Fanfare Reviews
from September/October 1996

Reviews: Russian Concert Band Music

RUSSIAN CONCERT BAND MUSIC. Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting the Stockholm Concert Band; with Alf Nilsson, oboe¹; Sölve Kingstedt, clarinet². CHANDOS CHAN 9444 [DDD]; 54:44. (Distributed by Koch International.)

PROKOFIEV: March for Military Band, op. 99. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Variations for Oboe and Military Band¹. Concertstück for Clarinet and Military Band². TRAD.: Song of the Volga Boatmen (arr. Stravinsky). SHOSTAKOVICH: March of the Soviet Police. KHACHATURIAN: Soviet Police March. MIASKOVSKY: Symphony No. 19, op. 46.

The Stockholm Concert Band is composed primarily of members from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, of which Rozhdestvensky is also the chief conductor. Theirs appears to be only the fourth (and the first non-Russian) recording of Miaskovsky's 1938 symphony for band, following those of Igor Petrov on a 1950s Melodiya mono LP, Nikolai Mikhailov on Olympia (Fanfare 11:2, p. 175), and Nikolai Sergeyev on Russian Disc (17:3, p. 251). Those recordings offered generally fine performances but came up short in the sound department. Happily, Rozhdestvensky and his Swedish forces top them all in performance, with readings that make the most of the symphony's lively outer movements and add poignancy to its introspective inner movements, and Chandos's sumptuous sound far outclasses that of its Russian predecessors. In short, if you're looking for the best recording of Miaskovsky's nineteenth symphony, this is it. While the symphony is the obvious highlight, the rest of the program is well worth hearing, too. In each case, Rozhdestvensky leads performances that are outstanding if not definitive. Prokofiev's short march is one of several he wrote for band in the late 1930s and early '40s. He later included it in his opera The Story of a Real Man. Rimsky-Korsakov is known to the musical world primarily for his orchestral music, but he started out as an inspector of bands in the Russian Navy and advocated education in band music during his conservatory years. His oboe variations and clarinet piece are two of many works he wrote for solo instrument and band. Soloists Nilsson and Kingstedt display fine musicianship in their respective solo outings without hogging the spotlight. The true delights are the marches that Khachaturian and Shostakovich wrote for the Soviet police. It should be no surprise that both--but especially the Shostakovich, which is only a minute and a half in length--are circus-like pieces filled with whimsy, which was probably lost on the leaders of the group for which they were written. Really, the only "filler" on the disc is Stravinsky's setting, barely a minute long, of the repetitive Song of the Volga Boatmen. One gets the feeling it was included merely to add another "name" composer to the program. All in all, though, this is a stellar release and not one just for fans of band music. Highly recommended.

Randy A. Salas

Copyright © 1996 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 20, No. 1 (September/October 1996), pages 436-437.

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