Search - Tatiana Gridenko, Alexander Ivashkin :: Schnittke: Symphony 6 / Concerto Grosso 2 / Polyansky

The Sixth, finally!

villegem | canada | 05/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks to Poliansky conducting an impeccable orchestra splendidly recorded, Schnittke's enigmatic sixth symphony comes to life. Forgotten the babble of the previous bis recording of this work: now the orchestral colors are revealed. Close to the 5 aphorisms for piano, the structure is ascetic and borrow a theme from the St Florian, second symphony and expand it to the point of disjointing it with long pauses. One may think of Tarkovsky in the way Schnittke explores in this arduous work.



In fact Schnittke's Sixth is in my opinion his late period masterpiece. The language is so refined and ahead of its time.



So why only 4 stars?

Because of the Concerto Grosso number 2 hysterical rendition by Gridenko and Ivashkin. One can only recall what musicians like Oleg Kagan and Gutman brought to this wonderful music (Russian recording, USSR ministry of Culture Symphony Orch. Rozhdestvensky conducting 1986/87) to measure our loss... Here: lost the humour, the lyricism, the mystery and the music alltogether. Too bad since the pairing was quite smart, Poliansky was again amazing and the recording quality superb.



However, the sixth symphony makes this CD a MUST have. The sixth and seventh symphonies are now available conducted by Poliansky on Chandos and I can toss maestro Otaka's cacophony: Finally!"

Elegant tragedy, superbly performed and recorded

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 06/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is a superb performance of "late Schnittke," Symphony No. 6, composed in 1992, after the composer's second stroke. Written for a chamber orchestra, it is an elegant, streamlined, deeply tragic work. The Sixth follows a traditional form -- allegro, presto, adagio, allegro vivace -- and that introduces an element of dissonance by leading the ear to expect what it does not receive, and that is any sort of standard resolution. Instead, there is only brokenness, and tortured hope before the void.



This is the latest in the Chandos series of Schnittke symphonies with Valeri Polyansky conducting the Russian State Symphony Orchestra. I have heard four of them so far, and they are uniformly stunning. Polyansky has yet to record Schnittke's 3rd or 5th, and I hope he is the first to record the 9th, one of the last compositions before the composer's death in 1998. I look forward to these with great anticipation -- though there are recordings of the 3rd and 5th on the Swedish BIS label, I am waiting on Chandos and Polyansky.



This disc also includes a new recording of the "Concerto grosso No. 2," featuring Tatiana Grindenko on violin and Alexander Ivashkin on cello. It's not bad, but the original recording with Oleg Kagan and Natalie Gutman is much better, warmer and more compelling -- see my review of that recording in the Moscow Studio Archives series, paired with the amazing first recording of the "Viola Concerto" by Yuri Bashmet."