José Serebrier leads the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in thrill-a-minute performances...Serebrier's vivid portrayal will no doubt provide the standard by which all future recordings are judged.

As a public figure, Leopold Stokowski was known for flashy moves such as shaking hands with Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. As an orchestrator famous for applying his idiosyncratic touch to music composed by others, Stokowski made similar choices. The maestro's musical personality --- old-fashioned gentleman cum media-savvy huckster, not to mention tireless champion of the music of his day --- is apparent in every bar of his fascinating transcriptions of two masterpieces by the "musical primitive" Mussorgsky. Reworking such strong stuff as A Night on Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition, Stokowski was paradoxically both wholly original and true to the composer's spirit.

Take the famous opening "Promenade" movement from Pictures: Ravel's familiar orchestration opens with a brilliant but obvious trumpet Fanfare. Stokowski scores the same passage for violas leading the low strings, creating a sound that is both regal and ambrosial. A peculiar choice that a more radical composer such as Stravinsky might have made, it's just the sort of thing that makes Stokowski's version one of the few that can stand up to Ravel's.

José Serebrier leads the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in thrill-a-minute performances that finally do justice to Stoki's transcriptions, in terms of both sonics and performance. His valuable program offers further Mussorgky (including a sustantial suite from Boris Godunov), as well as two miniatures by Tchaikovsky and an original setting of traditional Slavic Christmas music. Since Stokowski's own recordings are currently out of print, Serebrier's vivid portrayal will no doubt provide the standard by which all future recordings are judged.
Daniel Felsenfeld

Editor's Choice - Recording of the Month
From the hundreds of classical CDs Gramophone reviews each month, editor James Jolly selects 10 outstanding recordings.

This disc is in some ways an homage: José Serebrier's tribute to an important influence on his musical life, Leopold Stokowski. At the centre of this programme is Stokowski's transcription of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a striking variant on Ravel's now virtually standard arrangement. It's well worth hearing and might herald a newcomer to concert programmes (though copyright issues probably rule against it). Almost more intriguing is Stokowski's 'Symphonic Synthesis' on Boris Godunov, a 25-minute tone-poem drawing on the opera, a work that Stokowski clearly adored and whose US premiere he gave in 1929 in the original version. The other works are equally fascinating - I particularly like the Tchaikovsky Solitude in Stokowski's version.
James Jolly

"This is the real deal!"

Leopold Stokowski's transcriptions have been getting a lot of attention on disc lately. Most particularly, DG reluctantly released an excellent disc of Mussorgsky pieces featuring Oliver Knussen and the Cleveland Orchestra, magnificently played and very different in conception from Stokowski's own. That disc vindicated his work by showing convincingly that these arrangements can have a successful existence independently of the great old wizard himself. José Serebrier's interpretations, while not quite so radical in their emphasis on laser-like clarity of texture, achieve much the same sort of validation while preserving more of the physical excitement and cinematic flamboyance of the original recordings.

This isn't just a question of the exceptionally splashy and colorful use of heavy percussion at the end of A Night on Bare Mountain or Pictures at an Exhibition, impressive (and necessary) though that is. Serebrier, who worked as Stoki's assistant conductor at the American Symphony Orchestra for about five years, brings a keen ear for those luscious string sonorities that also give these editions much of their magic at lower dynamic levels. I'm thinking, for example, of the shimmering closing pages of the Boris Godunov Symphonic Synthesis, among other places. Serebrier also captures the tragic intensity of the Khovanshchina Entr'acte as well as Stokowski ever did: he's slower, darker, and heavier than Knussen, more raw and "Russian" sounding, as he also is in the terrifying Catacombs section of Pictures at an Exhibition.

There's further icing on the cake that you won't find on the Knussen disc: the two lovely Tchaikovsky transcriptions (the Humoresque will be familiar to knowledgeable listeners from its use in Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss), and Stokowski's own Traditional Slavic Christmas Music, a setting where once again Serebrier shows himself able to conjure a truly authentic "Stokowski sound". Mind you, these aren't mere imitations. Serebrier's flexible approach to tempo and willingness to inject a jolt of extra electricity make something quite special out of the climaxes in A Night on Bare Mountain, and it's very clear that the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is having as much fun playing this music as you will have listening to it. The engineering stands among the best from this source as well. Spectacular, sensational, skirting the boundaries of "good taste"--this is the real deal!. [6/17/2005]
David Hurwitz

"Another of the many Naxos CDs with multiple Grammy Award nominations - what else would you expect from José Serebrier, one of the world's leading conductors?"

MUSSORGSKY-STOKOWSKI: Pictures at an Exhibition; Entr'acte from Khovanshchina; Night on Bare Mountain; Symphonic Synthesis of Boris Godunov; TCHAIKOVSKY-STOKOWSKI: Humoresque; Solitude - Bournemouth Symphony/ José Serebrier - Naxos

Another of the many Naxos CDs with multiple Grammy Award nominations - what else would you expect from José Serebrier, one of the world's leading conductors?

Leopold Stokowski was not just the only famous conductor who shook Mickey Mouse's large hand, he was also the most audiophile-oriented conductor ever - ceaselessly exploring ways to achieve more enhanced sound in his recordings (going back to 1917!) and programming works full of orchestral color and strong dynamics. Tied in with these interests was that of transcribing music for symphony orchestra. He made over 200 orchestral arrangements, and this terrific CD presents several of them in spectacular performances and equally good standard CD sonics. Surely Naxos has this one on their list for future release as either SACD or DVD-A or both!

Stokowski was about the only conductor using his arrangements during his lifetime. He made a London Phase 4 recording in LP days of the Mussorgsky, but I found this new recording superior for a cleaner and more transparent sound, without the absurd instrumental spotlighting endemic to the Phase 4 multiple-mike process. Now conductors are showing more interest in the Stoky re-imaginings of works, and with the assistance of the Stokowski Society, José Serebrier and his Bournemouth musicians are making them part of their repertory. Serebrier is approaching them however with a "fresh perspective," dropping exaggerations that may not work for today's musical ears, rather than slavishly copying Stokowski's own recordings.

Focusing on releases of interest to the audiophile, I have certainly auditioned my share of Pictures by now! This one sounded fresher and more intriguing than any I can recall - even Reiner's. The Boris Godunov instrumental suite is only four minutes shorter than Pictures, and a most welcome listening experience for those who prefer opera without words. (I'm one of 'em, and I'll never forget - since Boris is one of my few favorite operas - falling asleep at a performance and only awakening when Boris had fallen all the way to the bottom of the staircase at the end of his final death aria!) Night on Bare (or Bald) Mountain is another Stoky audiophile hit, and opens this CD with some prodigious prestidigitation of musical witches and demons. Easily recommended - especially at the price!
John Sunier

“No cabe duda es que este CD es uno de los mejores de esta década”

Un nuevo disco compacto que merece la mayor consideracion y un comentario especial, es el recientemente lanzado por la firma Naxos of America, no solo por la calidad de su  interpretación, a cargo del director uruguayo José Serebrier, al frente de la Sinfónica de Bournemouth; sino especialmente por su originalidad, agrupando las orquestaciones de Leopoldo Stokowski de dos obras muy importantes: “Cuadros de una Exposición” y “Una Noche en la Monte Pelado”. 

 La grabación de “Cuadros de una Exposición”, instrumentada por Stokowsky, y extraordinariamente bien ejecutada por la Sinfonica de “Bournemouth”, es una obra de arte de por se, por la forma en que la dirige José Serebrier, en adición de tecnologia digital moderna.

Sin embargo de que Stokowski demuestra aqui lo que es capaz de hacer con una orquesta –en la interpretacion de su protegido y asistente en vida, José Serebrier--, lo que mas sobresale de su arreglo es el caracter ruso que imprime a ciertos temas concedidos a las cuerdas, que tal vez hayan escapado a Maurice Ravel, pero entre una y otra composición, el oyente promedio no sabria distinguir estas cosas al extremo.  Y antes de terminar, merece que consignemos como el maestro Serebrier asocia a esta recopilación, grabada con igual suerte, el “Entre Acto” de “Khovanschina”, y la “Sintesis Sinfónica de Boris Godunov”, tocadas con gran dramatismo; asi como un par de piezas poco escuchadas de Tchaikovsky –“Solitude” y “Humoresque”--; y la “Musica Tradicional Eslava de la Navidad”, del mimso Stokowski, compuesta en 1933. Pero de lo que no cabe duda es que este CD es uno de los mejores de los producidos en esta década, digno de figurar en la mejor colección y de escucharse con gusto y valor didactico.
Luis Felipe Marsans

"This is the real thing."

Stokowski’s colourful and idiosyncratic transcriptions of Mussorgsky’s music are wonderfully realised here. Serebrier’s performances, and the Naxos recording, put the almost identical programme by Matthias Bamert on Chandos RBCD in the shade. This is the real thing. Deep bells, crashing tam-tams and col legno string effects all make a tremendous impact from the opening of Night on a Bare Mountain to the end of Pictures at an Exhibition. Serebrier told the Bournemouth SO that he was not intent on copying Stokowski’s own recordings of these pieces but wished to approach them from a fresh perspective. This is exactly what he has done and the results are electrifying!.
Stokowski’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition will never overtake in popularity that done by Ravel, not least because Stokowski omits two movements of the original (Tuileries and The Market place at Limoges) as being possibly too French, but it has a character of its own and I can’t imagine it being better done than here.
The transcriptions of the two Tchaikovsky pieces and Stokowski’s own Traditional Christmas Slavic Music complete a most enjoyable program. The recording is rich, but very clear, with plenty of ambient information from the rear channels.
Graham Williams

"The music is great. The performance is great. The sound it great."

Recordings like this are what consumers need to hear if SACD is ever going to succeed. It is stellar in every way.
Stokowski is a hard conductor to emulate because his personality is so large. Few conductors come close. Serebrier appears to be cut of the same cloth. Instead of trying to impersonate Stokowski, he appears to conduct from his own bravura, so there is no self-conciousness. It makes me wish we had him here in Chicago, as our low key Barenboim is near retirement. The recording succeeds for this reason alone.
But, wait, there's more...
The sound is nearly perfect. I can't think of another SACD that so fulfills the medium's promise. The sound is huge! The bass whacks hit you in the gut, just like they would in concert. The strings, already sweetened by the free bowing and lush writing, are sweeter than you've ever heard in redbook. The dynamic range is awesome. The bells and other novel instruments Stokowski arranged in this Russian music are all nicely recorded. I can think of no other medium, digital or analog, that would reproduce them as well.
Stokowski's own recordings are not this good.
The music is great. The performance is great. The sound it great.
If I wanted to convince a friend who doesn't like classical music to understand why I do, I'd play this disc for him.
C.K.

Multichannel Pick of the Month

Leopold Stowkowski (1882-1977) transcribed 200 existing works into orchestral arrangements. Pictures at an Exhibition is best known in Ravel's transcription, but is presented here in alternative form. It has been said that Stowkowski wanted a more Russian reading. In fact, two of the paintings the work is based on are omitted because he felt they were perhaps not part of the original Mussorgsky composition, or at the very least they sounded too French. This Naxos-recorded performance is conducted here by Stowkowski’s close friend José Serebrier, and is a work of true great art. Some of Stowkowski’s personal notes to Serebrier are illustrated in the liner notes and give a hint at the older artist’s respect and great admiration for his young friend. A nice touch.

The sound on this disc is some of the best I have ever heard. Whether the playful "Battle of the Chickens in their Shells" or the foreboding and effectual "Catacombs -- Sepulchrum Romanum; Con Mortuis in lingua mortua," I marveled at how the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was completely sorted out and individual sections were delineated. The basses are simply stunning in their clarity. The high frequencies can blare just ever so slightly, but the lack of dynamic compression is so welcome that it can be overlooked. The 5.0-channel surround sound is not distracting, though I found this release effective in straight stereo as well. It is a large but still present sound that is balanced just perfectly in either format. You’ll really enjoy this one no matter how many channels you’re running.
Jeff Fritz

'Well-Nigh Spielbergian'

"José Serebrier captures the roaring maelstrom of those climaxes more vividly than any digital rival."

Amazing, the differences between Leopold Stokowski's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and the better-known version concocted by Ravel. Stokowski is well-nigh Spielbergian in his exuberant imagination, Ravel every note the gentlemanly genius, smoky-cool even when poised before the climactic 'Great Gate at Kiev'. Stokowski's foray has been well documented on disc, with at least three versions under the maestro himself, but a new 'surround sound' recording by the Bournemouth Symphony under José Serebrier captures the roaring maelstrom of those climaxes more vividly than any digital rival. And there's so much to hear — the imperious full-strings opening 'Promenade' (Ravel gives us a measly trumpet), the gnarled spectre of the gnome, malevolent and shifty, the cartoon-strip polarisation of the two Polish Jews, Goldenberg rich and portly, towering above the shivering, impoverished Schmuyle. The 'hut on fowl's legs' and the Great Gate segue into each other more naturally, the majestic d?nouement sounding more like an 'arrival' after the Disney-like comings and goings of the old witch. Shimmering tremolando 'promenades' ferry us from one picture to the next, albeit minus 'Tuileries' and 'The Marketplace of Limoges', which Stokowski thought sounded too French. (He also thought they were written by Rimsky-Korsakov.)

The CD also includes similarly regal visits to Night on Bare Mountain and Khovanshchina, plus a 24-minute tone picture of Boris Godunov, whose spectacular coronation and death are kept well within the Stokowskian frame, and some encores.
Rob Cowan

Beyond being one of the 20th-century's great conductors, Leopold Stokowski was also a tireless transcriber of music for the symphony orchestra, making some 200 orchestral arrangements during his long lifetime. As a protege of the great man, José Serebrier is the natural choice to bring these works to vivid life, from the mosaic of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition to the majesty of his Night on the Bare Mountain. Two more Mussorgsky works are here, along with short gems by Tchaikovsky and Stokowski himself, given the swashbuckling Serebrier treatment with the ever more distinguished Bournemouth Symphony.
Anthony Holden


This release is also available as a hybrid, CD(2)/SACD(2/5.0) album, which contains a stereo track playable on conventional machines, as well as super audio stereo and multi-channel tracks playable on super audio machines.

This recording was "CD of the Month" in Gramophone Magazine (Awards/05) and it's a sound spectacular of major proportions. Some of Leopold Stokowski's Johann Sebastian Bach retreads may be sticky wickets, but when it came to Russian music, he was right on the rubles. These brilliant orchestral transcriptions are full of Slavic sole and conductor José Serebrier furthers the cause with exceptionally sensitive performances. In fact, many may find they prefer this version of "Pictures at an Exhibition" to the better known one by Maurice Ravel. There's also a symphonic synthesis of "Boris Godunov" that's a knockout - operaphobes take note! Two other Modest Mussorgsky delights, "A Night on Bare Mountain," which is one you'll never forget, and the entr'acte from the fourth act of "Khovanschina" are also included. The program closes with arrangements of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's piano piece, "Humoresque," (shades of Igor Stravinsky) and song, Again, as Before, Alone (entitled "Solitude" here), plus Stokie's own, moving "Traditional Slavic Christmas Music." This release is also available in hybrid, CD(2)/SACD(2/5.0) format. By the way, do try some of the other arrangements of "Pictures" by Ashkenazy, Bekova, Boyashov, Crabb/Draugsvoll, Funtek, Gortchakov, Guillou and Leonard; and, of course, the original for solo piano.
Bob McQuiston

José Serebrier was a 17-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music and a newcomer to the United States in 1957 when Leopold Stokowski chose his Symphony No. 1 as a last minute program replacement for Charles Ives Fourth, which had proved too difficult for the Houston Symphony. Five years later, Stokowski named Serebrier Associate Conductor of the newly formed American Symphony Orchestra in New York and three years after that the "unplayable" Ives Fourth Symphony finally had its premiere with Stokowski conducting the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall with Serebrier—by now an established young star in his own right—alongside as one of the three conductors necessary for the rhythmic complexities of the work. Some years later, Serebrier became the first conductor to record the difficult Ives work, with the London Philharmonic, and he handled the whole sprawling piece himself.

During his apprenticeship with Stokowski, Serebrier had an opportunity to get to know many of the more than 200 symphonic transcriptions the old maestro had made of works that had begun life in a different form. The most famous of these orchestrations is almost certainly Mussorgsky’s Night on Bare Mountain. Wilder and “more Russian” than Rimsky-Korsakov’s westernized version, Stokowski’s “Night” was the musical highlight of Walt Disney’s classic Fantasia and for many kids of that generation—me included—a thrilling introduction to the world of “classical” music. Stokowski’s versions of The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor were also magical parts of that film.

I relived those goosebumps again last week when I put on the new recording of Stokowski’s versions of A Night on Bare Mountain, Pictures at an Exhibition and several other orchestral transcriptions which Naxos is releasing next week with his one-time protege Serebrier at the helm of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Nobody conducting today holds a tighter grip on the musical reins and under his hands these tired old war horses come storming out of the barn like frisky young colts. You may prefer Ravel's orchestration of "Pictures" but you won't find much fault with Stokowski's more muscular approach. It would take a real cynic to dislike a big wet horsey kiss like this one.

The Bournemouth musicians show they can play in the first division beside their big city cousins. The recording quality is vivid and consistently excellent. Pay particular attention to the drop-dead gorgeous strings in the Entre’acte of Khovanschina.

The idea for this new Naxos disc originated from the Leopold Stokowski Society, which approached Serebrier in 2003 to bring the transcriptions into his repertoire and record them. We are lucky he agreed to repay the favor that Stokowski had bestowed upon him many years ago.
Jerry Bowles

"Serebrier understands as no-one else...the aesthetic basis of this music"

Stokowski's urge to transcribe was insatiable: over 200 works in total. To a large degree one's reaction is personal – either they are great fun or distasteful. Take the Night on a Bare Mountain that opens this disc – the opening is spectral, almost hallucinogenic here. Some effects are clearly over-the-top: trombone whoops, a slithery descent to the depths – 7'15; or orchestral 'screaming' - 5'35 etc. One thing soon becomes apparent – this release is a gift if one wishes to demonstrate top-class recording quality. That is pretty much what we have here - courtesy of Neil Paker and Phil Rowlands, both names new to me. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, too, relishes every mouth-watering opportunity.

The Entr'acte to Act IV of Khovanshchina is both dark and imposing. Serebrier brings a feeling of space (almost 'stretching') to the musical fabric. This is wonderful.

Symphonic syntheses were a Stokowski 'thing'. The Boris example here is a case in point, and it is difficult to imagine a more loving performance than this one. Slow passages are lovingly shaped, while the Coronation music has a sense of space as well as celebration about it. In contrast, there are real pianissimi around the 13 minute mark, a true oasis of peace. As one listens, it becomes increasingly apparent that Serebrier understands as no-one else apart from the transcriber himself the aesthetic basis of this music. From this comes a sense of significance as the music unfolds, seemingly inevitably - Stokowski is wonderful at 'stitching bits together'. Oh, and if you want to show off your hi-fi, the almighty crescendo preceding 22'38 is the place to do it.

Pictures begins in the smoothest of fashions with single-line strings soon fleshed out into the full section. There are almost frightening brass crescendos in 'Gnomus' to ensure fullest contrast to the pppp second Promenade. A sax-less 'Old Castle' leads to a fast-paced 'Bydlo' (Polish Ox-Wagon), with a real tramp to the lower strings. The 'Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells' is rather slow and careful, however; better is 'Goldberg and Schmuyle', with its well-recorded lower strings. But the crowning glories of this Pictures are the final two movements. 'The Hut on Fowl's Legs' is certainly exciting, and the recording is so analytical it leaves you breathless. It sounds like fun was had by all, too. The 'Great Gate' is massively impressive because Serebrier does not play up the cushion of sound effects. Mysterious passages verge, once more, on the fantastical. The huge crescendo at the end is the icing on the cake.

The Tchaikovsky transcriptions are little worlds in their own right, delivered here with great affection. The 'Humoresque' is rather jolly, while 'Solitude' reaches the status of mini-Symphonic Poem. The Traditional Slavic Christmas Music is based on Ippolitov-Ivanov's In a Manger - itself based on a Christmas Hymn. Scored for brass and strings only, there is a certain mesmeric aspect that lends the work a depth of expression.

Detailed notes by the conductor and by Edward Johnson of The Stokowski Society round out a superb release. No wonder this is Naxos's self-appointed CD of the Month for September.
Colin Clarke

Leopold Stokowski has transcended "cult figure" status to be remembered as one of the greatest orchestral conductors in history. Born in London of Polish-Irish ancestry, Stokowski found considerable success in the United States, where he was naturalised as an American citizen. In addition to his sixty-year legacy of making studio recordings Stokowski was an inveterate transcriber of music for the symphony orchestra. He made some two hundred orchestral arrangements of works which had started life in other forms, such as piano solos, songs, organ music, chamber works. Stokowski’s status has suffered a decline since his death in 1977, some of which was due to a bad press and a change in fashion. There is currently a resurgence of interest in his transcriptions with several high quality recordings available in the catalogues.

If this is Wagner at one removed, which Leopold Stokowski himself recorded, there’s no doubting the sonorous sound or the narrative power that is created.

From the thunder and glowing arrival of the “Das Rheingold” opener to the athletic vitality of “Ride of the Valkyries” (which closes the disc), there is a very particular sonority to the music-making here – faithful to both Wagner and Stokowski – and which is captured in demonstration-worthy sound by the Bournemouth Symphony, Naxos’s recording team and conjured by José Serebrier, a one-time assistant to and colleague of Stokowski (a couple of letters from Stokowski to Serebrier are reproduced in the booklet). The ‘humanity’ of ‘Wotan’s Farewell’ (not listed but a moving entr?e to the ‘Magic Fire Music’) is also well attended to.

The most substantial selection (36 minutes) is from “Tristan und Isolde”, the ‘Prelude’ (given with molten flow) and ‘Liebestod’ as we know them in concert performances separated if co-joined by the 20-minute ‘Love Music’ (darkly illicit) from Act Two as the centrepiece; voice-less, of course, but full of suspense and fluctuation and with a ‘join’ to the ‘Liebestod very well effected. Serebrier conducts with theatrical impulse, the BSO responding with ardour and conviction. Something more spiritual informs the sequence from Act Three of “Parsifal”, the music’s hefty recesses and magical happenings sonorously portrayed and never static.

With sumptuous recording, even if some of the treble is just slightly too ambient and ‘remote’, this is an impressive ‘take’ on Wagner’s creativity by a conductor (Stokowski) who was a lifelong devotee of Wagner’s music, the baton passed with certainty to Serebrier who has a similar and ‘living’ conviction to the cause.
Colin Anderson

RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Ravishing performances of Stokowski’s sumptuous take on Wagner. His view of Das Rheingold’s final scene is gutsy and spectacular – out-Wagnering Wagner; and Stokowski’s expressive Tristan symphonic synthesis accents all the lovers’ despair and ecstasy. The Liebesnacht is a lovely nocturnal evocation of trees swaying gently in the sylvan woodlands underlining the lovers’ awakening and mounting passion. Serebrier invests a fragrant and voluptuous sensuality to match the unbridled passion of the celebrated Liebestod that follows where its mounting excitement is literally edge-of-the-seat stuff.

---

RECORDING OF THE MONTH

"Ravishing performances"
This new release follows on last year’s brilliant album of Stokowski Bach transcriptions (Naxos 8.557883) produced by the same team.

The opening track sets the tone of the album. It will come as no surprise that Stokowski’s view of Das Rheingold’s final scene is gutsy and spectacular – out-Wagnering Wagner. The conductor’s enriched brass and percussion heighten Wagner’s colouring. The Bournemouth players must have had so much fun recording its sweep and grandeur, and the vivid evocations of the rainbow bridge across the valley of the Rhine. Throughout this album, they are backed by excellent engineered sound.

Tristan was one of Stokowski’s favourite works. His expressive symphonic synthesis accents all the lovers’ despair and ecstasy. The symphonic synthesis consists of Wagner’s own concert version of the Prelude and Liebestod interpolating between them the music of the Liebesnacht from the second act; Stokowski’s intent to create an extended seamless symphonic poem. He did not alter Wagner’s scoring but limited his input to transferring the vocal lines to instrumentation: cellos for Tristan and violins for Isolde. The Liebesnacht occupies some 21 minutes of the 36½-minute whole and embraces music of the hunt nicely caught in distant perspective and a lovely nocturnal evocation of trees swaying gently in the sylvan woodlands underlining the lovers’ awakening and mounting passion. Serebrier invests a fragrant and voluptuous sensuality to match the unbridled passion of the celebrated Liebestod that follows and where its mounting excitement is literally edge-of-the-seat stuff; little wonder that this music is so often regarded as the sexiest in all the classical repertoire.

In spite of his life-long championship of the music of Wagner, Stokowski conducted only one Wagner opera in its entirety, a concert performance of Parsifal during Easter 1933. He spoke of his synthesis of Act 3 thus: “I have tried to [communicate] the idea of [the] profound perception on Parsifal’s part of the mysteries of which the Holy Grail is a symbol and of which the outward manifestations are, first, Parsifal’s initiation, and then his acceptance by the Knights, and finally the acknowledgement of him as their leader.” The synthesis excludes the Good Friday Spell music - Wagner had already made a concert version of it - but includes the transformation music from the conclusion of the final moments when Parsifal heals Amfortas’s wound by touching it with his spear. This is a spellbinding and uplifting treatment.

From Die Walkure comes familiar music, magnified in colour and thrills. Need I say more!

José Serebrier, who contributes the concise, readable and erudite notes, was, for five years, Stokowski’s Associate Conductor at New York’s Carnegie Hall and was hailed by Stokowski as “the greatest master of orchestral balance”. Serebrier’s readings are studied: meticulous attention paid to orchestral colour, detail, perspectives, clarity, transparency, dynamics, accents and phrasing.

Repeating the assertion in my review of Serebrier’s recording of the Stokowski Bach transcriptions, this album is one of the best packaged of Naxos’s releases mostly, I suspect, because the recording was “made possible through generous grants from the Leopold Stokowski Society and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Endowment Trust”. In addition to Serebrier’s notes, there is a contribution, “Stokowski and Wagner” by Edward Johnson of the Leopold Stokowski Society, and reproductions of three letters, dating from 1964/65, from Stokowski to Serebrier, one of which includes this cheeky remark: “Thank you also for sending a very pretty flute girl. More please!”

Ravishing performances of Stokowski’s sumptuous take on Wagner. This album will undoubtedly figure in my list of outstanding releases for 2007. Don’t miss this one.
Ian Lace

Opulent Wagner arrangements provide a stunner
José Serebrier conducts the BSO in thrilling performances

It would be hard to imagine a more sumptuous disc. Stokowski, in these "symphonic syntheses", enhances Wagner's already opulent orchestration with shrewdly added instrumental lines and with the vocal parts usually given to the strings. Then at times he thins the orchestration down for more transparent textures. José Serebrier conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in thrilling performances, passionate in a genuinely Stokowskian manner and treated to orchestral sound of demonstration quality.

Stokowski's aim was to provide more satisfying orchestral items in concerts than the popular "bleeding chunks". So in the most ambitious item, on Tristan und Isolde, we have between the Prelude and Liebestod a rich orchestral version of the 2nd Act Love Duet. Where the end of the duet builds up to that chilling interruption from King Marke, Stokowski has it lead seamlessly into the equivalent passage in the Liebestod. It works superbly.

The selection starts excitingly with the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla and it is good to find Serebrier splendidly adding an anvil when Donner brings his hammer down. The Parsifal synthesis is limited to music from Act 3, thus ignoring the Good Friday Music. From Die Walkure comes the Magic Fire Music and, most excitingly, the Ride of the Valkyries. This is Naxos third Stokowski orchestrations disc and is the finest yet.
Edward Greenfield

Hailed as one of the 20th century's greatest conductors, Stokowski's 70-year career included Wagner in programmes from his first performance in 1907 to his late appearances at the age of 95. In particular, he admired Wagner's Tristan and Isolde for it's 'supreme expression'.

Stokowski was famed for his remarkable orchestral sound, so it seems fitting that José Serebrier - hailed by Stokowski as a 'great master of orchestral balance' at the age of only 21 - should conduct Stokowski's work.

Stokowski's 'symphonic syntheses' - described as 'extended symphonic poems' - brought works by composers such as Wagner to the concert repertoire without detracting from the wealth of imagery and emotion present in Wagnerian compositions. This particular recording contains a mixture of Wagner's own concert versions of works like the Prelude and Leibestod from Tristan and Isolde seamlessly incorporating Stokowski's synthesis of Liebesnacht.

The atmospheric opening from Das Rheingold - the entrance of the Gods into Valhalla - sets the tone beautifully with glorious brass lines and an ever-present sense of balance and subtlety, for which both Wagner and Serebrier are famous. Throughout the recording the sense of emotion and, more importantly, the story are not lost for the lack of words, with each scene performed fantastically by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Of particular merit is act III from Parsifal, in which the story is conveyed particularly well. The journey is rounded off with the ever-popular Die Walk?re: Ride of the Valkyries, glorious as ever and a perfect ending to a fantastic CD.

A definite must for all fans of both Wagner and orchestral performance at its best.
Marie Frances Hopkins

Naxos has a great thing going in José Serebrier’s traversal of the arrangements and "symphonic syntheses" of Bach, Mussorgsky, and now Wagner, by his mentor Leopold Stokowski. Like Stokowski himself, Serebrier has been able to put his own imprint on the orchestra (in this series, the Bournemouth SO), and he continues to show his respect by not trying to duplicate Stokowski’s own famous recordings. Instead, he approaches the scores afresh, with the insights he has gained in his own long career -- as well as his meaningful association with the Great Man Himself.

The two "symphonic syntheses" here (the term was coined by Charles O’Connell, himself a legendary figure in the recording industry, who produced Stokowski’s Philadelphia recordings for Victor) are those of Tristan und Isolde and Act III of Parsifal. These are framed by the "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla," from Das Rheingold and the two orchestral numbers from Act III of Die Walk?re. The "Magic Fire Music" is in Stokowski’s own arrangement, while the Rheingold excerpt and the "Ride of the Valkyries" are his editions of the old Hermann Zumpe arrangements.

The spacious sound (Naxos has come a long way in this respect) conveys the full splendor of these performances, and Serebrier’s annotation is, as always in this series, valuable in its own right. Here he specifies exactly which portions of the respective operas went into the "syntheses," where Stokowski assigned a vocal line to an instrument and where he simply left it out, and various other details on how Stokowski achieved his remarkable sound -- summing up, "Some of it can be explained, but much of it can only be called magic." That about covers what happens here, too.
Richard Freed

This Wagner disc is “bleeding chunks” with a difference. Not content with the composer’s own orchestral excerpts from his operas, the conductor Leopold Stokowski made elaborate “syntheses”, turning, in this case, Parsifal Act III and three stretches of Tristan und Isolde into respective tone poems. He would also soup up the orchestration, using a variety of tricks to produce the dynamic “Stokowski sound”. This selection, splendidly conducted by his former associate conductor (who writes interestingly on those tricks), also includes the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla, from Das Rheingold, and the Magic Fire Music and Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walkure.
Paul Driver

"It's a complete success. Serebrier recreates the Stokowski magic to perfection."

Leopold Stokowski has been dead for almost 30 years. His heritage may be in danger of being forgotten or misunderstood by younger listeners who associate him – if they think of him at all – only with Walt Disney's Fantasia. I hope it's not as bad as all that, but I wonder what Fanfare readers born since his death in 1977 make of him. God forbid that those hearing Ruth Sherman in Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town! sing “What do you think of Stokowski's hands?” should need to have the reference explained to them!

I, for one, think a lot of Stokowski's hands, and love to listen to his recordings. Time marches on, though, and his recordings are showing signs of age – if not artistically, then at least in terms of engineering. There's no reason why his transcriptions, some of which he recorded multiple times, shouldn't be newly recorded as long as their original spirit is retained. José Serebrier is just the conductor to do it. Serebrier spent five years as associate conductor with the American Symphony Orchestra under Stokowski, and assisted the older maestro when he recorded Ives's Fourth Symphony for Columbia. Stokowski respected Serebrier not just as a conductor but also as a composer. That's not to say that Serebrier is “Stokowski II.” He has made his own way as a conductor, and is a major figure on the podium today with his own style. Still, if any living conductor understands what Stokowski is all about, and how he did what he did, it's Serebrier. That's why having him record a disc of Stokowski's transcriptions makes good sense.
No surprises here: it's a complete success. Serebrier recreates the Stokowski magic to perfection, and his orchestra is even fatter than the one Stokowski worked with (“his” symphony orchestra) for his Bach sessions with Capitol Records. The emphasis here is on the more introverted transcriptions. For example, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is conspicuous by its absence. 1 really don't mind, though, because in transcriptions such as Komm, süsser Tod, Stokowski combined sincerity and heavenly beauty with show business savvy; it's almost as if God has found the best public relations firm ever. If this CD is in danger of seeming too devout (albeit in Technicolor!), Serebrier and his orchestra bring it to a close with a bang up rendition of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Lightning flashes across the sky, and Bach, looking down from the purple heavens, shakes his fist warningly at mankind. Purists will cringe, obviously, but this is good stuff. In fact, it's great. It is worth remembering that many people never would have found a doorway into the world of Bach (or other Baroque composers) had Stokowski not put one there for them. The Handel transcription is all candy cane shepherd's crooks and marshmallow sheep. The Purcell? Dido luxuriating in her grief for all the world to see. The Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies have not been recorded for more than 70 years, apparently. Restrained only in comparison to the other items, these are the conductor's eloquent transcriptions of the Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Emmanuel.

Let's not be snobs about it: Stokowski's Bach is musical sorcery of the best sort. Serebrier's performances give it a new lease on life, and Naxos's engineering ensures that it will shake the foundations of the home, auto, or iPod of your choice, which is as it should be. For sheer entertainment, this CD receives my highest recommendation.
Raymond Tuttle



“This is the true "Stokowski sound"--sensual, luminous, and warm, this new release is an unqualified triumph.”

Listen to Serebrier summon that rich vibrato from the cellos, the shimmering texture of the seraphic violins, and the discreet touches of portamento: this is the true "Stokowski sound"--sensual, luminous, and warm. Like Serebrier's and Bournemouth's previous Stokowski project, dedicated to Mussorgsky, this new release is an unqualified triumph.

Stokowski's Bach transcriptions have received a great deal of attention on disc lately, but this is one of the very few recordings that has the genuine flavor that Stoki himself brought to them. The obvious first question is: How do these versions compare to the "originals"? Can they be as good? The answer, quite simply, is "Yes, they can." Serebrier doesn't try to duplicate every gesture that Stokowski made. That would be impossible in any case, given the wide range of tempos and other variations among his own numerous recordings of these pieces. Take the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor: Stoki's own timings varied between about 12 minutes (in Philadelphia) to more than 14 in a later rendition. Serebrier takes about 13, which is similar to the tempo Stokowski adopted in his 1940s All-American Youth Orchestra reading (on Cala).
In general Serebrier is a bit swifter than his late mentor, particularly in such numbers as Komm süsser Tod and Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland, but speed isn't really the issue with Stokowski. What matters more is sonority, that special "Stokowski sound". The fact is, these orchestrations are not particularly original or imaginative. They are almost uniformly (indeed formulaically) based on strings as the principal voices, with woodwind and brass reinforcement as necessary. Heard in quantity, they risk sounding quite monochrome. Some, like the "Little" Fugue in G minor, use the winds in imitation of the organ, but there's nothing special in that. What makes them work is not how they are written, but rather how they are played. Take the famous Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3. Listen to Serebrier summon that rich vibrato from the cellos, the shimmering texture of the seraphic violins, and the discreet touches of portamento: this is the true "Stokowski sound"--sensual, luminous, and warm.

Or take the almost apocalyptic entry of the full orchestra toward the end of the "Little" Fugue: Serebrier understands that theatrical flair, even bordering on vulgarity, makes these arrangements come to life. There's a sense of danger here--of almost, but never quite, crossing over the "bad taste" line--that makes listening so much more fun. The same sense of nearly garish drama characterizes this powerful performance of the Passacaglia and Fugue. It's worth pointing out, by the way, that it probably was a smart move to omit the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, for two reasons. First, it eliminates the temptation to make obvious and facile comparisons to Stokowski's half-dozen recordings of the most famous of all his Bach transcriptions; and second, it leaves hope that another disc may be forthcoming containing an equally rewarding mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar. Aside from Bach, Serebrier includes Stokowski's own Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies, a sexy conflation of Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Emmanuel, as well as the Handel and Purcell items. Dido's Lament sounds particularly dark and tragic in this performance. It's clear that the Bournemouth Symphony is having a great time reproducing these ultra-rich, Golden Age sonorities, and my only quibble concerns the principal oboe, whose clicking valves decorate his solos with excessive prominence. But then Stokowski himself made magic with every kind of orchestra and caliber of player, so this isn't a big issue. The engineering supports the interpretations particularly well, giving the strings the necessary sheen and allowing the climaxes to expand hugely. Like Serebrier's and Bournemouth's previous Stokowski project, dedicated to Mussorgsky, this new release is an unqualified triumph.
David Hurwitz

"The result is lusciously beautiful, with the Bournemouth strings wonderfully refined."


Edward Greenfield

The gift that conductor and composer José Serebrier inherited from his former mentor, Leopold Stokowski, is immediately apparent upon even a brief listen to this album. Both men have an alluring gift: the ability to make an orchestra sound gorgeous. Serebrier is perhaps one of the few remaining authoritative spokesmen for Stokowski, and his passion and deep sentiment for his former mentor's works is audible. He sculpts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra into a shapely, luxurious, and rich ensemble of which Stokowski would be proud. While many of Stokowski's own recordings of his transcriptions are indeed available on disc, this recording has the additional benefit of clarity combined with today's more accurate technical performance standards. This is elucidated in the phenomenally agile, articulate and musical woodwind playing -- the section for which Stokowski consistently wrote the most challenging excerpts for in his transcriptions.

Although Stokowski orchestrated compositions as diverse as his extensive conducting repertoire, this album's content is centered on the music of J.S. Bach. Particularly, the album features the "Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor," a welcome alternative to the more omnipresent anchor of the "Toccata and Fugue in D minor." A number of Bach's chorale preludes are also featured, most notably a beautifully rich setting of "Komm s?sser Tod" and a poignant, woodwind-rich orchestration of the "Sheep may safely graze." Stokowski's own Ancient Liturgical Melodies are also included: somewhat similar to Respighi's Ancient Dances and Airs in their manner of composition, they radiate a more somber in tone thanks to Stokowski's characteristically deep string coloring which is especially rich with viola sound. Naxos has also included one of Stokowski's finest creations (that is ironically not always so easy to find): Purcell's "Dido's Lament." BSO solo cellist Timothy Walden brings a warm, inviting sound throughout that eventually canvasses through the rest of the string sections. The eerie octave passages that Stokowski later wrote for the upper strings at the end of this touching passacaglia are enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone listening with a compassionate ear.

The woodwind playing from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is absolutely outstanding throughout: organ-like in sound quality, refined, and technically superb. Combined with the luxurious string sound and Naxos' superb audio quality, Serebrier's (mostly) good ideas are given good documentation. Stokowski's orchestrations, though certainly not Puritan by musicological standards, help give a present-day approach to these Baroque works that might otherwise fall by the wayside. If you've never heard any of these gems, this recording is an excellent place to start your journey.
C. Ryan Hill

“Serebrier delivers an inspired reading that reaches such a glorious climax, it should leave you breathless. Sheer magnificence”

Stokowski’s transcriptions - but not recorded by Stokowski?
 
Yes, but how brilliantly they sound on this marvellous new Naxos release conducted by José Serebrier who is served by excellent Naxos sound. Serebrier, who contributes the concise, readable and erudite notes, was, for five years, Stokowski’s Associate Conductor at New York’s Carnegie Hall and was hailed by Stokowski as “the greatest master of orchestral balance”.
 
Serebrier’s readings of Stokowski’s arrangements are studied: meticulous attention paid to orchestral colour, detail, perspectives, clarity and transparency, dynamics, accents and phrasing.
 
One of the most affecting selections is Stokowski’s arrangement of Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies: the ninth century Veni Creator Spiritus (‘Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire’) and the lovely medieval Veni Emmanuel, the tune familiar to us at Christmastide and used by Respighi in his Three Botticelli Pictures. The two melodies, Veni Emmanuel climaxing in a joyous outburst, are prefaced and separated by gently receding, tolling bells. The arrangement of Handel’s Pastoral Symphony continues in the same beauteous serenity. Even more affecting is Stokowski’s arrangement of Purcell’s Dido music; strings expressively layered and nuanced, and accents, and solo cello phrasing sensitively enhancing the sobbing pathos of this great Lament.
 
But the emphasis in this collection is rightly on Stokowski’s Bach transcriptions. The main work is the glorious Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. For the first performance of his transcription, Stokowski wrote: “[It] is in music what a great Gothic Cathedral is in architecture – the same vast conception, the same soaring mysticism given eternal form. Whether played on the organ, or on the greatest of all instruments - the orchestra – it is one of the most divinely-inspired contrapuntal works ever conceived.” Indeed. Stokowski’s arrangement reflects the sonorous magnificence of a great cathedral organ and Serebrier delivers an inspired reading that reaches such a glorious tingling climax, it should leave you breathless.
 
The remaining items are winsome transcriptions of favourite Bach pieces, Stokowski cleverly changing the voicing, to maintain interest and attain an appealing freshness, of each repeat of the tune, that has attained pop-culture status, of Air on the G string; and employing minimal forces - strings and two flutes and two oboes - to tellingly underline the tender fragility of Sheep may safely graze. The contrapuntal magnificence of the ‘Giant’ and ‘Little’ fugues is wondrously magnified in the full colours of the large symphony orchestra and the deeply felt poignancy of Komm süsser Tod is nicely realised, lower woodwinds and brass affectingly emulating the gravitas of the organ pedal. Another sublime realisation is the Stokowski arrangement of Bach’s touching Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland. (Come Thou Redeemer of our Race).
 
This album is one of the best packaged of Naxos’s releases mostly, I suspect, because the recording was “made possible through generous grants from the Leopold Stokowski Society and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Endowment Trust”. In addition to Serebrier’s notes, there is a contribution, “Stokowski and Bach” by Edward Johnson of the Leopold Stokowski Society, and reproductions of three letters, dating from 1964/65, from Stokowski to Serebrier, one of which includes this rather enigmatic, cheeky assertion: “It is quite the contrary at Trivi where we need a strong man who plays soccer, and always brings a different girl.”
 
Sheer magnificence. Heartily recommended.
Ian Lace 

"No surprises here: it’s a complete success. Serebrier recreates the Stokowski magic to perfection. "

Leopold Stokowski has been dead for almost 30 years. His heritage may be in danger of being forgotten or misunderstood by younger listeners who associate him—if they think of him at all—only with Walt Disney’s Fantasia. I hope it’s not as bad as all that, but I wonder what Fanfare readers born since his death in 1977 make of him. God forbid that those hearing Ruth Sherman in Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town! sing “What do you think of Stokowski’s hands?” should need to have the reference explained to them!

I, for one, think a lot of Stokowski’s hands, and love to listen to his recordings. Time marches on, though, and his recordings are showing signs of age—if not artistically, then at least in terms of engineering. There’s no reason why his transcriptions, some of which he recorded multiple times, shouldn’t be newly recorded as long as their original spirit is retained. José Serebrier is just the conductor to do it. Serebrier spent five years as associate conductor with the American Symphony Orchestra under Stokowski, and assisted the older maestro when he recorded Ives’s Fourth Symphony for Columbia. Stokowski respected Serebrier not just as a conductor but also as a composer. That’s not to say that Serebrier is “Stokowski II.” He has made his own way as a conductor, and is a major figure on the podium today with his own style. Still, if any living conductor understands what Stokowski is all about, and how he did what he did, it’s Serebrier. That’s why having him record a disc of Stokowski’s transcriptions makes good sense.

No surprises here: it’s a complete success. Serebrier recreates the Stokowski magic to perfection, and his orchestra is even fatter than the one Stokowski worked with (“his” symphony orchestra) for his Bach sessions with Capitol Records. The emphasis here is on the more introverted transcriptions. For example, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is conspicuous by its absence. I really don’t mind, though, because in transcriptions such as Komm, süsser Tod, Stokowski combined sincerity and heavenly beauty with show-business savvy; it’s almost as if God has found the best public relations firm ever. If this CD is in danger of seeming too devout (albeit in Technicolor!), Serebrier and his orchestra bring it to a close with a bang-up rendition of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Lightning flashes across the sky, and Bach, looking down from the purple heavens, shakes his fist warningly at mankind. Purists will cringe, obviously, but this is good stuff. In fact, it’s great. It is worth remembering that many people never would have found a doorway into the world of Bach (or other Baroque composers) had Stokowski not put one there for them. The Handel transcription is all candy-cane shepherd’s crooks and marshmallow sheep. The Purcell? Dido luxuriating in her grief for all the world to see. The Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies have not been recorded for more than 70 years, apparently. Restrained only in comparison to the other items, these are the conductor’s eloquent transcriptions of the Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Emmanuel.

Let’s not be snobs about it: Stokowski’s Bach is musical sorcery of the best sort. Serebrier’s performances give it a new lease on life, and Naxos’s engineering ensures that it will shake the foundations of the home, auto, or iPod of your choice, which is as it should be. This CD receives my highest recommendation.
 Raymond Tuttle

"The performance of the Sixth Symphony is simply magnificent."

This is the fourth single album to be issued in what I very much hope will become a complete series of the Symphonies of Alexander Glazunov (please, including the first movement of the unfinished Ninth) by the Royal Scottish National under José Serebrier on the Warner label. Earlier issues in this series have been released over the past few years, each one of them absolutely outstanding from all musical and technical points of view, and this new record is fully up to the very high standard the musicians have set themselves. It would appear that the relationship between José Serebrier and the RSNO is an extremely happy one – this most gifted musician has the ability to draw some of the best playing from them I have heard for a long time, and one gets the distinct impression that all concerned are giving of their best.

The performance of the Sixth Symphony is simply magnificent; the work has long been under-rated, which is manifestly unjust. I have always found it to be a noble score, so beautifully written and orchestrated, and possessing that spontaneous fund of melodic invention, especially in the first two movements, that marks out the genius of this Russian master. Glazunov’s Sixth dates from 1897 – Rachmaninov made the published version for piano duet of the work. The extended first movement is most beautifully shaped in this performance, especially the lyrical, growing, opening paragraph – it is quite superbly done here. The opening of the second movement is another case in point, and in the hands of this masterly conductor this music is supremely well-shaped throughout, with notably fine orchestral playing – in this second movement the tonal phrasing of the RSNO woodwinds, around 2’30” et seq, and the long clarinet solo from about 5’22”– a gentle presentiment of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony of ten years later - is most beautifully played. The most entrancing aspect of this movement is the faster section which begins around 7’20” and which is winningly conveyed here, after an account of the brilliant first movement that is at times extremely exciting and very Russian – an account which completely disabuses those who have claimed the music to be somewhat Wagnerian. The rest of this sadly neglected score is equally well performed and I admire José Serebrier’s refusal to rush the finale. Although the composer’s inspiration does not burn as consistently brightly here, the conductor lets the music speak for itself, and the result raises the stature of the finale to a higher level than has previously been accorded it on disc.

The other works are rarer still, and whilst one can understand why Glazunov’s La mer (a ‘Fantasy in E major’ from 1889) has tended to be hidden in the shade of Debussy’s masterpiece, the earlier work is still well worth resuscitation, not least for its historical importance: it is remarkable to consider that the opening music dates from fifteen years before Debussy and is virtually contemporaneous with Richard Strauss’s Don Juan;Glazunov was 24 when it appeared. The rest of the piece is not as original as tone-painting, but it is quite striking and consistently inventive, and it evinces an orchestral mastery that is as rare as it is admirable – the extended ‘storm’ sequence, beginning around 6’10”, is very impressive, and this fascinating score is brilliantly performed throughout. The other items, from incidental music for a production of Wilde’s Salome in St Petersburg in 1908 (including a naturally colourful, suitably oriental, Salome’s Dance), are also worth hearing, especially in such committed accounts as these.

José Serebrier, born in Uruguay, is himself of Russian extraction; he has this style of music in his cardio-vascular system and I have no hesitation in saying that, if an integral set of the Glazunov Symphonies is completed to this standard (as I began by saying I very much hope it will be) the result will sweep the board, outclassing – for example - the BIS set by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Tadaaki Otaka by a wide margin. The recording is first-class; this is a highly recommendable CD.
Robert Matthew-Walker

"A mind-altering series...one quality of Serebrier’s Glazunov series has been is its combination of the Stokowskian and Szellian...a riveting experience."

So how is this new recording? I’ve already tipped my hand here: this is a worthy installment in what has turned out to be, for me, a mind-altering series, one that has converted me to a composer who was, formerly, far beneath my horizon of interest. Most immediately engaging is La Mer. From its snarling opening measures, with its low-brass growls and its percussion roars, it’s darker, grittier, and more intense than most of Glazunov’s output; in terms of its sheer sonority, too, it stands out for its moment-to-moment orchestral ingenuity. Granted, it’s nowhere near as radical as Debussy’s La Mer—Glazunov’s remains heavily indebted to its Lisztian forebears (not only the Dante Symphony but the symphonic poems as well). Nor, for that matter, does the score flaunt any formal elegance: it’s the kind of music that can seem garrulous in lesser hands. But one quality of Serebrier’s Glazunov series has been is its combination of the Stokowskian and Szellian—and his special ability to bring out the colors of La Mer’s glorious, sonic surface while shoring up the wobbly structure makes for a riveting experience. Serebrier insists that being a composer helps him “get inside a score, inside the music, and make some sense of it, some logic, so that it communicates”—and that skill certainly pays high dividends here. Reviewing Lan Shui’s recent recording with the Singapore Symphony, Michael Fine lamented the lack of “salt, brine, and winds” in the work (31:2)—but it’s a criticism one would hardly level after hearing Serebrier’s seething performance.

The Sixth is nearly as impressive. What to praise most? The flexibility of phrasing and dynamics in the first movement’s introduction? The striving impulse of the first theme, which grows out of it? The pastoral sweetness in the second movement—succulent but never sappy? The celebratory vigor of the finale, with its blazing brass and, in spots, its almost jazzy syncopations? The canny weighting of the harmonies throughout? From first note to last, it’s a splendid experience. Serebrier’s performance of the Glazunov has a great deal more conviction—and a great deal more sensual appeal—than Polyanski’s competing recording for Chandos.
The orchestra plays very well for Serebrier—and the sound on my pre-production CDs is exemplary. If you’ve been following this series, of course, you won’t need my encouragement to add this to your collection; but if you’ve yet to join in, this is as good a place as any to start.
Peter J. Rabinowitz

Russia can never make up its mind, artistically or politically, whether to turn east or west. St Petersburg, perhaps the most beautiful Classical city of all, with cathedrals domed in the approved western manner, has also, not far from Peter the Great's Nevsky Prospekt, a towering church that is nothing but a magnified version of St Basil's Cathedral on Moscow's Red Square. The brilliant range of colours on its many small domes are suggestive of oriental rugs, tapestries, or fabrics. This is the Cathedral on the Blood, marking the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated.

On the whole Glazunov looked west. The earliest work on this CD is La mer of 1889; yet that was also the year he and Rimsky-Korsakov were much occupied with completion of Borodin's Prince Igor, in which the Polovtsian Dances are a glorification of eastern tribal vitality. Either way it is excellent to have a young Russian's anticipation of Debussy. If the Frenchman observed the English Channel from Eastbourne, one presumes Glazunov was scanning the grey waters that filled the Gulf of Finland. The many moods of that unpredictable element are well captured, none more effectively than the rising storm.

La mer
In the case of Salome it is probably best to shut one's eyes and look nowhere. On this occasion Strauss's 1905 shocker preceded by four years Glazunov's incidental music to a production of Wilde's play. Quite the worst part of the Strauss opera is the Dance of the Seven Veils. I do not now suggest substituting Glazunov for Strauss, but it is instructive to see how effectively Glazunov coped with the delicate situation. I dare not speculate how many veils had been shed by the lascivious princess in the first two minutes of her performance, as it is now the holy month of Ramadan in Cairo.

Salome's Dance
José Serebrier and this Scottish orchestra have staked quite a corner in Glazunov symphonies. This is the fifth they have recorded, and it proves a very worthwhile project. No 6 is the first symphony Glazunov wrote after reaching the age of thirty. It is a powerful piece, but has room for a playful Intermezzo as third movement.

Intermezzo: Allegretto (Symphony No 6)
The outer movements, though, propound cogent musical arguments, as in the opening Allegro appassionato.

Allegro appassionato (Symphony No 6)
On the evidence of this fine disc, one can but wish the team a successful conclusion to the complete series.

Robert Anderson


Glazunov's gifts as a melodist and a symphonist with a sure hand are well represented by his Sixth Symphony, which he conducted himself at its St Petersburg premiere in 1897.

The material is robustly worked in the passionate first movement and finale, or given a wistful hue in parts of the second. There is plenty of activity and variety, and the whole is clothed in those luminous orchestral colours that were Glazunov's forte.

The RSNO under José Serebrier makes a persuasive case both for the symphony and for the two extras, an evocation of the sea that has a touch of Wagner's Ride of the Walkyries in its storm-tossed imagery, and two excerpts from incidental music to Wilde's Salome, an ominous introduction and an exotically tinged dance.
Goeffrey Norris


After several years, Warner has returned to their Glazunov cycle with José Serebrier, one of the finest conductors around in this sort of repertoire. The Sixth symphony is a difficult work to bring off in many ways as it has some rather erratic changes of tempo but under Serebrier, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra play with unabashed intensity and superb technical accomplishment.

The First Movement is very direct and the structure is held quite well with the transition from Adagio to Allegro passionate superbly handled. The same goes for the "Tema con variazioni" whilst the Finale is a rip-roaring piece with all guns coming out blazing. Comparisons with Polyansky (Chandos) and Anissimov (Naxos) are instructive but I feel that Serebrier is superior in this work.

Both "The Sea" and the "Salome" excerpts receive carefully attentive treatment with the former particularly atmospheric and picturesque. Recordings are top notch with just the right balance between strings and woodwind although the Scottish acoustic does appear to cloud sometimes. However, if you have waited patiently for Serebrier to continue his cycle then you will certainly not be disappointed.
Gerald Fenech


The Serebrier formulas all apply: plenty of verve, sympathy for all parts, a colossal sense of pageantry, all of which hearken back to his mentor Stokowski.

José Serebrier, the gifted conductor-composer, continues his excellent Glazounov cycle with his 2008 reading of the Sixth Symphony (1897), recorded at the Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow. Structurally reminiscent of one of Tchaikovsky’s larger symphonies, like the Third or Fifth, Glazounov’s Sixth presents us two outer movement of serious, German-based form, complemented by internal movements that owe debts to the divertimento or divertissement. While entirely melodic and tonally conservative, the music does not generate an immediate sense of character nor color, not having been particularly influenced by Russian themes. The G Major Tema con variazioni bears a distant carriage to Arensky’s Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky. Its seven variants embrace an Allegretto, Scherzino, Andante mistico fugato, and Notturno. Once or twice the melody swells up and reminds me of moments from Goldmark. Glazounov’s orchestral technique, always effective, has some pungent brass riffs and punctuations for the tympani.

The E-flat Major Intermezzo plays as mock-militant jaunt that combines courtliness and balletic grace. Warbles in the woodwinds and triplet figures do not add much depth, but the music trips lightly without ruffling any emotional feathers. The Finale returns to C Minor with contrapuntal vengeance, proffering a double-variation form that pays debts both to Balakirev’s composition classes and German formality. The Scottish Orchestra trumpets and woodwinds keep busy, alternating a skittishly martial nationalism and buoyantly lyrical impulses. The tempo picks up, making the various, polyphonic choirs virtuosos; the last pages pull up the reins and thin out the texture, only to renew its fervent energies for the presto coda, where the trumpets throw out Tchaikovsky’s sparks.

Glazounov's tone-poem or concert-fantasy in E Major, La Mer (1889), is dedicated to Wagner, and it possesses many of the ingredients that Hollywood composers would likewise employ in seascape evocations. The sea grumbles, whistles, and shimmers, with strings, horns, and a particularly active harp part. A well-wrought color piece, the music assumes a deft variation-technique to advance its ululations and surges, topped by aerial whitecaps. The poetic sentiment that provides the “program” for the score hints at Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” in several respects, not the least as serving witness to a trombone-driven, violent storm. As the maelstrom progresses, we might detect a faint nod to Wagner’s Dutchman. The quiet ending pays homage to Borodin’s color palette.

Composed for a 1908 production of Oscar Wilde’s decadent play Salome, Glazounov’s music invokes oriental exoticism where Richard Strauss painted the decor with drops of purple blood. Only momentarily does Glazounov grant Salome a convulsive gesture, the chromatic harmonies suggestive of her Byzantine desires. At one point, the brass chorale hints at a more exotic version of Humperdinck, maybe later Gliere. The sinuous Dance pays homage to Rimsky-Korsakov, touches Balakirev’s Islamey, paints the languor of Borodin. Cecil B. DeMille music Russian style. The Serebrier formulas all apply: plenty of verve, sympathy for all parts, a colossal sense of pageantry, all of which hearken back to his mentor Stokowski.
Gary Lemco

The Symphony No. 5 of Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) represents a moment of equipoise in his symphonic output. After his triumphal first symphony (premiered at the age of 16) and the succeeding three works that pushed the composer's expanding technique to the edge of its current abilities, the Fifth symphony was retrospective. It didn't attempt to do anything new, but showed rather how far Glazunov had come, and what he could bring to the form. It is an exuberant work filled with memorable tunes, colorful orchestration, and clever development, definitely the equal of any symphonies written by the likes of Dvorak or Fibich.

The Fifth has fared well on compact disc, at least in comparison to Glazunov's other symphonies. Unfortunately, current releases of the work are lacking in one way or another. Polyansky (Chandos 9739) concentrates on creating a polished orchestral surface, and seems completely unconcerned about what other opportunities the music may provide. Anissimov (Naxos 8.553660) is routine, while Butt (ASV 1051) afflicts his first and final movements with the slows in a search for profundity. The Fifth of Järvi (Orfeo C 093101) is the best performance in his series, but it still lacks some of the rhythmic flexibility and most of the strong accents that are very much a part of this composer's major orchestral scores. Mravinsky (EMI Classics 75953) is perhaps the biggest disappointment of them all, in a sloppy, matter-of-fact reading.

I'll state right away that Serebrier beats all of the currently available recordings. He does this through energy, a confident sense of style, a sure hand at bringing out inner voices, and an orchestra that has become the equal of any in the UK—and that's saying something. The Scottish orchestra has it all over its Soviet counterparts.

The slow movement belongs to Serebrier. He provides the most convincing version of the andante that I've ever heard, rhapsodic yet perfectly controlled, with melting strings that bring to mind his one-time mentor, Stokowski. The final movement is a toss-up. Serebrier's vigorous tempos (the fastest on record) smooth over the awkward, sudden transitions between the slower, rather bland main theme, and the faster “bear dance” second theme: here, the pacing in these versions is roughly on a par, allowing the conductor to focus on those contrapuntal details Glazunov so loved to place in his finales. Fedoseyev suddenly slows to a moderate tempo in the coda, where the bear dance turns into a parade march; you can almost hear the soldiers and their mounts gallop gracefully past the admiring crowd and into a Russian sunset. By contrast, Serebrier's horses continue straining at a breakneck pace. It's more exciting, and it leaves me gasping for air.

As the Symphony No. 5 was the most popular of these works in Glazunov's auvre, The Seasons became his celebrated ballet score. Serebrier gives it a symphonic treatment, with an emphasis on virtuosity and detail. The snarling brass in the third Winter variation are finely delineated, while the upper strings in the waltz from Summer have an open-hearted warmth that surely came to these Glasgow Scots by way of Leningrad. I find Spring too brisk, but Autumn's Bacchanale has all the brilliance one could desire, and its Petit Adagio provides just the right sense of suppleness and repose.

The liner notes are good (if a little hard on the composer, who's described as a hard drinker rather than the alcoholic he demonstrably was), and the sound quality is exceptionally spacious and well defined. Dare we hope for a Glazunov cycle from Serebrier?
Barry Brenesal

This modern recording of Glazunov classics is welcome. In the catalogue there are many performances to compare against. There are more than fifteen other recordings of The Seasons but only half a dozen of the Fifth, most of which are modern versions dating from the 1990s. The Naxos recording with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra is well respected (coupled with Symphony 8). An earlier Olympia disc, also recorded in Russia with the Ministry of Culture’s fine orchestra is not as acoustically bright. Despite this, its coupling with Symphony 4 is also valuable and well thought of. (Both are given three stars in the Penguin Guide.)

This Warner recording certainly has a lot to commend it. Despite the absence of any Russian input, the score has been read with keen attention to detail by both conductor and orchestra.

In the Fifth Symphony an interesting warmth from the violas and cellos prevails in the first movement. The trumpets and horns blend nicely as the first movement gathers momentum before the graceful woodwind section starts. Glazunov seems to have been influenced by the German school in the use of horns and woodwind in the early movements.

The lively second movement has fine atmosphere with the piccolo/flute and pizzicato strings adding a magical touch. The opening of the third movement gives that feeling of mystery that is not as mechanically portrayed as in the Russian recording with Rozhdestvensky; instead a dreamy elegance pervades the movement. Serebrier lengthens the phrasing to good effect.

The military splendour of the last movement expends considerable energy and pomp. The notes tell us that ‘this energetic rondo recalls Borodin’s rough epic manner, but which is transformed by Glazunov into an epitome of a grand Russian style’. The charm of this score is certainly brought out by this competent conductor.

The Seasons is set against considerable competition from other labels. I continue to enjoy my Jarvi version with the Scottish National Orchestra (Chandos, coupled with Concerto for violin and orchestra, Op.82) even though its 1988 performance might now be considered by others as ‘slightly dated’.

Again, I detect an overall sensitivity in the playing that is very appealing. In this recording, Spring runs into Summer (which is not always the case) giving an abrupt start to tr.12, Summer’s opening. Only if listening on a track-by-track basis will the clipped start be of any concern, but this is quickly overlooked when one settles into the majesty of the movement. In the coda of Summer, the syncopated horn chords are more evenly spaced than those found in the Jarvi performance, yet the whistling strings tend to be over-recessed. Perhaps the best known part of the score is the opening movement of Autumn (tr.17) where the first strings and piccolo carry the theme and need to be forward placed. Here the impact may not be as vibrant as the heavy Jarvi version because the timpani are not as prominent, but for me the strings are right and my enjoyment is not muted.

The notes are written in English, French and German and carry more detail than some of those found elsewhere.

The clear recording and slightly reverberant surroundings are ideal for maximising the textures and appeal of these works and make them worthy of consideration as benchmark recordings.
Raymond Walker

A class act

Alexander Glazunov’s Fifth Symphony and his charming one-act ballet, The Seasons, make an ideal coupling of late 19th century Russian music.

Although he was beginning to distance himself from the strong nationalism of The Five (the influential Establishment of Russian composition) Glazunov retains the exotic orchestration, modal harmonies and folk themes of his predecessors, while consciously introducing a more cultivated, sophisticated style. The result brims with creativity and imagination.

José Serebrier and the RSNO play the slow, opening bars of the Fifth Symphony with a luxuriant, rich sound, before moving on through the maestoso-allegro with great vigour and exhilaration to a marvellously light and transparent scherzo. Featherweight flutes, strings and percussion catch the delicacy of Glazunov’s writing.

Serebrier’s pacing keeps the music pulsating and alive, but simultaneously gives the spacious melodies and rich harmonies time to breathe and expand. The RSNO responds superbly to his precise direction with brilliantly incisive playing and as the orchestra moves into the very exciting last movement, it is impossible not to revel in the surging energy and grand sonority Serebrier gathers from his players in the symphony’s driving finale.

The RSNO is equally scintillating in Serebrier’s account of the rarely-seen ballet, The Seasons. The playing is warm and elegant in these beautifully constructed musical pictures. The zest and thrust of the famous Bacchanale Of Autumn could even tempt you to retrieve those long forgotten dancing shoes. Very enjoyable performances.

José Serebrier with the RSNO here couples two of Glazunov's most warmly attractive works. The 1890 one-act ballet The Seasons is the most popular of his orchestral pieces, with its sequence of colourful numbers illustrating each of the four seasons in turn; the vigorous Bacchanal, which opens the Autumn section, was well known years ago as a BBC signature tune.

The Fifth Symphony, dating from five years earlier, opens with a bouncing Allegro in triple-time, here given an exhilarating performance. That is followed by a Scherzo that echoes Mendelssohn's fairy music, a lyrical slow movement, lovingly done, and an energetic finale full of vigorous syncopations. With outstanding recorded sound giving clarity and weight, the refinement and power of the performance is superbly caught.
Edward Greenfield

Although born in Uruguay, the accomplished conductor José Serebrier boasts a Russian ancestry which lends him a special affinity with Glazunov, whose majestic fifth symphony proved him Tchaikovsky's truest disciple in the blending of nationalist traditions with Western idiom. Serebrier guides the Royal Scottish National Orchestra through a rhapsodic account, his intensity and precision drawing attention to detail previously unsuspected of this neglected composer. Serebrier also proves a worthy champion of Glazunov's ballet music in the shape of The Seasons, which is rarely danced these days but is a concert piece deserving a wider audience. This is a continuing cycle which will be well worth collecting.
Anthony Holden

Die Topliste Schallplatten

Blumige Idyllik

José Serebrier, der 1938 in Uruguay geborene, in New York lebende Spitzenmaestro unter den Reisedirigenten und fantasiebegabte Komponist, hat das Image des „Erben Stokowskis“ – mit guten Gründen, wenn man seine vortrefflichen Aufnahmen hört, sei’s nun Mendelssohn, Janácek, französische und amerikanische oder – ganz besonders – slawische Musik, die ihm so überhaupt nicht sklavisch von der Hand geht. Man höre seine Scheherazade (Reference Recordings) oder seinen Tschaikowsky (BIS), oder eben, als leuchtendes Beispiel herausragender Verwirklichung bislang kaum vorbildlich zu hörender Musik, den ersten Baustein seines Zyklus’ der Glasunov- Sinfonien, der unüberhörbar der bei weitem gelungenste Zyklus dieser von Tschaikowskys, Borodins und den Sowjetgenies Gattungsbeiträgen überschatteten Meisterwerke zu werden verspricht. Die 1894 vollendete Fünfte Symphonie ist wohl zusammen mit der Achten (aus welcher der großartige Mesto-Satz besondere Aufmerksamkeit verdient) Glasunovs wesentlichstes Orchesterwerk. Sie ist die Schöpfung eines durchaus jungen Mannes im Zenit seiner Schaffenskraft, voll freudiger Strahlkraft, anschaulicher Poesie, handfester Verve und verliebter Anmut. Und Serebrier kann das ganze Spektrum tänzerischer Eleganz, atmender Phrasierung, gepfefferten Zugriffs, veredelnder Balancierung, behutsamer Sentimentalität und absichtslos scheinender Übergangskunst entfalten, das ihm in so natürlicher Weise zur Verfügung steht. Am meisten nimmt das Andante, gehaltvollster Teil des Werkes, ein. Aber auch die bei aller Vitalität etwas routinierten Abschnitte der Ecksätze stehen plötzlich sinnerfüllt da. Das Pendant bildet die leichtere Muse in der Nachfolge Tschaikowskys, mit welcher Glasunov seine Zeitgenossen beeindrucken konnte: das wenige Jahre später entstandene einaktige Ballett „Les Saisons“, in welchem alle kurzweilige Episodik, alle blumige Idyllik, die belebenden Aufschwünge und zärtlichen Nostalgien, jedes Kleinod seinen Platz zum Leben hat. Serebrier hat eine geradezu untrügliche Intuition für die Charaktere der Situationen und Stationen und deren einander zur Form ergänzendes Wechselspiel. Ausgezeichnetes Orchesterspiel, farbträchtiger Nachhall – eine bessere Werbung für Glasunov hat es nicht gegeben, und nun warten wir gespannt auf die Achte Symphonie.
Christoph Schlüren

A Winning Album in Every Count!

"This is pure Glazunov plain and simple under the great Maestro's hands."

It seems as though Glazunov is getting a good deal of attention as of late, with a multiple of new recordings of his music that were issued in the past year (believe me, the surge is most welcome, for like other reviewers of this disc, its neglect is baffling). Truth to tell, it has been quite a while since accounts of his works, particularly the Fifth Symphony, are given with such flair and freshness as they are here. Not that Serebrier's approach is entirely unadorned, but that's to its advantages. Take the climax (at 7'20") of the Symphony's first movement, how grand the approach is without being undercharged. Although Borodin's influence is noticeable throughout, Serebrier would have you think twice. This is pure Glazunov plain and simple under the great Maestro's hands. And how sweet the lyricism is particularly in the Scherzo. The andante is well played also, though not emotionally as heartwarming as in Svetlanov's and Fedoseyev's recordings (the brass interceptions are especially poignant and tragic in these fine vintage Melodiya albums). But Serebrier held his ground well, as in the case in the Finale, which is superbly done and very much reminds me of Jarvi and Svetlanov in their overall takes. Exemplary, particularly at the climaxes and the finising bars of the work (though I'm still finding myself thrilled of how emphatic Jarvi is in the six-note Tchaikovskian closing).

The same amount of praises are warranted in Serebrier's take of "Vremena Goda" ("The Seasons"). This is Glazunov at his best (and those who deem the score as an equal to "The Nutcracker" are not insane). It is, as typical with the composer's music, a very demanding work and treating it too straightforwardly would rob some of its delicate yet highly imaginative qualities. Most conductors, particularly Jarvi in Chandos, succeed in bringing out the intricate details of the piece to full effects. There are no exceptions of it here, where Serebrier allows the music to flow, very much like what Svetlanov did in his 1978 EMI recording. Jarvi's rendition have more excitability and brisk (the Bacchanal and the Scene III's coda leading up to it are the best on record). But there are plenty of virtures to be found here, as this recording may well set new standards. As in the Chandos disc, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra responds with plenty of warmth and exuberance for Serebrier. The recording sound is first class and the album is well indexed and presented. My only hope is for the same team to record Glazunov's other works like, say, his Sixth Symphony and perhaps even "Raymonda."
David A. Hollingsworth

"A spine-tingling sprint brings down the plush-velvet curtain."

A well-upholstered orchestra, a conductor much given to grand gestures in the Stokowski tradition and a composer who sometimes needs the creative touch, have found each other in this outstanding issue. Only last month I welcomed Tadaaki Otaka’s BIS recording of the Fifth, Glazunov’s ultimate symphony-by-numbers, as the clear front runner; José Serebrier is even better, much better, giving the characterful RSNO wind Romantic room to manoeuvre in their lyrical first-movement theme and finding even more panache than usual in the state-festival finale, with a spine-tingling sprint to bring down the plush-velvet curtain. As I felt when last listening to the Fifth, Glazunov’s substance is especially evasive in the slow movement, but how well this orchestra’s various departments, starting with the horns, set the indolent mood with their shifting harmonies.

Serebrier’s accomplished gear-changing comes in useful for the most through-composed divertissements of The Seasons. Clearly Glazunov was out to emulate high balletic style in 1900 after the glories of the then- recently deceased Tchaikovsky’s Nutracker, and the elaborate orchestration registers beautifully in the open acoustic of Glasgow’s Henry Wood Hall. Yet there are dangers, too, in the endless succession of lush, expansive melodies; Serebrier keeps these even more in focus than all the previous late-Romantic masters like Svetlanov and Jarvi, while giving the music space to billow at key points; the Petit adagio of “Autumn” is a consummate example. Superb solos from the RSNO harpist and principal clarinet (still John Cushing, I presume, from the distinctive if discreet vibrato) gild the lily, and Andrew Huth’s neatly spiced introductory notes help to make this a perfect introduction to Glazunov’s sweet-toothed pleasures.
David Nice

TRADICION Y MAESTRIA
"La version de Serebrier es sensacional"

El academicismo caracteristico en Glazunov y el afecto que el autor tenia por la música de Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov y Wagner confluyen en su sinfonia mas justamente celebre, la Quinta, en la que algun eco de Chaikovski tambien apunta de vez en cuando. De hecho es, una sintesis entre la tradición nacionalista rusa y “los refinamientos de la tecnica occidental”. La maestría de Glazunov en lo formal y en la orquestación resultan evidentes. Lo cierto es que en esta sinfonía el resultado es mucho mas brillante que en otras obras del autor y este consigue aqui ir mucho mas alla de lo previsible.

La versión de José Serebrier es sensacional y el director extrae todo el potencial expresivo e incluso dramatico de la obra, tal como queda de manifiesto en la suave tensión con que comienza el tercer movimiento. Completa la grabación otra de las obras mas celebradas de Glazunov, el ballet Las Estaciones que sigue la tradición de los grandes ballets de Chaikovski. Glazunov sabia como escribir maravillosamente para orquesta. Excelente tambien en el ballet la labor de José Serebrier, brindandonos asi un compacto de esos que nos hacen un poco mas felices pasando un buen rato escuchando buena música. Vamos, un disco precioso, para no dejarlo escapar!.
Josép Pascual

José Serebrier: Tradition and Mastery
"Serebrier's version is sensational"

The characteristic academism of Glazunov, and his enthusiasm for the music of Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Wagner come together in his rightfully most famous symphony, the Fifth, in which one can also hear echoes of Tchaikovsky from time to time. It is indeed a synthesis of Russian tradition and the refinements of occidental tradition. The mastery of Glazunov is in the structure and form, as well as the orchestration. The truth is that in this symphony the results are much more brilliant than in some of his other works, and he really manages to go further ahead of our expectations. Serebrier’s version is sensational. The conductor extracts all the potential expressiveness and the dramatic explosions of the work. The tension at the start of the third movement, even in such a quiet moment, reflects the intensity of his interpretation throughout.

The recording is completed with one of Glazunov’s most celebrated works, the ballet The Seasons. Serebrier’s performance is excellent here as well, providing us with a CD which gives us so much listening pleasure. A very beautiful recording, not to be missed!
Josep Pascual

José Serebrier, the more gifted of Leopold Stokowski acolytes, brings his considerable skills in color and balance to a pair of Glazunov staples, the 1895 Fifth Symphony, long a favorite of Evgeny Mravinsky, and the ever-popular ballet divertissement The Seasons of 1900. Recorded January 2004 in Henry Wood Hall, the B-flat Symphony is expansive and Germanic in the international style that Tchaikovsky had established for the Russian symphonic tradition. The internal color and instrumentation often suggests Dvorak, along with a strong sense of sonata-form. The G Minor Scherzo has a tinkling sensibility between flutes and percussion, not far from The Nutcracker and the miniature, jeweled style of Liadov. The Andante has a moody, Wagnerian character, with rich scoring and an extended melody. The finale, an Allegro--Maestoso of high, brassy energy, recalls Borodin at several moments, still retaining the national and imperial character particular to Glazunov. Very glossy playing from the Scottish National Orchestra makes this music a suave experience, much like Talich's Dvorak.
Gary Lemco

José Serebrier, the Uruguayan conductor, has tapped a nice vein: He is recording symphonies of Glazunov, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The first recording contained the Symphony No. 5 plus "The Seasons," a ballet, which may be the composer's best known work. Especially exciting was the symphony's finale — heart-pounding — and, of course, the Bacchanale from the Autumn section of "The Seasons." That is a long-standing world favorite. The finale of the Symphony No. 5 is a glorious shot of adrenalin. Under José Serebrier, the Scottish orchestra sounds like a first-class institution, a top-notch world-class orchestra, which we may well have to consider it.

The relevant label — Warner Classics — has now come out with a third album, containing Glazunov's Symphony No.4 and Symphony No.7.These are not exactly immortal works, but they are certainly worth knowing, and Mr. Serebrier and his forces make a wonderful case for them. The performances are polished, rich, exciting and seamless. They are admirable in detail and compelling in overall conception. A must have recording. Russian Romanticism is not to be neglected, and Glazunov was a prime exponent of it.

The relevant label — Warner Classics — has now come out with a second album, containing Glazunov's Symphony No.4 and Symphony No.7.These are not exactly immortal works, but they are certainly worth knowing, and Mr. Serebrier and his forces make a wonderful case for them. The performances are polished, rich, and seamless. They are admirable in detail and compelling in overall conception.

Russian Romanticism is not to be neglected, and Glazunov was a prime exponent of it. But if you acquire only one of these albums — make it the first one. That finale is a glorious shot of adrenalin.
Jay Nordlinger

The traditional image of Glazunov as an emotionally restrained technician, unambitious and churning out endless, watered-down Rimsky-Korsakov is very far from the truth. Its strongest support has come from the unavailability of the composer’s works in performances emphasizing their finest qualities; for Glazunov, like Dvorak, requires a conductor of imagination to make it all work.

Nowhere is that requirement greater than in the Symphony No. 4. It is another experimental piece: an unusual three-movement structure, two movements with lengthy slow introductions, no independent slow movement, and a host of subtle cross references that make the transformed reappearance of one theme in all movements of the Second Symphony look primitive by comparison. Not everything in the Fourth works, despite the inspiration of