Glazunov: The Sea / Oriental Rhapsody / Ballade

Description

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865-1936) The Sea, Op.28Oriental Rhapsody, Op.29Ballade, Op.78 Cort?¿ge solennel, Op.91It is becoming increasingly unnecessary to defend thereputation of Glazunov. He belonged to a generation of Russian composers thatwas able to benefit from more professional standards of compositionaltechnique, absorbing and helping to create a synthesis of the national, thatmight sometimes be expressed crudely enough, and the technique of theconservatories, that might sometimes seem facile. Glazunov worked closely withRimsky-Korsakov, to whom Balakirev, his mother's teacher, had recommended him,and played an important part in the education of a new generation of Russiancomposers such as Shostakovich. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was born inSt Petersburg in 1865, the son of a publisher and bookseller. As a child heshowed considerable musical ability and in 1879 met Balakirev and hence Rimsky-Korsakov. By the age of sixteen he had finished the first of his nine symphonies,which was performed under the direction of Balakirev, whose influence isperceptible in the work. The relationship with Balakirev was not to continue.The rich timber-merchant Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev had been present at thefirst performance of the symphony and travelled to Moscow to hear Rimsky-Korsakov conduct a second performance there. He attended the Moscow rehearsalsand his meeting with Rimsky-Korsakov was the beginning of a new informalassociation of Russian composers, perceived by Balakirev as a threat to his ownposition and influence, as self-appointed mentor of the Russian nationalistcomposers. Glazunov became part of Belyayev's circle, attending his Fridayevenings with Rimsky-Korsakov, rather than Balakirev's Tuesday evening meetings.Belyayev took Glazunov, in 1884, 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 colleague andfriend 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 director of the Conservatory until1930. In 1928 he left Russia in order to attend