Customer Reviews

Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade / Russian Easter Overture / Capriccio espagnol

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the 1950s and 60s, CBS/Columbia (now Sony Classical) had the great fortune to have three of America's best orchestras and their conductors on its recording roster -- Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. Nearly a half-century later, only Leonard Bernstein remains a name that even the non-classical music world knows well. But in the world of the compact disc, this is a wonderful thing, because while Leonard Bernstein analog stereo recordings sell at mid-price, classic performances by Ormandy and Szell are regulated to the budget line. Well, my friends there is justice in the world because the vast majority of these "budget line" recordings are simply amazing. I have close to a dozen recordings of Scheherezade and Ormandy's ranks right up there with the best. (I would probably rank it behind Ansermet and Reiner though.) And I probably have even more versions of Capriccio Espagnol, and Ormandy's performance is among my favorties, along with Argenta's and Dorati's. The fact that they are all together on one CD, with the Russian Easter Overture tossed in, is where the real bargain lies. Never did something of such high quality come at such a small price. Enjoy!

I have played the previous incarnation of this CD on public radio in Australia, and found the audience responded to the grace and balance of each performance. The mastering on the other hand was, to be kind, average, even for recordings dating back to 1959, as in the case of Sheherazade. This remastered recording on the Sony Essential Classics label fixes this caveat. I thought I was listening to a modern digital recording. The dynamics and depth make you feel you are listening to a live performance. And the performance is pure Ormandy and the Philadelphia, spacious, dynamic and very romantic. Trust Sony to go the extra mile. Well done! Cool music too. According to the Oxford Companion to Music, Tchaikovsky thought Capriccio espangol was a masterpiece. Who am I to argue?

Though recorded on numerous occasions, Sheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov remains a wonderful and glorious as the day it was written. It remains one of the world's favorite pieces of music and justly so. While it may be old fashioned to admit it, I like the Eugene Ormandy version of it best of all Ormandy was the perfect conductor for this particular piece of music and the Philadelphia Orchestra the perfect means to play it. While there have been other subsequent versions, none has ever surpassed this recording for tonal richness.

This is the best version of Sheherazade I have listened to. Even the Capriccio Espagnol, which normally I don't like, has a compelling sound. I couldn't take off the earphones. Every instrument is clear, every voice weaves in and out with clarity, no voices are overwhelmed by orchestral swelling or other voices as in other recordings. I suspect this may have to do with the aggressive recording and remastering techniques as much as with the conducting, but so what? I was caught up in Rimsky-Korsakov as never before. The themes are repetitive, but his arrangements of the sounds of the orchestra are enrapturing. This CD makes these sounds delicious.

I purchased this CD because I had no recording of the Russian Easter Festival Overture. I figured that I did not need another version of Scheherazade; I already had CD versions conducted by Barenboim and Mackerras. But then I hit the play button and was swept away. If you don't have Scheherazade, this is the version to get. If you want a better one than you already have, this will likely satisfy the need.

This is one of my favorite pieces of Russian music ever composed, which is a mixed blessing in the sense that, when the music is performed the right way, it's positively revelatory, and when it's performed the wrong way, it's a massive bummer and leads to deep emotional frustration. I've heard lots of Scheherazades, including the ubiquitously lauded Reiner and Beecham discs, and I must say, for me, they can't hold a candle to this one. Here's why.

So many Scheherazades are all technique and no heart. Many listeners actually go for virtuosity and technique above emotion and pathos, which is A-OK with me (to each his own!), but those folks have tons of Scheherazades to pick from. As for the rest of us, it's a real struggle to find the one that DELIVERS. I hereby submit, my fellow sentimentalists, that this one is it!

Where some Scheherazades' second movements feature dry, passionless instrumentation, Ormandy gives the instantly recognizable violin theme a tuneful depth, richness, and just a touch of vibrato to give it the feel and tenderness of a human voice. The harps, also of note, give the dulcet sense of wonderment most Scheherazades just can't grasp. The oboes are indescribably good.

I think what I love best about this reading is that Ormandy doesn't seem at all afraid of adding just a touch of improvisation to give the work freshness and excitement. Tasteful cadenzas and flourishes abound, but never overcome compositional integrity or seem excessive. Best of all, in the passages that need to be thunderous, we get THUNDER! From the beginning of the fourth movement, the delightful reality of what this music can and is supposed to sound like crystalizes in one's mind.

In closing, don't take my word for it. Listen to Amazon's sound samples and hear for yourself how the innate magic of this piece takes wing under Ormandy's baton. Also highly recommended is Svetlanov's performance with the LSO, which is possessed of a similar spirit of emotional depth and musical richness, as is Monteux's dramatic (but pretty hard to track down) Scheherazade recording.

I found this recording one of the best for the three pieces presented.
It is a very enjoyable hour or so of listening.

To have Rimsky-Korsakov's three greatest compositions on one cd is rare. Add in the fact that this is a bargain cd costing about $7.00 and it makes the cd more attractive. And then you listen to these knockout performances by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orcestra and like me, you will hopefully realize this cd and the music it contains are hard to beat.

SHEHEREZADE (Opus 35) is the longest composition here lasting about forty minutes and comprising of four movements. Rimsky-Korsakov ranks with Beethoven, Berlioz and Mahler and one of the greatest orchestrators ever. From the loud, rasping, almost violent brass at the start representing the Sultan through the relaxed beauty of the string music in The Young Prince And The young Princess and on to the frantic bustle of The Festival at Baghdad and finally the use of the Sultan's theme to convey a shipwreck against the rocks, it is one of the most descriptive compositions written by anyone. But it is the quiet ending that makes the biggest impression. Listen to the solo violin representing the voice of Sheherezade, played by Anshel Brusilow. The final three minutes will stay with you forever with its long sustained notes in the violin's highest register.

In the wrong hands, The RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE (Opus 36) can be very slow to get going but not here. The solemn opening gives way to another Rimsky-Korsakov winning melody that the Philadelhia Orchestra unleash with all their power. The music completely grabs you, carrying you headlong to a triumphant, glorious close

CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL (Opus 34) is one of those sunny, uplifting pieces that is blessed with one of the most memorable and best loved melodies in all of Classical Music. Consisting of twelve notes in the 4th section (Scena...), you will know it immediately when you hear it. This is the best version I have ever heard. Ormandy makes Rimsky's brilliant use of orchestration sound so clear with plenty of weight and thankfully not making the piece sound rushed and breathless as is the case with Jarvi or Maazel.

The cd was recorded nearly 50 years ago but you would not guess as the performances sound so fresh and exciting; tender when required but loud and brash which this music also demands. For those of you new to classical music this is one cd I would recommend whole-hearetedly as the music is so memorable and immediately appealing without being shallow. I also think the performances of this trio of great works would make Rimsky-Korsakov proud.

SHEHEREZADE
1. THE SEA AND SINBAD'S SHIP: 10.17
2. THE STORY OF THE KALANDER PRINCE: 11.41
3. THE YOUNG PRINCE AND THE YOUNG PRINCESS: 9.46
4. FESTIVAL AT BAGHDAD; THE SEA; SHIPWRECK: 12.22

5. RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE: 14.22

CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL
6. ALBORADA: vivo e strepitoso: 1.15
7. VARIAZIONI: andante con moto: 4.53
8. ALBORADA: vivo e strepitoso: 1.20
9. SCENA E CANTO GITANO: allegretto: 5.14
5. FANDANGO ASTURIANO: 3.32

This may not be an objective review -- I grew up with Ormandy's interpretations of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. I've seen and heard Ormandy live in Philadelphia.

Even so: this remastered interpretation of Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherazade, Russian Easter Overture and Capriccio Espagnol is a must for your collection!

I will argue that Capriccio Espagnol was the most important orchestral composition of the 19th century. When first rehearsed with an orchestra by Risky-Korsakov, the musicians stopped and burst into applause after each of the five songs! They had finally been given a chance to show how much they could contribute to a major work. Tchaikovsky himself called it a masterpiece of orchestration, then he got over his jealousy by writing a similar piece, Capriccio Italien, himself!

Capriccio Espagnol is used in music classes to teach students the different sections of the orchestra. Ormandy's crisp performance is exactly what sets the standard for this piece. Far ahead of its time, this work is almost --very nearly -- a soundtrack about artistic cleverness (the smashing melody of the fourth song) and about diligence and time at the forge creating art (the march-like Saturnine second song). This is delivered with perfect exchanges between the strings, brasses and woodwinds.

After the smash hit of Capriccio Espagnol, the whole world immediately started scoring orchestral works differently. Rimsky-Korsakov had to top himself, and he did, with his next work, Sheherazade. This is the story of the bold young woman who takes on a murderous and suspicious Sultan, for whom she dances and tells tales of such quality that his grief is ultimately overcome. The music is almost a ballet and was performed as one. It is also, as the jacket mentions, almost a soundtrack; it preceeded and showed the way for the soundtracks to come decades later.

To my own ears, there are three highlights to Sheherazade that must be emphasized in performance: the melancholy of the triumphant Kalendar Prince, victorious but alone at the ramparts of his conquered city at the conclusion of the second movement; the quiet yet sensual dignity of Sheherazade herself, in the center of the garden, obviously telling the Sultan that she regards the two of them as the prince and princess of the story in the third movement; and the edgy, unnerving introduction of the fourth movement, in which Sheherazade enters to begin another tale and notices that the love that has been expressed to the Sultan has awakened his grief, and that he realizes how little trust he has and has emotionally reverted to his murderous impulses. Musically, Sheherazade backs off and begins dancing again, this time knowing that her story and dance are an immediate, life or death, matter.

Ormandy must have understood this. His melancholy Kalendar Prince, enraptured prince and princess, and edgy beginning of the fourth movement are perfect, flawless mental pictures of these qualities.

Most highly recommended. There is also a wonderful performance of Russian Easter Overture, also exquisitely remastered.

I bought this Ormandy recording of Sheherazade in the 1960s on LP, and I know it intimately. What a joy to find it reissued on CD! The sound quality was superior then and just as fresh now. The violin soloist is magnificent, the sections of the orchestra crisply discrete and clear, the stereo imaging breathtaking. Highly recommended rendering of this timeless, romantic showpiece.

Admittedly, I am a ardent fan of Eugene Ormandy. When one considers the number of recordings he made at Philadelphia, and how many are, or are, very near the best available, it gives one pause. His Scherezade is no different. I defy any listener to idenfity this recording as being made in 1959! The remastering is remarkable. I could not detect any hiss at all, but more importantly, it is a performance of vitality and urgency, and exquisite playing. I highly recommend this very technicolor performance (and as a point of reference for other listeners, I was completely under-whelmed with Beecham. Kondrashin is my second choice).