Vissarion SHEBALIN: Orchestral Music, Volume Two
Like his close friend and colleague Dmitry Shostakovich, Vissarion Shebalin (1902–63) knew a life of both celebrity and hardship: he was another of the composers condemned in the infamous 1948 Party congress in Moscow, and in later life he fought to overcome a series of crippling strokes. But his personality remained undaunted, as his music resolutely proves. This is the first recording of his Third and Fourth Suites and Ballet Suite, all three prepared from theatre music, and showing the lighter side of Shebalin’s symphonic muse, similar in style to the dance music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. They have been recorded by the orchestra of his home town, Omsk, the capital of Siberia.
Siberian Symphony Orchestra
Dmitry Vasiliev, conductor
Listen To This Recording:
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Orchestral Suite No. 3, Op. 61 (1935)
- I Introduction
- II Laura’s Dance
- III Habanera
- IV Intermezzo
- V Scene and Serenade
- Orchestral Suite No. 3, Op. 61 VI Chant in the Convent
- VII Fast Dance
- VIII Finale
- I Introduction
- II Arrival of the Guests
- Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 62:III Waltz
- IV Erlynne’s Wait
- V Dance of the Dolls
- VI Farewell Waltz
- I Introduction and Waltz
- II Nocturne
- III Dance of the Girls
- IV Adagio
- V Gavotte
- VI Slow Waltz
- VII Galop
Arranged by Leonid Feigin, 1963
Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 62 (1958)
Arranged by Vladislav Agafonnikov, 1986
Ballet Suite (1958)
Arranged by Leonid Feigin, 1973
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘Paul Conway’s notes are characteristically full of detail, finely expressed.
This second volume in Toccata’s sequence of the orchestral music of Shebalin has something of a Good Time feel to it, despite some shadows and turbulence. The music is performed ardently by the Siberian Symphony under the galvanizing baton of Dmitry Vasiliev.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
Fanfare :
‘This music conjures the vastness and rugged beauty of Siberia (or so my imagination leads me to believe), with its big-boned construction and soaring lyricism. His style dovetails neatly into the universe of 20th-century Russian music, fitting especially well alongside the great ballet scores of Prokofiev. It is something of a wonder that his music is not better known. The performances, from an ensemble I have not encountered before, are fantastic, exuding brilliant sonority and palpable joy.’
—Fanfare
Online Merker :
‘Das exzellente Sibirische Symphonieorchester, eines der Größten Russlands, unter der engagierten und musikantisch mitreissenden Leitung von Dmitry Vasiliev legt Vollblutinterpretationen aufs Parkett. Die enorme Qualität des Orchesters rührt auch daher, dass es aus einer unerschöpflichen Quelle an Graduierten der Konservatorien in Novosibirsk, Ural und St. Petersburg schöpfen kann.’
English translation:
‘The excellent Siberian Symphony Orchestra, one of Russia’s greatest, under the committed and musically captivating direction of Dmitry Vasiliev, delivers full-blooded interpretations. The orchestra’s enormous quality also stems from the fact that it can draw from an inexhaustible source of graduates from the conservatories in Novosibirsk, the Urals, and St. Petersburg.’
—Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger, Online Merker