Gliere: Symphony No. 3

Description

ReinholdGlière (1875-1956) SymphonyNo. 3 in B Minor, Op. 42  Reinhold Glière (Reyngol'd MoritsevichGlier), a Soviet composer of Belgian descent, was born in Kiev in 1875, the sonof a maker of wind instruments. He played the violin and wrote music at homeand studied for three years at the Kiev Conservatory before entering the MoscowConservatory in 1894. There he studied the violin with Hrimaly, and compositionwith Taneyev, taking lessons in harmony from Arensky and his pupil Konyus andin orchestration from Ippolitov-Ivanov. He graduated in 1900 with a one-actopera-oratorio Earth and Heaven, based on Byron.  Glière'sfirst employment was as a teacher at the Gnesin Music School, and he was tospend the summer holidays of 1902 and 1903 as tutor to the eleven-year-oldProkofiev. For two years from 1905 he studied conducting with Oscar Fried inBerlin, making his first appearance as a conductor in Russia in 1908, while hiscompositions continued to make a favourable impression. In 1913 he returned to Kievto teach the composition class at the Conservatory, of which he became directorthe following year. His former pupil Prokofiev was to appear as soloist in Kievin his own first piano concerto under Glière's direction in 1916.  From1920 until his retirement in 1941 Glière taught composition at the Conservatoryin Moscow. He showed particular interest in the music of the various ethnicminorities of the Soviet Union, making a detailed study of the music ofAzerbaijan that bore fruit in his opera Shakh-Senem, written in 1924 andperformed in Russian in Baku three years later and in Azerbaijani in 1934. Hismusicological investigations extended to Uzbekistan and other Soviet republics,while the more familiar music of the Ukraine provided him with another nativesource of inspiration.  Duringhis career Glière occupied anumber of official positions. In the early years ofthe Revolution he headed the music section of the Moscow Department of PopularEducation and was Chairman of the organizing committee of the Union of SovietComposers from 1938 until 1948. His work was officially recognised by variousstate awards, including the title of People's Artist, bestowed in 1938. He diedin Moscow in 1956.  Asa composer Glière was heir to the Russian romantic tradition, something thatbrought him official praise in 1948 when the music of Prokofiev andShostakovich was condemned. In particular his ballet music proved popular. TheRed Poppy, later known as The Red Flower, to obviate misunderstanding,satisfied polilical choreographic demands, and became a well known part ofballet repertoire from 1926 onwards, and the later ballet-score The BronzeHorseman, completed in 1949, retains a place in Soviet ballet repertoire.  Glièrecompleted his third symphony in 1911 , choosing to base it on the legend ofIl'ya Muromets, the subject of ancient Russian epic. Il'ya Muromets isdescribed as the son of a peasant and