, we have the LSO in 1979, with Prokofiev’s wry Overture on Hebrew Themes of 1919, nicely shaped and characterised by Svetlanov and his players. It makes a suitably lively conclusion to this immensely enjoyable disc of Russian and French music. It reminds us, as do the delightful memoirs quoted in the booklet, what an outstanding musician and creative personality he was.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
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