Rimsky-Korsakov Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 9/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 57
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 550486
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Snow Maiden (second version), Movement: Introduction |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Snow Maiden (second version), Movement: Dance of the birds |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Snow Maiden (second version), Movement: Procession |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Snow Maiden (second version), Movement: Dance of the tumblers |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Introduction and Dodon's sleep |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: King Dodon on the battlefield |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Queen of Shemakha's Dance; King Dodon's Dance |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Wedding Feast, Death of King Dodon and Finale |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Mlada, Movement: Introduction |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Mlada, Movement: Redowa |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Mlada, Movement: Lithuanian Dance |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Mlada, Movement: Indian Dance |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Mlada, Movement: Ballet, Act 3, 'Night on Mount Triglav' |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra Donald Johanos, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
Composer or Director: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Label: ASV
Magazine Review Date: 9/1992
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ZCDCA772
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Introduction and Dodon's sleep |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: King Dodon on the battlefield |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Queen of Shemakha's Dance; King Dodon's Dance |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Wedding Feast, Death of King Dodon and Finale |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Tsar's farewell and departure |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Tsarina in a barrel at sea |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Flight of the bumble-bee |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: The three wonders |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Christmas night |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Ballet of the stars |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Witches' sabbath and ride on the Devil's back |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Polonaise |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Vakula and the slippers |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
Composer or Director: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Label: ASV
Magazine Review Date: 9/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDDCA772
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Introduction and Dodon's sleep |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: King Dodon on the battlefield |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Queen of Shemakha's Dance; King Dodon's Dance |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Golden Cockerel, Movement: Wedding Feast, Death of King Dodon and Finale |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Tsar's farewell and departure |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Tsarina in a barrel at sea |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Flight of the bumble-bee |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| (The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: The three wonders |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Christmas night |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Ballet of the stars |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Witches' sabbath and ride on the Devil's back |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Polonaise |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
| Christmas Eve, Movement: Vakula and the slippers |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra Loris Tjeknavorian, Conductor Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer |
Author: Ivan March
This ASV release is the most attractive Rimsky-Korsakov disc to arrive for many a year, and very generous, too. We get plenty of fine versions of Scheherazade, but the music included here is no less stimulating, and certainly no less inspired. Rimsky's orchestral palette is shown at its most dazzling and his supply of good tunes seems endless. Those who have seen Scottish Opera's splendid production of The Golden Cockerel or the more recent revival of the English National Opera's Christmas Eve at London's Coliseum, will know about this melodic fecundity. They will also have discovered that many of the best ideas are orchestral, and this seems likely to apply equally to The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
It is good to welcome back Loris Tjeknavorian to the recording studio, now conducting his own excellent Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. They have a first-rate principal trumpeter, whose fanfares at the opening of each movement of The Tale of Tsar Saltan are very arresting, and who is equally characterful in the high muted call of the Golden Cockerel, who cries his bizarre warning signal at the commencement of the opening picture of ''King Dodon in his palace''. He is later—in the wedding feast—to swoop down on the grotesquely doddering monarch and peck him to death. The doting king had been hoping to marry the delectable Queen Shemakha, portrayed by one of Rimsky's most beguilingly sinuous melodies, which the orchestra plays very seductively indeed. The diaphanous sound of the strings here is most delicate and quite lovely, and elsewhere Tjeknavorian makes the most of the many piquant wind colours, often subtle, sometimes irridescent, always highly original and imaginative—the gleaming horn chords, the chirruping flutes and piccolo, the reedy clarinet chromatics, the exquisite use of oboe timbre behind the strings, the charming plinks from the harp and the dramatic thrusts from the brass. The weirdly sinister battle-field scene is most evocatively handled (where the King's sons, as little endowed with common sense as their royal father, manage to kill each other). The third movement is very like Scheherazade, with another beguiling oriental melody and a glittering rhythmic dance for woodwind and percussion before the luscious lyrical tune returns. There is plenty of splendour for the wedding celebration.
The Tsar Saltan Suite is no less vividly evocative. The first movement—one of Rimsky's most spontaneous inspirations—is wonderfully spirited and produces a joyous, carolling horn theme, while the second atmospherically catches the movement of the waves on which the Tsarina is afloat in a barrel. The finale has striking rhythmic impetus and again shows how completely the conductor and his band are at home in this music. The famous bumble-bee then buzzes in like a British Rail 125 express on the home stretch to Paddington, and although here the ensemble might be a shade more precise, the effect is exhilarating and the imagery delightful. (In the opera the bee is the Prince in disguise, getting his own back on his wicked aunts with his nimble flight and ready sting.)
Perhaps most enchanting of all (if least substantial) is the music from Christmas Eve with its dances of stars and comets (opening with atmospheric magic) and including the Devil's droll and energetic Christmas celebration, a rhythmically strong Tchaikovskian Polonaise (here instrumental, with flashing cymbals and bass drum, though with chorus in the opera) and the haunting finale with tolling bell and processional chorale. This (like Tsar Saltan) is very much Ansermet territory, and Tjeknavorian shows a comparable ear for the glowing wind colouring and fine textural balance, while the producer/balance engineer, Brian Culverhouse provides an extremely vivid and cleanly detailed, if not sumptuous, soundpicture within the very apt ambience of the Aram Khachaturian Hall in Yerevan, Armenia. The unison violins sound a bit thin when playing lyrically above the stave (it is difficult to determine whether this is the actual orchestral timbre or a digital coloration), but in every other respect the recording is in the demonstration class.
Alongside this excellence the inexpensive Naxos collection must be counted very much second-best. The Bratislava orchestra is also a fine ensemble, and Donald Johanos finds plenty of picturesque detail for Rimsky's charming orchestral effects (especially the ''Dance of the birds'' in the Snow Maiden). But the famous ''Dance of the tumblers'' from the same work, though vigorous, is a little short on unbuttoned zest, and in The Golden Cockerel, Queen Shemakha is lacking in allure—the shimmeringly sensuous texture which is so striking on ASV is more routinely observed here. The Mlada Suite is well worth having, and its boisterous ''Cortege'', which ends the concert, has no lack of spirit. Overall the recording is bright and vivid, but though atmospheric it is not opulent and does not convey a great deal of lustrous sentience.'
It is good to welcome back Loris Tjeknavorian to the recording studio, now conducting his own excellent Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. They have a first-rate principal trumpeter, whose fanfares at the opening of each movement of The Tale of Tsar Saltan are very arresting, and who is equally characterful in the high muted call of the Golden Cockerel, who cries his bizarre warning signal at the commencement of the opening picture of ''King Dodon in his palace''. He is later—in the wedding feast—to swoop down on the grotesquely doddering monarch and peck him to death. The doting king had been hoping to marry the delectable Queen Shemakha, portrayed by one of Rimsky's most beguilingly sinuous melodies, which the orchestra plays very seductively indeed. The diaphanous sound of the strings here is most delicate and quite lovely, and elsewhere Tjeknavorian makes the most of the many piquant wind colours, often subtle, sometimes irridescent, always highly original and imaginative—the gleaming horn chords, the chirruping flutes and piccolo, the reedy clarinet chromatics, the exquisite use of oboe timbre behind the strings, the charming plinks from the harp and the dramatic thrusts from the brass. The weirdly sinister battle-field scene is most evocatively handled (where the King's sons, as little endowed with common sense as their royal father, manage to kill each other). The third movement is very like Scheherazade, with another beguiling oriental melody and a glittering rhythmic dance for woodwind and percussion before the luscious lyrical tune returns. There is plenty of splendour for the wedding celebration.
The Tsar Saltan Suite is no less vividly evocative. The first movement—one of Rimsky's most spontaneous inspirations—is wonderfully spirited and produces a joyous, carolling horn theme, while the second atmospherically catches the movement of the waves on which the Tsarina is afloat in a barrel. The finale has striking rhythmic impetus and again shows how completely the conductor and his band are at home in this music. The famous bumble-bee then buzzes in like a British Rail 125 express on the home stretch to Paddington, and although here the ensemble might be a shade more precise, the effect is exhilarating and the imagery delightful. (In the opera the bee is the Prince in disguise, getting his own back on his wicked aunts with his nimble flight and ready sting.)
Perhaps most enchanting of all (if least substantial) is the music from Christmas Eve with its dances of stars and comets (opening with atmospheric magic) and including the Devil's droll and energetic Christmas celebration, a rhythmically strong Tchaikovskian Polonaise (here instrumental, with flashing cymbals and bass drum, though with chorus in the opera) and the haunting finale with tolling bell and processional chorale. This (like Tsar Saltan) is very much Ansermet territory, and Tjeknavorian shows a comparable ear for the glowing wind colouring and fine textural balance, while the producer/balance engineer, Brian Culverhouse provides an extremely vivid and cleanly detailed, if not sumptuous, soundpicture within the very apt ambience of the Aram Khachaturian Hall in Yerevan, Armenia. The unison violins sound a bit thin when playing lyrically above the stave (it is difficult to determine whether this is the actual orchestral timbre or a digital coloration), but in every other respect the recording is in the demonstration class.
Alongside this excellence the inexpensive Naxos collection must be counted very much second-best. The Bratislava orchestra is also a fine ensemble, and Donald Johanos finds plenty of picturesque detail for Rimsky's charming orchestral effects (especially the ''Dance of the birds'' in the Snow Maiden). But the famous ''Dance of the tumblers'' from the same work, though vigorous, is a little short on unbuttoned zest, and in The Golden Cockerel, Queen Shemakha is lacking in allure—the shimmeringly sensuous texture which is so striking on ASV is more routinely observed here. The Mlada Suite is well worth having, and its boisterous ''Cortege'', which ends the concert, has no lack of spirit. Overall the recording is bright and vivid, but though atmospheric it is not opulent and does not convey a great deal of lustrous sentience.'
Rimsky-Korsakov Orchestral Works
Rimsky-Korsakov Orchestral Works
Rimsky-Korsakov Orchestral Works
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