Glazunov: Symphonies Nos. 5 And 8

Description

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov(1865-1936) Symphony No.5 in B flat major, Op. 55Symphony No.8 in E flat major, Op. 83Glazunov belonged to a generation ofRussian composers that was able to benefit from more professional standards ofcompositional technique, absorbing and helping to create a synthesis of thenational, that might sometimes be expressed crudely enough, and the techniqueof the conservatories, that might sometimes seem facile. His music seems tobridge the gap between the two, continuing at the same time a romantictradition into a world that had turned to eclectic innovation. As a young man,he worked closely with Rimsky-Korsakov, to whom Balakirev, his mother'steacher, had recommended him, and played an important part in the education ofa new generation of Russian composers such as Shostakovich.Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov wasborn in St Petersburg in 1865, the son of a publisher and bookseller. As achild he showed considerable musical ability and in 1879 met Balakirev and henceRimsky-Korsakov. By the age of sixteen he had finished the first of his ninesymphonies, which was performed under the direction of Balakirev, whoseinfluence is perceptible in the work. The relationship with Balakirev was notto continue. The rich timber-merchant Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev had beenpresent at the first performance of the symphony and travelled to Moscow tohear Rimsky-Korsakov conduct a second performance there. He attended the Moscowrehearsals and his meeting with Rimsky-Korsakov was the beginning of a newinformal association of Russian composers, perceived by Balakirev as a threatto his own position and influence, as self-appointed mentor of the Russiannationalist composers. Glazunov became part of Belyayev's circle, attending hisFriday evenings with Rimsky-Korsakov, rather than Balakirev's Tuesday eveningmeetings, and in 1884 Belyayev took him to meet Liszt in Weimar, where the FirstSymphony was performed.In 1899 Glazunov joined the staff of theConservatory in St Petersburg, but by this time his admiration for his teacherseems to have cooled. Rimsky-Korsakov's wife was later to remark on Glazunov'sadmiration for Tchaikovsky and Brahms, suspecting in this the influence ofTaneyev and of the critic Laroche, champion of Tchaikovsky and a strongopponent of the nationalists, a man described by Rimsky-Korsakov as the Russianequivalent of Hanslick in Vienna, a comparison that, from him, was not entirelycomplimentary.Glazunov, however, remained a colleagueand friend of Rimsky-Korsakov, and demonstrated this after the politicaldisturbance of 1905, when the latter had signed a letter of protest at thesuppression of some element of democracy in Russia and had openly sympathizedwith Conservatory students who had joined liberal protests against officialpolicies. Rimsky-Korsakov was dismissed from the Conservatory, to be reinstatedby Glazunov, elected director of an institution that, in the aftermath, had nowwon a measure of autonomy, Glazunov remained di