Search - Rimsky-Korsakov, Levitin, Komp :: Sheherazade

Scheherazade moves North

MartinP | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | 11/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a surprise! Who would have guessed that Scheherazade is actually a big-boned Russian farmer's daughter, and that the adventures she recounts would not be out of place in Les Noces or Le Sacre! But of course, Rimsky-Korsakov WAS a Russian; he even was Stravinsky's teacher. So this all-Russian performance of his most famous work may be rough hewn, loud, and unsubtle - it is also wildly exciting and tremendously effective. The intoxicating Oriental perfumes we have come to expect are vigorously dispelled, and gone too are the hazy, languid dreamscapes; in return we get untrammelled energy, passion and an unexpectedly apt earthiness. To say that this Scheherazade is akin to Le Sacre is more than a mere turn of phrase. The bassoon solo opening the second movement actually SOUNDS like the opening of the later work, and throughout there are moments where Gergiev brings out uncanny foreshadowings of Stravinsky's masterpiece.
No doubt this will not be to everybody's taste. Dynamics never descend below mezzo forte, and the upfront, reverberant, high-level recording is not helpful. Solo instruments are spot-lit the old-fashioned way, at times revealing some rough-edged playing, like that of the first cello. The solo violin however, is played with assured technical brilliance as well as great feeling by Sergei Levitin. The brass is uniformly aggressive: be careful when setting the initial volume, and brace yourself for a confrontation with a very grumpy, very loud sultan!
After listening to this, my favourite recording of the work by Mackerras and the LSO on Telarc sounded positively tame. However, their more relaxed pace is compensated by a far more subtle shading of the music, and my guess is that in the longer run I will be returning more often to that account than to Gergiev's high octane version. Maybe the newcomer focuses a bit too much on the dramatic aspect and the general effect, while this work also needs to be exploited as the showpiece of dazzling orchestration that it is. The manic excitement of the finale especially, which is performed at break-neck speed (with one orchestral section at times outrunning the other a bit, but Gergiev doesn't care about such finer points), is exhilarating, but also rather tiring, and due to the general loudness there is no sense of true climax when Sinbad's ship crashes into the rock with the bronze statue (inaudible tam-tam, by the way). It may all prove to be too much of a good thing on repeated hearing. Nevertheless this is a startlingly fresh look at a somewhat hackneyed work and for that reason alone a very welcome addition to the discography indeed!
The fill-ups are, I suppose, fitting in so far that they continue the theme of the Orient seen through Russian eyes (or rather, heard through Russian ears). However, musical substance is pretty thin in both. Borodin's 'Steppes of Central Asia` is saved by two beautiful melodies, but Balakirev's oriental fantasy Islamey can boast no such redeeming features. It is much ado about nothing, tiresome rather than merely tiring; though to be fair Lyapunov, the orchestrator, is the main culprit here. The less than expert handling of the orchestra (not, I admit, a very fair comparison next to Rimsky's genius) in combination with Gergiev's brutal approach and an equally rough recording yields pretty deafening results here, not fit for repeated listening as far as I'm concerned."

A Compromised Sheherazade

A. Egigian | Redondo Beach, CA USA | 04/15/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Simply stated, this performance has been undermined by a recording team who has failed in its task. The louder the music gets, the more congested and shallow the sound becomes. Just when you would love to revel in the sound this marvelous orchestra can produce, you are confronted with the paradox of a great resonant acoustic collapsing before your very ears.
This is deeply disappointing given the marvelous previous recordings of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.
More satisfying recordings which capture marvelous performances and better sound would be Chicago/Reiner and Mehta/LAPO."

I liked it, but clearly this is not for everybody

chefdevergue | Spokane, WA United States | 08/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The arguments for & against Gergiev's interpretation are totally valid, and for those who like their Sheherazade in a more traditional vein are advised to avoid this recording like the plague. Normally, I would have counted myself among those traditionalists, but upon repeated listenings, I found myself liking enough about this recording to recommend it with reservations.



I can see why people would hate the closed-miked approach here. One has to be prepared to turn down the volume in a hurry at points, as the sound will absolutely blast you, not always with the best results. Some listeners may not enjoy listening to the keys clacking during various woodwind solos. This is very much dependent on personal preferences --- I cannot say that it bothered me much, but this is coming from someone who spent more than a few years playing in symphonies, so it is a sound to which I am accustomed.



The tempo overall is much more a bone of contention. Three movements played at an almost glacial pace are then followed by the a fourth tableau played at amazlingly break-neck speeds. I found the slow tempo to be disconcerting at first, but I rather like the fact that Gergiev & his soloists can explore the nuances of the music more fully than would normally be the case. At times, the music had almost a French quality to it, which I have never heard before with this piece, but strangely enough, it works. The ballet background of both conductor & orchestra may have much to do with the slower tempo.



The fourth tableau is nothing short of spectacular. One reviewer noted that the various orchestral sections seem to be outrunning the others, and at first glance, this would seem to be the case. However, when I sat and listened carefully, it sounds as though everybody really is playing together, just faster than hell. The brass section is absolutely spectacular in the finale, make no mistake about it.



The other two pieces are strictly filler and need little comment, other than to say that the Balakirev is just junk, ample evidence that the man was, on his best day, perhaps a third-tier composer, and probably not even that. Why such a ridiculous trifle as Islamey is even recorded these days is a true mystery to me.



Love it or hate it, this is definitely one of the more interesting Sheherazade interpretations to hit the market in recent years. It is strictly a matter of personal preference whether in fact you love it or hate it."