Glazunov's two concert waltzs are beautiful, beautiful pieces. His symphony No. 3 shows that the symphony form was not an ideal fit for his gifts . . . you can almost hear his resentment in the writing . . . he was clearly fulfilling someone else's expectations about what a "proper" composer should write (i.e. symphonies) and "proper" symphonies should sound like little sons of Beethoven. Clearly, he resented these types of conventional restrictions to his creativity. Where Glazunov really shines, though, and where he is obviously more comfortable is when he can work in the smaller waltz form. The absolutely beautiful clarinet trio in the first concert waltz is worth the price of the entire album -- too brief as that wonderful little trio section is.
5つ星のうち4.0An uneven symphony but don't let that put you off!
2009年8月2日に英国でレビュー済み
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Glazunov's symphonies are uneven in quality. This one is fairly typical in that its best music comes in its sonata form first movement which is built on two lovely lyrical melodies (don't look for dynamic symphonic development here!) and, above all, in its second movement which is a captivating and enormously colourful movement structurally resembling the traditional scherzo and trio. This movement, which lasts a full 9 minutes, is, in fact, something of a tour de force. After these two splendid movements, the quality of the music rather tails off. The slow movement is not particularly distinguished melodically although it inhabits an attractive warmly romantic world while the finale goes on too long for its material and resorts to a stiff fugue at one point. Unlike the more evenly inspired Fourth Symphony (Glazunov's best, I think) this symphony is not cyclic. This is an excellent performance whereas the recording is very much in the Chandos tradition;it is warm but a little over-reverberant and unfocused for my taste. The disc is completed by fine performances of Glazunov's two concert waltzes, the first of which is absolutely irresistible. Don't let my reservations put you off this disc or you will miss out on some wonderful music.