Search - Dmitry Kabalevsky, Walter Mnatsakanov, Russian Cinematography Orchestra :: Kabalevsky: Orchestral Music

Wonderful Sampler of a Neglected Composer's Works

Daniel C. Harlow | Grand Rapids, MI USA | 11/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dimitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) is a rather neglected composer, at least in the West. Perhaps this is because he was one of those artists who DIDN'T run afoul of the Soviet leadership but was supportive of the regime. Most classical music fans have heard only his Colas Breugnon Overture. This was the case with me, and it was listening again to that exciting overture that got me curious about his other works. This recording of 1996 packs a generous offering of five orchestral works onto a CD that totals 77:27. The performances are excellent and the sound is first-rate.



1. PATHETIQUE OVERTURE, op. 64--This work of 1960 recycles material from K's 1957 film score "The Sisters."



2. PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 in A MINOR, op. 9--This is a beautiful work, at once somber and lyrical, with echoes of the nineteenth-century Russian Romantic tradition but with a distinctly twentieth-century feel indebted in part to Prokofiev.



3. SYMPHONIC POEM, "SPRING," op. 65--There is a lot of rich orchestration in this lovely work, especially in the woodwinds.



4. RHAPSODY FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, op. 75--This piece presents delightful variations on the theme of a song that K. wrote ("School Years").



5. SUITE: "THE COMEDIANS" op. 26--A charming suite of incidental music produced at the Children's Theater in Moscow in 1939."