1. Violin Concerto in A minor Op.82

Sergei Stadler, violin
The Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Vladimir Ponkin

2. Piano Concerto No.2 in B major Op.100

Dmitri Alexeiv, piano
U.S.S.R. Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Yuri Nikolaevsky

3. Saxophone Concerto in E flat major Op.109

Lev Mikhailov,saxophone
The Soloists Ensemble of the U.S.S.R. Radio Sym Orch.
Conducted by Alexander Korneiev

During his stay in Paris late in life, Glazunov heard the saxophone-rich band of the Garde Républicaine and was inspired to write two saxophone works: a chamber piece for four saxophones and this concerto for alto sax and string orchestra. Glazunov seems immune to the saxophone jazz that had invaded Paris; the concerto is entirely classical, although it does include some of the mildly folk-like themes akin to what Glazunov had employed in his earlier Russian scores. The one-movement work is a free rhapsody, essentially lyrical and sometimes melancholy, with a few extroverted scherzo interjections. For the most part, the strings keep to an unobtrusive supporting role. The tempo frequently changes and the concerto requires the soloist to demonstrate every musical skill: smooth, cantabile playing in the many slow sections; tonal control across a wide dynamic range as the melody winds up and down the scale; and, in the most intricate, animated passages, nimble fingering and effective glissandos. At almost the exact midpoint, the saxophone takes a long, increasingly agitated cadenza that dies away into a pathetic, sighing gesture; this is the basis of a sardonic transition to what initially seems to be a tarantella finale. Glazunov doesn't maintain the dancing rhythm all the way to the end, though; the soloist reminisces about the earlier, more lyrical themes while remaining animated, and the concerto concludes with trills and conventional bravura gestures. ---James Reel, Rovi

This attractive violin concerto, small but offering plenty of special effects for the soloist, is probably the most widely played of Glazunov's works. It elegantly wraps up various Romantic takes on the concerto idea into an easily grasped package. The three movements of the traditional concerto are contained within the fast-slow-fast structure of this work's single movement, and the entire work, moreover, unfolds from the melodic material stated at the beginning, giving the concerto the character of a single sonata form movement. The moody slow section serves as a "development" of the opening material and builds to a spectacular cadenza. The final section, serving the function of a recapitulation, unleashes more soloistic fire. This concerto was a concert-hall favorite in the first half of the twentieth century and has continued to hold the stage even as most of Glazunov's other work has declined in popularity outside Russia. ---Rovi

Cast in a more traditional form -- that is, in three movements -- than the composer's Piano Concerto No. 1 (1911), Alexander Glazunov's Piano Concerto No. 2 is an altogether more reserved and mature work than its predecessor. The opening theme of the first movement (Andante sostenuto), which sets the mood for the entire work, forms a foundation upon which the composer liberally sprinkles dance-like rhythms and carefully crafted decorative motifs. The brief but powerful Andante draws much of its inspiration from the thematic material of the lyrical finale of the composer's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1900). The Allegro finale is crowned by an anthem-like recapitulation of the main theme in the finest neoclassical tradition. ---Tim Mahon, Rovi

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1. Serenade no.1 op.7
2. Serenade no.2 op.11				play
3. Two Pieces op.14 – 1 Idyll
4. Two Pieces op.14 – 2 Dreams About The Orient
5. Carnival Overture op.45
6. Karelian Legend – Musical Picture op.99
7. Prelude To The Memory of  V.V. Stasov no.1 op.85		play
8. Prelude To The Memory of N.A. Rimski-Kordsakov no.2 op.85
9. Symphonic Prologue To The Memory of N.V. Gogol op.87

USSR Symphonic Orchestra
Evgeni Svetlanov - conductor 

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (10 August[2] 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor. He served as director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was also instrumental in the reorganization of the institute into the Petrograd Conservatory, then the Leningrad Conservatory, following the Bolshevik Revolution. He continued heading the Conservatory until 1930, though he had left the Soviet Union in 1928 and did not return. The best known student under his tenure during the early Soviet years was Dmitri Shostakovich.

Glazunov was significant in that he successfully reconciled nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Russian music. While he was the direct successor to Balakirev's nationalism, he tended more towards Borodin's epic grandeur while absorbing a number of other influences. These included Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral virtuosity, Tchaikovsky's lyricism and Taneyev's contrapuntal skill. His weaknesses were a streak of academicism which sometimes overpowered his inspiration and an eclecticism which could sap the ultimate stamp of originality from his music. Younger composers such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich eventually considered his music old-fashioned while also admitting he remained a composer with an imposing reputation and a stabilizing influence in a time of transition and turmoil.

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ACT ONE 
First Tableau 
1. Introduction 
2. Scene 1: Pages are exercising aux arms; others are playing the lute and the viols 
3. The deceiver. Some girls leave their work and go to dance with the pages 
4. Scene 2: Entrance of the ladies of honour 
5. Repeat of the dance 
6. Mime scene 
7. The countess' story 
8. Dances 
9. Scene 3: Mime scene 
10. Scene 4: Entrance of Raymonda 
11. Scene 5: Mime scene 
12. Scene 6: Entrance of the vassals and peasants 
13. Grand waltz 
14. "Pizzicato" (Pas de Raymonda) 
15. Repeat of the waltz 
16. Mime scene 
17. Prelude and the Romanesca 
18. Prelude and variation 
19. Mime scene 
20. Scene 7: Appearance of the White Lady 
21. Entr'acte 
Second Tableau 							play
22. Scene 8: Fantasy scene 
Third Tableau (Raymonda's dream) 
23. Grand Adagio 
24. Fantasy waltz 
25. Variation I 
26. Variation II 
27. Variation III 
28. Coda 
29. Scene 9: Mime scene 
30. Scene 10: Round of will-o-the-wisps and elves 
31. Scene 11: Day breaks 
32. Scene 12: The women and pages appear on the terrace and seeing their mistress lying unconscious 

ACT TWO 
1. Entr'acte 
2. Scene 1: March 
3. Scene 2: Entrance of Abderahman 
4. Grand Adagio 
5. Variation I (for a female dancer) 
6. Variation II (for a female dancer) 
7. Variation III (for male dancer) 
8. Variation IV (Raymonda) 
9. Grand Coda 
Act THREE
10. Mime scene 
11. Entrance of the jugglers 
12. Dance of the Arab boys 
13. Entrance of the Saracens 
14. Grand Spanish Dance 
15. Oriental Dance (Raymonda) 

Orchestra Soloists: 
Oleg Usach - trumpet 
Sergei Kalinovsky - violin 
Vera Dulova - harp 

Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra 
Evgeni Svetlanov, conductor 

Recorded in Moscow, 1961.

Of course there are more recent Raymondas and better-recorded Raymondas – though the technical standards in Moscow in 1961 were by no means wanting. But Svetlanov gets to heart of things as well as any conductor since. Armed with his usual charismatic and biting vibrancy he accords the score the full complement of fantasy, refinement, and vigour.

Armed with the sweeping strings and beefy Bolshoi brass, and with three excellent (named) principals, this orchestra is a natural for this score – preferable to the U.S.S.R State. And Svetlanov doesn’t mess about –Act I’s Page scene is full of bold gestures and powerful striving brass. Listen too the narrative unfolding of the Countess’s Story and its winding wind passages, so aptly descriptive here. The Bolshoi’s trumpet principal was Oleg Usach and his brassy, hugely vibrated sound can be heard in the Act I Dance scene. There’s also a delightful lilt and lift in the Grand Waltz and an incremental power in the Mime Scene – but what sheen and delicacy in its early stages. Here as elsewhere details are splendidly controlled by Svetlanov and there Is no sense of grandiloquence for its own sake or the feeling that he and the orchestra are turning these little movements into mere orchestral playthings.

Harpist Vera Dulova imparts some rippling virtuosity, bardic feel and, not least, romance in the Prelude and Romanesca. A real standout is the Entr’acte between scenes seven and eight where the gravity and warmth of the writing is crowned by a shattering climax dominated by Usach’s blisteringly braying trumpet. It’s not pretty – but it is exciting. The Bolshoi’s leader was Sergei Kalinovsky and his eloquent playing in the Grand Adagio is suitably memorable. So too is the way in which Svetlanov brings out the counter-themes in Scene VIII’s Coda – vital and fulsome.

Svetlanov’s ear for rhythmic buoyancy – never gabbled or over stressed - pays rich dividends in Act II’s Fourth variation, the one for Raymonda. And still he seldom misses a trick – note the wittily phrased Entrance of the Jugglers and the intense and exciting Bacchanal. The floridity of the Arrival of the Knight and King is resplendent here and for pompous nobility Svetlanov takes some beating in Act III’s Entrance scene. It was a Glazunovian coup, richly exploited by the conductor here, to follow it with the touching and delicate Classical Hungarian Dance.

As these more delicate and refined moments show, Svetlanov is alert to the Gallicisms inherent in the score as indeed he is to the more grandiloquent Borodin-derived ones as well. He strikes a fine balance, literally and figuratively, between the two. The 1961 sound is Certainly serviceable though it has its raw moments. ---Jonathan Woolf, musicweb-international.com

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1. Moderato
2. Andante Sostenuto
3. Moderato
4. Allegro

Jascha Heifetz – violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
John Barbirolli – conductor

This attractive concerto, small but offering plenty of special effects for the soloist, is probably the most widely played of Glazunov's works. It elegantly wraps up various Romantic takes on the concerto idea into an easily grasped package. The three movements of the traditional concerto are contained within the fast-slow-fast structure of this work's single movement, and the entire work, moreover, unfolds from the melodic material stated at the beginning, giving the concerto the character of a single sonata form movement. The moody slow section serves as a "development" of the opening material and builds to a spectacular cadenza. The final section, serving the function of a recapitulation, unleashes more soloistic fire. This concerto was a concert-hall favorite in the first half of the twentieth century and has continued to hold the stage even as most of Glazunov's other work has declined in popularity outside Russia. ---Rovi

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