306. Mikhail Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842)

Recording

Title: Ruslan and Lyudmila
Performer: Anna Netrebko, Vladimir Ognovenko, Larissa Diadkova
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Year: 1995
Length: 3 hours 23 minutes

Review

Let's start with the nitpicking here: this opera is not a particularly dynamic one in terms of setting and songs. It works basically by having one character doing his thing, leaving and another character doing his piece, sometimes for long periods of time. Even duets are a bit rare here, it works mainly as a succession of songs with little interactivity between the characters.

That being said the music is beautiful, really beautiful. The folk influences reveal an astounding depth of originality to the work and the birth of a whole new school of Russian music. In fact Glinka is the father of Russian music that will bring such joys to this list in the future. Much like Wagner creates the Teutonic music par excellence in Germany at this time so is Glinka doing the same for Russia.

The setting is an appropriately fairytaley pre-historic pagan Russia and there are giants, dwarves, sorcerers, witches, brave warriors and enchanted princesses. The whole thing has an air of the fantastic about it and the music is extremely evocative. The Russian obsession with "Orientalism" is already present in this work, the use of Eastern folk elements actually adds to the whole ambience of the album. A beautiful work and a majority important one. Also the DVD that corresponds to this recording is amazing to watch, even if Netrebko is a shit actress the production is so rich and beautiful that this is an essential Opera DVD.

Final Grade

10/10


Trivia

From Wikipedia:

he opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin. The multi-authored Russian libretto was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik, and N. A. Markevich, among others. Pushkin's untimely death in the famous duel prevented him from writing the libretto himself as planned.

Anna Netrebko sings "Grustno mne, roditel dorogoy!" in the first act:

305. Robert Schumann - Piano Quintet (1842)

Recording

Title: Piano Quintet
Performer: Martha Argerich, Dora Scharzberg, Lucy Hall, Nobuko Imai, Misch Maisky
Year: 1994
Length: 30 minutes

Review

While Schumann's string quartets did nothing for me, his piano quintet is a completely different story. This just comes to reinforce the idea of how much better he is at piano pieces than at other types of chamber music.

The piano is the driving force here, and the string play against it in a great way. All movements are memorable and touching be it the sprightly first movement or the funereal second movement.

So yes, that rarest of things, a chamber piece I really enjoy. The five instruments make the whole thing almost orchestral while retaining the delicate characteristics of chamber music. Good stuff indeed.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Schumann was the first romantic composer to pair the piano with the string quartet. "In the first happiness of reunion with the piano, his creative imagination took on a new lease of life," writes Joan Chisell. The ensemble was later used by many composers; some of the well-known quintets are by Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák, César Franck, Edward Elgar, and Dmitri Shostakovitch.

Second movement, maybe a little too starry, album version is better:

304. Giuseppe Verdi - Nabucco (1842)

Recording

Title: Nabucco
Performers: Tito Gobbi, Elena Suliotis
Conductor: Lamberto Gardelli
Year: 1966
Length: 2 hours 10 minutes

Review

Germans, Austrian and other central Europeans have, up until now, ruined opera for me... Frankly the Italian thing is never as good as great Mozart or Wagner. This is true even of Verdi... I might still be proven wrong, but I don't think so.

Nabucco is a perfect example of this, the action is too convoluted, the emotions too cartoony, the singing exagerated, the musical often too comedic for the situation, the libretto weak.

This is not to say that it isn't a good Opera, because it is that as well, it has great moments such as Va Pensiero and a couple of duets but too much of the action happens off stage between acts, the singing is way too prominent. There is little notion of Opera as a multimedia experience as a complete work of art, just as a more interesting way to play vocal music. Looking forward to Glinka soon, though.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The soprano role of Abigaille is unique in that it has been the downfall of a number of singers. Elena Souliotis and Anita Cerquetti sang it before they were ready, and its high tessitura ruined their voices. Maria Callas sang it only three times and only a live performance from 1949 was recorded. Leontyne Price and Joan Sutherland refused to sing it. While no soprano has become known as a "great Abigaille", Ghena Dimitrova (1941 – 2005) and Jadranka Jovanovic were a notable exponent of the role.

Va Pensiero:

303. Robert Schumann - String Quartets (1842)

Recording

Title: String Quartets Op. 41
Performer: Ysaÿe Quartet
Year: 2003
Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Review

So we have here three string quartets by a composer better known for his piano, vocal and orchestral music. However, these quartets are quite lovely, which isn't to say that they are that spectacular.

Unfortunately they don't really get my juices flowing. They are really enjoyable, and they really shine on some lovely slow movements, but there has been plenty of Schumann which I've preferred on this list.

That being said, with a few exceptions, I am not a particular fan of the Chamber music genre, I am much more of an Orchestral, Vocal and Operatic type. These stand kind of next to the Mendelssohn String Quartets in my mind, in which they were clearly inspired, nice but nothing to write home about.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Schumann exerted considerable influence in the nineteenth century and beyond, despite his adoption of more conservative modes of composition after his marriage. He left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Partly through his protégé Brahms, Schumann's ideals and musical vocabulary became widely disseminated. Composer Edward Elgar called Schumann "my ideal."

no. 3:

302. Felix Mendelssohn - Symphony no. 3, "Scottish" (1842)

Recording

Title: Symphonies no.3 & 4.
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Year: 1989
Length: 42 minutes

Review

Another pretty great orchestral work on the list. However I cannot really compare Mendelssohn's orchestral skills with Wagner or Berwald, Mendelssohn shows himself again as the conservative type.

This is not to say that this symphony is not a step forward for Mendelssohn, because it is. He even uses folk tunes in the second movement! Astounding. Mendelssohn seems, interestingly to be tuning in to the epic feel of his contemporaries orchestral work. Which shows him as not completely removed from his time but trying to walk a thin line between classicism and romanticism.

This is the Mendelssohn piece where he is most clearly Romantic, at least up until this point on the list, the only other of his works which has been here which was undoubtedly romantic was the Hebrides, another work with a Scottish theme. So Scotland seemed to have done him some good.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It is thought that a painting on a Scotland trip made by Mendelssohn had inspired the 33-year-old composer, especially the opening theme of the first movement. The emotional scope of the work is wide, consisting of a grand first movement, a joyous second movement of possibly Scottish folk music, a slow movement maintaining an apparent struggle between love and fate, and a finale that takes its components from Scottish folk dance. A pecularity lies in the coda of the finale, where he introduces a complete new German majestic theme to close the work in a completely different manner from the rest of the finale. It was conceived as early as 1829 during Mendelssohn's trip to Scotland, but was not completed until 1842, and was not published in full score until the following year. The symphony was dedicated to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Its premiere took place on 3 March 1842 in Leipzig.

First Movement, Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

301. Franz Berwald - Symphonies (1842-5)

Recording

Title: The Four Symphonies
Performer: Malmo Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sixten Ehrling
Year: 1996
Length: 2 hours

Review

These are what makes this list so good. Those great discoveries that come seldomly but make it all worth it. Franz Berwald is a really interesting composer who made extremely exciting and innovative music and is sadly almost completely unknown.

These four symphonies are each and everyone of them a joy, all different but all of them pretty astounding. My personal favourite is number three a bombastic thing which almost reminds you of Wagner, and in terms of orchestral innovation there is a lot in common with Wagner here.

Berwald is capable of both rousing and extremely beautiful music, as can be seen in the two last symphonies. A really great set of works that really need to be listened to.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Franz Adolf Berwald (July 23, 1796 – April 3, 1868) was a Swedish Romantic composer who was generally ignored during his lifetime. Due to this, he was forced to make his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory.

From Wikipedia:

First Part of the First movement of the third symphony:

300. Robert Schumann - Piano Quartet (1842)

Recording

Title: Fantasiestucke, Piano Trio No.3, Piano Quartet
Performer: Florestan Trio, Thomas Riebl
Year: 1999
Length: 28 minutes

Review

I think Schumann is really coming into his own lately. After a bunch of short piano collections which left me cold, his later piano work, songs, symphonies and in this case chamber works have left me much happier with him.

This quartet is a perfect example of what I mean, it is a shining example of romanticist composition while the use of a viola make the music sometimes harken back to a much older age.

The slow movement here, the third one, is a lovely piece of melodic composing, however the other movements really don't let the side down, and the highlight goes to the first movement. So it is a quite accomplished piece of work, none of the movements are that different in qualitative terms from any of the others, the piece flows marvellously. Getting married to Clara really helped his stuff.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Piano quartets for that standard lineup were written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák and Gabriel Fauré among others. In the 20th century, composers have also written for more varied groups, with Anton Webern's Quartet, opus 22 (1930), for example, being for piano, violin, clarinet and tenor saxophone, and Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940) for piano, violin, cello and clarinet. An early example of this can be found in Franz Berwald's quartet for piano, horn, clarinet and bassoon (1819), his opus 1.

Third Movement: