Volume 2
The phantasmagorical Concerto for Orchestra is at first a sort of ‘Rhapsody in glowing Red’ (rather than Blue). Hyper-active textures, febrile activity and blazing jazziness are its hallmarks. The effect can be summarised as Shostakovich's Preludes and Second Piano Concerto meet William Schuman meets Rite of Spring meets Bernstein's Candide. The jazziness suggests acquaintance with the works of Nikolai Kapustin whose piano concertos we also need to hear. After hectic rushing action (which is to return in the last five minutes of this succinct work) you can relax into a great lush bed of healing string sound at 3.45. It is here that the jazz-muted trumpet sings a querulous melody somewhere between Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Borodin's steppes. The double bass sidles unapologetically onto the scene and yearns along to the same theme. It is much to Rodion Azarhin's credit that he makes such a touching contribution (7.37). The wide-striding brass, strings and percussion and blaring triumph of the finale is gloriously enjoyable. It is like a cross between Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances and Gershwin.
The Second Piano Concerto is in three short movements is aggressive and full of impact and fire chased rhythmic action. The level of dissonance is high in comparison to the Concerto for Orchestra. While the symphony and the Concerto for Orchestra are in stereo this is in mono - vivid and gaudily lit.
The Seventh Symphony (I believe that it is the latest) emerges from a sour malcontented dissonance soon embracing a hushed lyricism warmed by consolation. There are no popular culture invasions here unlike The Circle. The Symphony is a serious-minded and extremely concentrated piece. At 8.30 meditation is cast aside and a vexed irritable and gritty velocity bubbles to the surface. At 13.00 the music settles back into quietude with vibraphone and xylophone colouring the scenery. A heroic determination empowers the swaying power of the craggy brass line running strongly from 18.10 onwards. I find it intriguing that the contemporaneous concertos for Flute and Double Bass are much more dissonant than this work. The Symphony is much closer to Rubbra and Boiko than to the wilder shores of Krennikhov or Vainberg. This is a very fine work indeed being wonderfully sustained across 33 minutes. Highly recommended. The conductor as for the other two works on this disc is Yevgeny Svetlanov. While the other two works come from LP-era recordings this one is quite new.
If you like driven and neon dramatic music this is for you. Into the bargain you get recordings of two world premiere live events.
Rob Barnett (Reviewer)