Rimsky Korsacov

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RIMSKYKORSAKOV
Capriccio
espagnol
8.572693
Gerard Schwarz and his Seattle forces turn in an absolutely terrific Sheherazade: voluptuous, exotic, with a nice flexibility of
pulse, but also very exciting. You can tell this will be a fine performance from the very first bar: firm and strong, with the brass
giving the theme a menacing growl, followed by Maria Larionoffs bewitching solo violin representing the protagonist herself. The
Tsar Saltan Suite is just plain spectacular as colorful and brilliant as you could imagine. Through it all the orchestra plays with
one hundred percent commitment.
Classics Today David Hurwitz
This is spectacular, an effort in which everyone has put their best foot forward. Gerard Schwarz leads with an unerring sense of when
to be expansive, when to indulge in romantic gestures, and when to step on the gas pedal and let the music explode with passion. The
Seattle Symphony sounds world-class, with great woodwind soloists (especially the oboist), punchy brass, and a satisfying blend of
precision and expression. This Scheherazade is very nearly beyond praise.
Musicweb International Brian Reinhart
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Overture to May Night

Overture to The Tsars Bride
Overture on
Russian Themes
Overture to
The Maid of Pskov
Russian Easter Overture
Dubinushka
Seattle Symphony
Gerard Schwarz
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Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Capriccio espagnol Overtures Dubinushka
Russian cultural nationalism in the nineteenth century
had its musical reflection first in the work of Glinka and
then in that of a group of five composers, Vladimir
Stasovs Mighty Handful, dominated by Balakirev. The
group included Csar Cui, a professor of military
fortification, the young guards officer Mussorgsky,
Borodin, a professor of chemistry, and a young naval
officer, Rimsky-Korsakov. Born in 1844, this last had
followed his childhood ambition and family tradition by
entering the naval college in 1856. He had shown an
early interest and ability in music, and these he was able
to further during his naval career, which lasted until his
resignation from the service in 1872. Thereafter he spent
a dozen years as Inspector of Naval Bands, a civilian
position specially created for him, through the influence
of his family, and only abolished in 1884. This led him
to develop a particular interest in instrumentation, an
aspect of music that had fascinated him since his first
experience of opera, Flotows Indra, which he had seen
in St Petersburg in 1857.
Rimsky-Korsakovs first meeting with Balakirev,
Cui and Mussorgsky had been in 1861. A tour of naval
duty abroad, during which he wrote his First Symphony,
was followed, on his return, by a performance of the
work in 1865 under the direction of Balakirev. Relations
with the latter cooled over the years and RimskyKorsakov turned to a new circle of musicians assembled
by Belyayev, whose musical Friday evenings rivalled
the Tuesday evenings over which Balakirev had
presided. Belyayev, moreover, was able to offer
younger musicians practical support and established a
publishing-house for their benefit. Of the original group
of five, Mussorgsky died in 1881 and Borodin in 1887,
and Rimsky-Korsakov was left to undertake the
revision, completion and publication of much that they
had left unfinished. His later years were not without
their troubles. In the 1890s he suffered from bouts of
depression and there was a breach with the Imperial
Theatres when approval was not given to various new
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operas. In 1905 he was involved in support of the

student unrest at the St Petersburg Conservatory, where
he had taught since 1871 and from which he was now
dismissed, to be reinstated under the more liberal
policies that followed the disturbances. Political trouble
occurred again when his last opera, The Golden
Cockerel, was refused approval by the censors, who saw
in it an attack on the rgime. He died in 1908.
The international reputation of Rimsky-Korsakov
rests largely on his colourful orchestral works such as
the Capriccio espagnol and Sheherazade. The first of
these, intended as an orchestral showpiece and
originally planned as a fantasia on Spanish themes for
violin and orchestra, reflects the contemporary Russian
interest in the relatively exotic. It was written in the
summer of 1887, as Rimsky-Korsakov, with Glazunov,
turned their attention to the completion of Borodins
opera Prince Igor, left unfinished at the latters death in
February that year. The Capriccio starts with dawn,
Alborada, marked Vivo e strepitoso. The French horns
introduce the theme in the second section, Variazioni,
followed by the return of the opening Alborada, in even
more colourful orchestration. The Scena e canto gitano
(Scene and Gypsy Song) introduces a series of cadenzas
for horns and trumpets, solo violin, flute, clarinet and
harp respectively. A lively Asturian Fandango brings
the work to a brilliant conclusion.
May Night was Rimsky-Korsakovs second opera,
completed in 1879. It is based on a story by Gogol and
concerns tricks played on a Village Headman by his son
Levko, his rival for the favours of Hanna. The
Headman, after the intervention of a water-nymph who
has sought Levkos earlier help, finds himself finally
obliged to consent to his sons marriage. The opera
makes extensive use of folk-material, and this is
reflected in the Overture which makes full use of
themes that are later to be heard, including the waternymph music of the third act, Levkos song about
Hanna, sung by the lake in the same act, something of
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Borodins symphonies exude lyricism and panache. The First took five years to complete but is a work of seamless melodic
invention owing something to Mendelssohn, whose influence infuses it with delicious lightness. The Second Symphony is a more
explicitly Russian work, pulsing with festive and march-like elements, high-spirited and boldly nationalistic. The Third was left
incomplete, and was reconstructed and orchestrated by Glazunov with considerable facility and imagination. This release continues
Seattle Symphonys Russian music series conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
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Gerard Schwarz
Photo: Yuen Lui Studio
Gerard Schwarz has a vast repertoire that includes major

commitments to Germanic, Russian and American music.
He was Music Director of Seattle Symphony from 1985 to
2011. He currently serves as Seattle Symphony Conductor
Laureate and Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival.
Previously, he was Music Director of New Yorks Mostly
Mozart Festival, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and New York
Chamber Symphony, as well as Artistic Advisor to Tokyu
Bunkamura with the Tokyo Philharmonic. His considerable
discography of over 300 releases showcases his
collaborations with some of the worlds greatest orchestras,
including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Czech
Philharmonic, the London Symphony, Berlin Radio
Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Tokyo
Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York
Chamber Symphony and Seattle Symphony, among others.
Born to Viennese parents, Schwarz has served on the
National Council on the Arts. He has received two Emmy
Awards, thirteen GRAMMY nominations, six ASCAP
Awards, and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation Awards.
In addition, he holds the Ditson Conductors Award from
Columbia University, was the first American named
Conductor of the Year by Musical America, and has
received numerous honorary doctorates, including one from
his alma mater, the Juilliard School. In 2002, the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Schwarz with its Concert Music Award, and, in 2003, the
Pacific Northwest branch of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences gave Schwarz its first IMPACT
lifetime achievement award.
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Levko and Hannas duet in the first act and music from
the operas finale.
Rimsky-Korsakov completed his opera The Tsars
Bride in 1898. The work was first staged in Moscow the
following year by Mamontovs company. Based on a
play by Lev Alexandrovich Mey, the opera is set in the
reign of Ivan the Terrible and deals with the attempt of
the powerful oprichnik Gryaznoy to win the love of
Marfa, already promised by her father to a young
nobleman, Ivan Lkov. Gryaznoy is loved by Lyubasha,
who vows revenge on her rival. Marfa, however, is
chosen as the Tsars bride. Her lover is killed by
Gryaznoy, while Marfa goes out of her mind, poisoned
by Lyubasha, who is stabbed to death by Gryaznov, now
mistaken by Marfa in her delirium for her first betrothed,
Vanya. The Overture provides an impressive and apt
introduction to the first act, set in Gryaznovs house.
It was in 1866 that Rimsky-Korsakov, under the
influence of Balakirev, had the idea of writing his Overture
on Russian Themes. As with all his earlier works, this was
later revised, reaching its final form in 1880. The themes he
chose to use were Slava (Gloria), and the folk-songs At the
gates, the gates and Ivan has a big coat on. Modelled on
Balakirevs Overture on Three Russian Themes, RimskyKorsakovs work starts with a slow introduction followed
by an Allegro using the two folk-songs. Slava, familiar
both from Beethovens Razumovsky Quartet, Op. 59, No. 2
and from Mussorgskys Boris Godunov, heard in the
introduction, returns in the coda.
The opera Pskovityanka (The Maid of Pskov)
occupied Rimsky-Korsakov intermittently for some 25
years. The first version of his first opera was staged in St
Petersburg in 1873 and reflected the lack of technical
knowledge shared by his nationalist colleagues, to
whom the work was dedicated. After further necessary
study, he revised the opera in 1876-7, adding a
prologue, a royal hunt and storm with other incidents
and some weight of counterpoint. This new version was
not performed, but provided the necessary elements for
the Overture and Entractes, used in 1882 for a
performance of the original play by Lev Alexandrovich
Mey on which the opera had been based. The work was
revised again in 1891-2 and performed in 1896, while

the Prologue was revised as a one-act opera. The
complete opera was staged in Moscow in 1901. The
work presents a dilemma for the heroine Olga, in love
with the leader of republican opposition to the Tsar and
loving, too, her father, the Tsar. Reputed daughter of
Prince Yury Ivanovich Tokmakov, viceroy in Pskov,
she is promised in marriage to Matuta, a friend and
contemporary of Prince Yury, as she tells Tucha, a
bailiffs son, before overhearing the revelation from her
supposed father that she is the daughter of another. The
forces of Tsar Ivan the Terrible approach Pskov and
Tucha organizes resistance. The Tsars attack ends
when he finds out that Olga is really his own daughter,
but she is killed when Tucha attacks the Tsars armies,
unaware that hostilities have been ended.
The opera starts with a very Russian Overture,
opening with a recurrent fanfare and containing more
lyrical elements, related to the narrative.
Rimsky-Korsakovs Dubinushka (Little Oak Stick)
was written in 1905 and orchestrated and developed the
following year. The original song, at times banned by
the authorities in Russia, had become associated with
the student unrest of the time, in which RimskyKorsakov had become involved. It provides a rousing
little piece, orchestrated with the composers usual skill.
Written in 1886, Rimsky-Korsakovs Russian
Easter Overture, avowedly orchestrated in the style of
Glinka, is based on liturgical themes, which led Tsar
Alexander III, who had little taste for Russian music of
this kind, to forbid any repetition of the piece in his
hearing, after he had heard the first performance. The
programme of the work is explained by the inclusion in
the score of quotations from Psalm LXVIII and from St
Marks account of the Passion. The composer explained
how he saw the Easter ceremonies as related to more
primitive times in Russia. There is a slow introduction,
using the theme of Let God arise!, alternating with the
theme An angel wept. The following Allegro is filled
with the joy of Easter, the celebration of a holiday.
Keith Anderson
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Seattle Symphony
Seattle Symphony
2010-2011 Season
Photo: Ben VanHouten
First Violin
Maria Larionoff
Concertmaster
Emma McGrath
John Weller
Simon James
Jennifer Bai
Mariel Bailey
Cecilia Poellein Buss
Jun Liang Du
Ayako Gamo
Timothy Garland
Leonid Keylin
Mikhail Shmidt
Clark Story
Jeannie Wells Yablonsky
Arthur Zadinsky
Seattle Symphony, founded in 1903, was under the artistic leadership of Music Director Gerard Schwarz from 1985
to 2011. He led Seattle Symphony to international prominence, with more than 125 recordings, twelve GRAMMY
nominations, two Emmys and numerous other awards. Gerard Schwarz is now Conductor Laureate. The Orchestra,
under Music Director Ludovic Morlot, performs in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle, and
is internationally recognized for its adventurous programming of contemporary works, its devotion to the classics,
and its extensive recording history. From September through July, the Symphony is heard live by more than
315,000 people. For more information on Seattle Symphony, visit www.seattlesymphony.org.
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Second Violin
Elisa Barston
Michael Miropolsky
Kathleen Stern
Gennady Filimonov
Evan Anderson
Stephen Bryant
Linda Cole
Xiao-po Fei
Sande Gillette
Artur Girsky
Mae Lin
Virginia Hunt Luce
Eric Scott
Andrew Yeung
Piccolo
Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby
Horn
John Cerminaro
Mark Robbins
Jeffrey Fair
Adam Iascone
Susan Carroll
Jonathan Karschney
Oboe
Ben Hausmann
Stefan Farkas
Trumpet
David Gordon
Geoffrey Bergler
English Horn
Stefan Farkas
Trombone
Ko-ichiro Yamamoto
David Lawrence Ritt
Stephen Fissel
Viola
Susan Gulkis Assadi
Arie Schachter
Mara Gearman
Timothy Hale
Vincent Comer
Penelope Crane
Wesley Anderson Dyring
Sayaka Kokubo
Rachel Swerdlow
Julie Whitton
Flute
Scott Goff
Judy Kriewall
Zartouhi Dombourian-Eby
Cello
Eric Gaenslen
Susan Williams
Theresa Benshoof
Diliana Momtchilova
Bruce Bailey
Meeka Quan DiLorenzo
Roberta Hansen Downey
Walter Gray
Vivian Gu
David Sabee
Bass
Jordan Anderson
Joseph Kaufman
Jonathan Burnstein
Jennifer Godfrey
Travis Gore
Jonathan Green
Nancy Page Griffin
Ronald Simon
Clarinet
Christopher Sereque
Laura DeLuca
Larey McDaniel
Bass Trombone
Stephen Fissel
E-Flat Clarinet
Laura DeLuca
Tuba
Christopher Olka
Bass Clarinet
Larey McDaniel
Timpani
Michael Crusoe
Bassoon
Seth Krimsky
Paul Rafanelli
Mike Gamburg
Percussion
Michael A. Werner
Michael Clark
Ron Johnson
Contrabassoon
Mike Gamburg
Harp
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon
Keyboard
Kimberly Russ, Piano
Joseph Adam, Organ
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572788 bk Rimsky

Overture to May Night

Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

operas. In 1905 he was involved in support of the

Photo: Yuen Lui Studio

Gerard Schwarz has a vast repertoire that includes major

revised again in 1891-2 and performed in 1896, while

Photo: Ben VanHouten

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