Sergei Rachmaninov; Sergei Prokofiev - The Bells; Alexander Nevsky (Evgeny Svetlanov)

Information

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov; Sergei Prokofiev

• Rachmaninov - The Bells, Op. 35 (revised version)
• Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78

Elena Prokina, soprano

Daniil Shtoda, tenor

Sergei Leiferkus, baritone

BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra

Alfreda Hodgson, mezzo-soprano

Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra

Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor

Date: 2012

Label: ICA Classics

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Review

These live performances document the considerable talent of the Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov, a man who had a fair number of detractors during his career, but also a good many supporters. The Rachmaninov concert is an important historic event for those interested in Svetlanov, because it was his last concert. He died two weeks later.

The Bells, touted by many as Rachmaninov's greatest work (a viewpoint hard to challenge), gets an intense and powerful reading from Svetlanov. It has less rawness than Kondrashin's very excellent early-stereo recording on Melodiya. Indeed, the Svetlanov features a very chipper first movement (The Silver Sleigh Bells) and quite a lush second movement (The Mellow Wedding Bells). Not surprisingly, Svetlanov imparts intensity and darkness to the last two movements (The Loud Alarm Bells and The Mournful Iron Bells). That said, Svetlanov is less bleak in the finale than is customary, and makes you wonder whether the conductor, who had to know his days were numbered at the time, was searching out some sort of hope in this death-obsessed music.

A couple of years ago I reviewed the Serebrier-led performance of The Bells on Warner Classics and found it quite effective. That recording was also derived from a live concert and featured the same baritone Sergei Leiferkus, who sings splendidly on both recordings. The sound on this ICA Classics CD, from a decade ago, is quite vivid though there is some audience noise. So the Svetlanov account of The Bells gets a pretty strong thumbs up.

The coupling is, of course, Prokofiev's popular cantata Alexander Nevsky. Again the performance is very compelling, though The Battle on the Ice features some nervous brass playing. Alfreda Hodgson turns in fine singing in The Field of the Dead and overall I would say this recording is as good as Svetlanov's studio recording for Melodiya from the 1960s, an effort I always liked. Here, despite some imperfections in The Battle on the Ice, that movement is utterly thrilling as Svetlanov imparts a grimness and power to the buildup and a real sense of triumph later on. There are of course many other fine Nevskys, including those of Ormandy (RCA), Järvi (Chandos), Previn (Telarc and EMI) and Abbado (DG). Svetlanov's effort has very good sound for its time, though it is a bit bright. Still, because it is miked closely with good balances, you hear much detail in the scoring that is often buried in other recordings.

To admirers of Svetlanov, this recording is a must. Others who might be interested in these two masterpieces will find both performances compelling and worth their while.

-- Robert Cummings

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Arensky and Taneyev. Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also composed a number of works for orchestra alone, including three symphonies, the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and four symphonic poems.

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Sergei Prokofiev (27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where his teachers included Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Tcherepnin. His works include such widely heard pieces as Lieutenant Kijé, Romeo and Juliet, Peter and the Wolf, as well as seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.

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Evgeny Svetlanov (6 September 1928 – 3 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, composer and pianist. Born in Moscow, he studied conducting with Alexander Gauk at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1965 to 2000 he was principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra). Svetlanov was also music director of the Residentie Orchestra (The Hague) from 1992 to 2000 and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 1999. He was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works, from Mikhail Glinka to the present day.

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