Volume 1
His Mari Dances are very romantic. They amount to an overture in sections. The first section starts with one of those long uncomplicated melodies of the Russian steppes characteristic of Rimsky in Antar. It rises in splendid string carillon towards more complex tonalities. These are never strained. In fact the music rather sounds as if John Williams might have been listening to Eshpai. Towards the end there is an atmospheric 'whistling' solo violin and then (6.28) a buzz-saw wasp flight of a scherzo dashes in. The bounce and élan reminds me of Khachaturyan but this impression soon decays into the mood of the first section where the tune (implying great lonely distances) is intoned by the cor anglais. The tune is of some stature: robust and long-limbed, rising in passion over barking brass.
The very recent violin concerto is spikily Bartokian; full of darkly tossing and turning energy. Insect clouds alternate with flaming landslides of sound. Strenuous fireworks, hoarse violin figures and a quietly threnodic contemplation are all there. This is a pocket concerto like the Knipper and Rakov concertos but it is a tougher nut to crack than either of those pieces. The final section is jazzy and resembles, in spirit, Bernstein's Candide overture. This is a live performance complete with applause and surprisingly few coughs.
The second symphony at first comes over as a concerto grosso complete with neo-classical 'jerkiness'. The sound world is not at all abstemious, adopting a Goossens-like 'big band' approach. There are dashes of Shostakovich-like gutsiness in there. At 3.35 the tender middle section conjures visions of emerald green and white-flecked depths. Hansonian brass writing intermittently stalks the pages. The symphony is in two tracks. The second track begins with the balalaika (oddly like The Godfather theme): sentimental stuff. This is a clock-slowing meditation rising at 4.20 and taking up the theme. This then gives way to a pizzicato string episode (5:53) clearly inspired by Britten's Simple Symphony. At 8.08 the balalaika returns but with the addition of the high harmonics of a solo violin (Pettersson 7). The symphony ends with somehow congruous Hispanic stateliness. The second symphony was highly regarded by Kodaly. The liner notes are principally by Victor Ledin. Alla Bogdanova and Dmitri Ukhov also contribute. The notes (7pp) are in English only. The playing time seems rather short, though the repertoire is precious.
No-one who loves the modern Russian romantics will want to miss this disc. If you enjoy this then try the other Eshpai symphonies from Albany. Also do try to track down Rostislav Boiko's symphony No. 2 and Valentin Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5. A warm welcome for this rather special Albany disc.
Rob Barnett (Reviewer)