EMIL TABAKOV Complete Symphonies, Volume Five
The music of the Bulgarian composer-conductor Emil Tabakov (b. 1947) explores the darker side of the human spirit in epic scores as austere as they are powerful. The Second Symphony is a diptych where the wild, stamping, manic whirl of the second movement releases the store of energy pent up by the grief-stricken first. The four-movement Sixth Symphony is a tragic utterance in the monumental manner of the middle-period Shostakovich symphonies, bleak and gripping in equal measure.
Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio (Tracks 1 – 2)
Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra (Tracks 3 – 6)
Emil Tabakov, conductor
FIRST RECORDINGS
Listen To This Recording:
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Symphony No. 2 (1984)
- I Adagio
- II Allegro moderato
- I Allegro agitato
- II Largo
- III Allegro
- IV Allegro
Symphony No. 6 (2001)
MusicWeb International :
‘The composer is clearly totally in charge of the performances. He seems to achieve his exact requirements with these highly proficient if little known orchestras, aided by fine and clear archival recordings. Documentation is, as usual with Toccata, not only valuable but also exemplary.’
—Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International
Colins Column :
‘But I like what I hear in these two examples, the first recordings of Symphonies 2 (1984) and 6 (2001) and not because they “explore the darker side of the human spirit … austere … powerful”, but because it’s gripping music on its own terms; and I have let my ears decide what is being expressed. […]
I stayed with both works, intrigued, and appreciative that the composer also conducts searing accounts with the Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio (Symphony No.2) and the Plovdiv Philharmonic. Good sound, from 1985 and 2002.’
—Colin Anderson, Colins Column
Fanfare :
‘They are both angry works, but whereas the Second gives us unbridled fury, the Sixth is etched on a canvas of more directed, but no less intense, rage and angst. This is not music for the faint of heart. Both symphonies are relentless in their intensity, and the moments of quiet feel like we’re waiting for a bomb to explode. It’s not the music of a placid soul, and it certainly isn’t dull.’
—Fanfare
Classical Source :
‘Tabakov’s two-movement No.2 is intense, angst-ridden, and cinematic in some respects, its initial isolation turning into an explosive release of energy in what follows[…]At twice the length, fifty minutes, the four-movement “tragic” Sixth Symphony opens as if a coiled-up spring has been set in motion (a bit like Nielsen’s Third).’
—Classical Source