Search - Arensky, Svetlanov, USSR Symphony Orchestra :: Symphonies 1 & 2

A reissue of an earlier Mobile Fidelity CD - itself licensed

Discophage | France | 03/17/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the mid-1990s Vox reissued a large number of the classical music CDs originally published by the audiophile Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, and this is one of them: see my review under the original issue, Arensky: Symphonies No. 1 & No. 2.



The recording dates were not given by Mobile Fidelity, but the transfers were done with care and the sonics were great. The two symphonies are early works - the first from 1883 when Arensky was 22 and had just been appointed at the Moscow Conservatory,the second from 1889. The music veers between Rimsky - Arensky's composition teacher in Saint Petersburg - and Tchaikovsky - his colleague at the Moscow Conservatory and a strong influence on him, as if Arensky was trying to establish some communication between these two composers who hated each others guts. Anyway, the symphonies should appeal to anyone fond of any. I have no other version compared to which I can assess the merits of Svetlanov, but given his credentials in that kind of repertoire, I'm enclined to think that his readings are authoritative. The same recordings are now available with all the other Arensky recorded by Svetlanov (which includes the three orchestral suites and various overtures) on Warner's Arensky 3-CD set in their Svetlanov collection: Arensky: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky.

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