Glazunov: Chopiniana / Overtures On Greek Themes

Description

Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936)Overtures on Three Greek Themes Serenades Nos 1 & 2 Triumphal March ChopinianaIt 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 (whichmight sometimes be crudely expressed), and the technique of the conservatories(which 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 in St Petersburgin 1865, the son of a publisher and bookseller. As a child he showedconsiderable musical ability and in 1879 met Balakirev and henceRimsky-Korsakov. By the age of sixteen he had finished the first of his ninesymphonies, and this 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. Belyayev took Glazunov, in 1884, to meet Liszt in Weimar, where theFirst Symphony was performed.In 1899 Glazunov joined the staff of the Conservatory in StPetersburg, but by this time his admiration for his teacher seems to havecooled. Rimsky-Korsakov's wife was later to remark on Glazunov's admiration forTchaikovsky and Brahms, suspecting in this the influence of Taneyev and of thecritic Laroche, champion of Tchaikovsky and a strong opponent of thenationalists, a man described by Rimsky-Korsakov as the Russian equivalent ofHanslick in Vienna, a comparison that, from him, was not entirelycomplimentary.Glazunov, however, remained a colleague and friend ofRimsky-Korsakov, and demonstrated this after the political disturbance of 1905,when the latter had signed a letter of protest at the suppression of someelement of democracy in Russia and had openly sympathized with Conservatorystudents who had joined liberal protests against official policies.Rimsky-Korsakov was dismissed from the Conservatory, to be reinstated byGlazunov, 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 the Schubert cele