Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859-1935) & Reinhold Glière (1875-1956),too!

[cilgwyn]

Two lovely First symphonies by Russian composers! Ippolitov-Ivanov & Gliere (Played by Bamberg SO/ Brain & BBCPO /Downes,respectively):

     

I've listened to all the available music I can get my hands on by Ippolitov-Ivanov,besides the 'famous one',and so far,I've enjoyed everything I've heard! I've also been rather surprised at how good his "other" music is! Nothing quite as catchy or memorable,perhaps, as The Procession of the Sardar,but all delightfully orchestrated and atmospheric in the best tradition (or near) of Russian nationalist composers of the period. Rimsky-Korsakov was envious of his orchestration,apparently;but Rimsky-Korsakov was better at tunes! And as good as Ippolitov-Ivanov is I really don't think he can match R-K at his best! Still,in his own quieter way,there's much to enjoy & listening to it,I can't help thinking what his First Symphony would have sounded like under a Beecham or Svetlanov or Ansermet,perhaps? Even Melodiya seemed to ignored his "other" orchestral works,though! A cursory look found a Symphonic Poem and that was about it!

And while Glière's celebrated blockbuster Third has enjoyed multiple recordings (albeit,previously subjected to brutal cuts!) his Second Symphony only appears to have received three recordings. One of them an ancient one conducted by the composer,himself! (I wish he'd recorded No 3!) and No 1,which I've been listening to this afternoon,only three.One of them an ancient recording conducted by Glière,himself! And then there's The Red Poppy ballet! I remember being astonished that this colourful,tuneful ballet had never been recorded 'complete' by the Melodiya label. Only the usual suite. (Although,it may have been broadcast on Russian radio or tv,at some time or another?) It took Chandos to make the majority of this composers hugely entertaining and magnificently orchestrated music available. Of the two composers,I would rate Glière the highest. He's such a fabulous orchestrator and his Third Symphony is one of the great masterpieces of Russian Nationalism,imo. Glière's First is not on the same level,but it's full of delightful,imaginative orchestration & in it's own quieter way,makes an ideal companion to Ippolitov-Ivanov's First Symphony,on the cd-r I have made!

[Santo Neuenwelt]

Ippolitov-Ivanov if you are not familiar with his smaller works, you are missing out. For example

Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op.8
Spanish Serenade for Viola and Piano (1897)
String Quartet in a minor, Op.13
Piano Quartet in E flat Major, Op.9
An Evening in Georgia, Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano, Op.71

There are recordings of all but the string quartet and piano quartet. Soundbites of the string quartet can be heard on the Edition Silvertrust website  http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/ippolitov-Ivanov-string-qt.htm  And a movement of the piano quartet is on Youtube.

As for Gliere, in my opinion, without any doubt, his best music is his chamber music
His four string quartets and three string sextets for which he won several prizes. While the sextets were composed when he was a yount man, the quartets were composed throughout his life and it is interesting to see how he evolved under the Soviet Stalinist regime. The first two were written in Tsarist Russian, the last two in Soviet times.

[cilgwyn]

Thank you,Santo for pointing me towards this. I like chamber music very much and I will get around to listening to it as soon as I can! :)

[guest264]

The string quartet can be heard here:
https://archive.org/details/cd_savonlinna-quartet_ippolitov_ivanov-raitio

[guest264]

A full performance of the Piano Quartet can be found here:

[cilgwyn]

Thanks very much for the hyperlink. I'll have to listen to this. :)