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Side 1:
01. Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances
02. Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakoff: Russian Easter Overture, Op.36
Side 2:
01. Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain, Op. post
02. Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakoff: Capriccio espagnol op. 34 |
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Daniel Barenboin (巴倫波) 聯同芝加哥交響樂團演出多位俄羅斯作曲家作品，包括波羅奈斯舞曲及俄羅斯復活節序曲等等，Clearaudio 180g LP。
The opera "Prince Igor" by Alexander Borodin, from which these Polovtslan Dances are taken, was based on material from the 12th-century epic, "The Story of Igor’s Army", which recounts the struggle between medieval Russian principalities and their attackers, the Polovtsians. Prince Igor, who sets out to drive off the Invaders, is taken prisoner; their khan, Konchak, takes pity on him and arranges for some dances to be performed to distract the Prince from the melancholy of his captivity. The libretto was devised by the critic Stassov, but the actual text was written by Borodin himself. He inserted the dances into the first "Polovtsian Act", which occurs in Act II of the opera. The composer's aim was to contrast two totally different civilizations, but in depicting the half-oriental, half-barbarian Polovtsians he made use of Moorish and Algerian as well as more authentically Caucasian material.
In the Russian Easter Overture, composed in 1888, Rimsky-Korsakov makes orchestral use of melodies from the Orthodox liturgy to express in musical terms the atmosphere of a Russian Easter - half a Christian celebration and half a festival welcoming the return of the sun, a characteristic mixture for this composer, who was him-self an agnostic but was still profoundly attracted to the aesthetic and historical glamour of the Russian Orthodox Church. It Is surprising to find a solo violin cadenza In a work otherwise dominated by brass (with the trombone imitating the traditionally full-voiced solo chant of the Russian deacon) and an ingenious and bewildering diversity of bell-like sounds achieved by triangle, cymbals and bass-drum as well as orchestral bells. Much of the melodic material sounds familiar from works by Borodin and Mussorgsky, but this reveals the common origin rather than any mutual borrowing. Like "Scheherazade" and "Capriccio espagnol", the "Russian Easter Over-ture" is essentially an essay In orchestral color and in the creation of atmosphere and represents the reaction of an outside observer of the festival rather than that of a participating believer.
"Planned in 1866. Began to orchestrate June 12th, 1867; finished the work on the eve of St. John's Day, June 23rd, 1867" - so runs Modest Mussorgsky's note to the first score of Night on Bald Mountain. Although the piece met with a very unfriendly reception, he subsequently used much of the music in two operas: "Miada", a ballet opera he wrote in collaboration with Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Cui (1872), in which the scenes for Acts II and III were contributed by Mussorgsky, and "Sorochintsy Fair". After Mussorgsky's death, Rimsky-Kor-sakov radically revised this first version to produce the present one, which was first performed In St. Petersburg in 1886. The programme of the work is a Witches' Sabbath, and the original idea may have been suggested by Liszt's "Danse macabre". Mussorgsky's idea was to portray the gathering of the witches on St. John's Eve, the obscene glorification of their chief, Satan, and the subsequent orgy, or Sabbath, which ends as the first rays of the sun appear.
In 1887 Rimsky-Korsakov took time off from completing his new scoring of Borodin's "Prince Igor" and com-posed one of his most brilliant works, the Capriccio espagnol. This work was based on a projected "Fantasy on Spanish Themes" for violin and orchestra, which ex-plains the important pan played by the solo violin. In a la-ter draft, he planned to turn it into an instrumental piece based on Spanish folk music (theme with variations). Rimsky-Korsakov's piece in five movements may convey a tourist's view of Spain, but what the music lacks in authentic folklore touches It makes up for in great charm and verve, and it provides a handsome vehicle for individual virtuosity as well as glittering ensemble work.
Martin Cooper |
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