Vancouver Symphony Orchestra / Bramwell Tovey

Notes by Robert Jordan
In a sense, the spirit of Mily Balakirev pervades all the music on this recording. By all accounts, he was an obstreperous curmudgeon but was charismatic enough to be the catalyst behind the late 19th-century group of Russian composers known as “The Five” (of which Borodin was a member). The colourful exoticism of Islamey - in both its original piano version and Liapunov’s orchestration - was the kind of thing to which almost every Russian composer who followed Balakirev felt attracted. The strongly nationalist leanings of “The Five” (which also included Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cesar Cui) substantially influenced the course of Russian music. The group’s traditions were present in the conservatories of Saint Petersburg and Moscow when Shostakovich and Khachaturian were students, and the influence of those traditions is never far beneath the surface of their music.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) Symphony No. 2 in B minor (1869-76)
Considering how well-crafted and memorable his music is, it is hard to believe that Borodin was not a composer by profession. He was a professor of chemistry in the Medico-Surgical Academy of Saint Petersburg and the demands of this career sharply limited his time for composition. This explains why his output was relatively small and his works typically took years to compose with some, such as the third symphony and opera the Prince Igor, never reaching completion at all. Soon after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 in January, 1869, Borodin began composition on Prince Igor - tinkering with a second symphony on the side. He gave up on Prince Igor after a few months, considering it unsuitable for operatic treatment (although he worked on it sporadically until his death in 1887). However, as he reassured his concerned friend and biographer, the Saint Petersburg critic Vladimir Stasov, “The material won’t be lost. It will all go into my second symphony.” And it did: most of the raw material of the Symphony No. 2 has its origins somewhere in Prince Igor. Along with Stasov’s reproaches, Borodin had to endure Balakirev’s lavish but frequently contradictory advice on how to proceed with his symphony. Fortunately, Borodin’s amiable nature enabled him to survive it all and he finally completed the symphony in late 1876. At the premiere the following March, the tremendous enthusiasm of Borodin’s friends was in sharp contrast to the cold indifference of both audience and critics. Borodin made a number of revisions, mainly thinning the orchestral textures in the Scherzo, and it is this version that is played in concert halls today. According to Stasov, Borodin wished to depict a gathering of Russian warrior-heroes in the first movement. If so, the terse opening theme in unison strings, almost bursting with dramatic tension, could hardly be more appropriate. The scurrying melody in the woodwinds that extends the opening theme soon metamorphoses into the tranquil second theme, its phrases borrowed from an old Russian folk tune, “The Nightingale.” Borodin interweaves all three with considerable ingenuity in the development but has them back in their original order for the recapitulation. A majestic reiteration of the opening unison theme closes the movement. A strange brass and timpani chord (a Balakirev suggestion that Borodin actually used) introduces the lightning-fast Scherzo. Repeated notes bind the movement together and, from them, a proliferation of melodies arises: a stealthy pizzicato motif in the lower strings answered by a chuckling phrase in the woodwinds is followed by an energetic, syncopated tune in the strings. Although the shapely oboe melody at the movement’s core sounds straight from the world of Prince Igor, it is not actually from the opera. Borodin intended the Andante to be a musical portrait of the legendary Russian minstrel Bayan. Of the movement’s several melodic ideas, the most memorable is the opening pentatonic melody played by a solo French horn. This theme carries the movement to a huge climax, subsides, and then segues directly into the Allegro finale that, like the first movement, is in sonata form. Borodin was proud of the finale. Its wild and exciting first subject, with alternating triple and duple meter, leads to the wistful second subject in the clarinet. They are played off ingeniously against one another in the development, the recapitulation is imaginatively varied from the exposition and the coda whirls the symphony to an exciting close.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Ballet Suite No. 1
(1. Lyric Waltz 2. Dance (Pizzicato) 3. Romance 4. Polka 5. Waltz-Scherzo 6. Galop)

The infamous denunciation of the arts in 1948 by Communist party secretary Andrei Zhdanov intensified the Stalinist terror that already had composers throughout the USSR living in mortal fear. Paradoxically, optimistic music was demanded of those terror-stricken composers but writing cheerful music under such circumstances was no easy task. So Shostakovich did the next best thing and had his colleague, composer/arranger Lev Atovmian, arrange four suites from music Shostakovich had written more than ten years earlier. The Ballet Suite No. 1, assembled in 1949, begins with the Lyric Waltz, a humorous parody of an old-fashioned music box waltz, borrowed from the 1934 Jazz Suite No. 1. The romantic Dance (Pizzicato), lyrical Romance, humorous Polka and the brash, exhilarating final Galop are all from the 1935 ballet The Limpid Stream while the whimsical Waltz-Scherzo comes from the 1931 ballet The Bolt. Shostakovich wrote proportionately little light music in his career but, as the tuneful Ballet Suite No. 1 demonstrates, he had a marvelous affinity for it before political events embittered him.

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910)
Islamey (1869, revised 1902; orchestrated by Sergei Liapunov)

On a visit to the north Caucasus in 1863, Balakirev wrote down many folk tunes, among them a Kabardian dance called “Islamey.” Several years later, in August, 1869, he heard a Tartar melody from the Crimea sung at Tchaikovsky’s home. A connection between the two tunes must have registered in Balakirev’s consciousness because he began work almost immediately on a virtuoso piano fantasy that incorporated both of them. He finished the piece just over a month later in Saint Petersburg, naming it Islamey, after the Kabardian dance, and using the Tartar melody for the lyrical middle section. Nikolai Rubinstein, the piano virtuoso who premiered the work, conceded that its technical difficulties were so ferocious that few pianists would ever be able to play it. Both Rubinstein and Franz Liszt played it throughout Europe and Islamey, more than any of Balakirev’s works, established his name well beyond Russia’s borders. Islamey was intended as a study for Tamara, a symphonic poem for orchestra and, as such, had great orchestral potential. Balakirev never orchestrated Islamey himself but his long-time colleague Sergei Liapunov completed the task in 1916. Liapunov was thoroughly versed in Balakirev’s compositional style and his lucid, colourful instrumentation honours both the spirit of the piano original and the orchestral potential whch Balakirev obviously had seen in it.

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
Gayane. Ballet Suite No. 3
(1. Cotton Picking 2. Kurdish Dance 3. Rug Weavers 4. Sabre Dance 5. Hopak)

The history of Gayane is as complex as its title is simple. Khachaturian’s earlier ballet Happiness, based on folk music from his native Armenia, was a dismal failure at its 1941 premiere. So, in a small town deep in the Ural Mountains, while Hitler’s hordes advanced on Moscow, Khachaturian reworked much of the material into a new, albeit similarly themed, ballet called Gayane. This was an instant success at its 1942 Kirov Ballet premiere in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). It was revived – with extensive musical revisions - by the Kirov in 1952 and when Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet staged the work in 1957, Khachaturian was obliged to rewrite even more of the score. The ballet had been so radically altered to fit Soviet ideology that little more than the names of the characters was retained. The action of the original ballet (from which the suite on this recording was extracted) takes place on a collective farm named Happiness and centers around its heroine Gayane and her evil husband, Ghiko. Suffice it say that, in accordance with Soviet idealism, good triumphs over evil and does so to some of Khachaturian’s most vibrant and colorful music - music as steeped in Armenian folk traditions as the story of Gayane itself is rooted in Armenian culture.

BRAMWELL TOVEY - conductor

Bramwell Tovey, the outstanding British conductor, was appointed Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony in September 2000. Bramwell Tovey conducts a huge range of works across the whole of the musical spectrum. His strong commitment to new music was demonstrated during his time as a Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where he founded a New Music Festival and was its Artistic Director for 10 years. During that time the festival premiered more than 250 new works by a broad range of international and Canadian composers. Practically all of these concerts were broadcast on the CBC in Canada. Tovey also has a strong affinity with choral works and has conducted works from Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 through to Bach’s Mass in B minor. He also has premiered new choral works including the oratorio Resurrection by Canadian composer Victor Davies. In the opera house he has conducted operas by Puccini, Strauss, Mozart, Menotti, Poulenc, Britten and most recently Stravinsky, when he conducted The Rake’s Progress with the Edmonton Opera. Further plans include the premiere of a new opera on a joint commission from the Banff Centre and the Calgary Opera for 2003. In recent seasons Bramwell Tovey has conducted orchestras across Canada including the Toronto Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. In the UK he has performed with the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Orchestra. In recent seasons he has also performed with such orchestras as the Belgian National Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Leipzig Radio Orchestra and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, where he conducted a special concert with Bryn Terfel in September 1999. His Australian debut with the Adelaide Symphony resulted in invitations to further concerts there with several Australian orchestras. In addition to conducting, Bramwell Tovey has a range of interests including composition where most recently his new Cello Concerto was premiered at the New Music Festival in Winnipeg in January 2001. He has also composed for brass band and enjoyed great success with his Requiem premiered by the Hannaford Street Silver Band in Toronto in 2000. This work was recorded in Spring 2001. Mr. Tovey is an accomplished jazz pianist and has enjoyed performing and recording in that idiom over the years. Bramwell Tovey has a well-deserved reputation as an exceptional communicator. His debut on the renowned Young People’s series of the New York Philharmonic last season resulted in an immediate invitation to conduct more concerts on that series and additional concerts as part of the New York Philharmonic’s regular season.

VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Founded in 1919, the Vancouver Symphony is the largest arts organization west of Ontario, and the third largest symphony orchestra in Canada. The VSO’s first performance was on January 26, 1919, and the symphony now performs to an annual audience attendance of more than 200,000 people. There are 73 musicians contracted for 46 weeks (2001-2002 season). More than 140 concerts are performed annually by the VSO–in the historic Orpheum Theatre, as well as in Abbotsford, South Delta, Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster, West Vancouver, North Vancouver and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on the campus of the University of British Columbia. These include a variety of concerts (classical, light classical, pops, children’s, and Christmas), as well as a host of special events featuring internationally renowned artists.