Musical Romanticism, explored by Pieter de Oude.
Tchaikovski’s Overture-Fantasy Romeo and Juliet and Myaskovsky’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 44
A full Russian orchestral programme that opens with the glorious Overture-Fantasia to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet of Tchaikovski. This is thé opportunity for the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra from St. Petersburg to shine. All registers open and the string and wind sections can be heard in full glory. The characters from the drama are played against each other musically, and Tchaikovski would not be Tchaikovski if the themes would not keep on singing in your head for hours. That is a bit of a pity perhaps for the much more modest Violin Concerto of Myaskovsky that follows. This composer did not receive and still does not receive, the same attention that his old colleague received, but he actually did not mind that too much. Myaskovsky was a very humble man who wrote 27 symphonies and 13 string quartets between 1910 and 1950. Furthermore, he was a well-respected professor at the Moscow Conservatory. This music gets everything it needs in the hands of star violist Vadim Repin and conductor Valery Gergiev with his orchestra from Saint Petersburg.
Playlist:
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjaikovski, Overture-Fantasy Romeo & Juliet
Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, St. Petersburg conducted by Valery Gergiev – PH 456 580-2 - Nikolai Myaskovski, Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.44
Vadim Repin, violin/Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra St. Petersburg conducted by Valery Gergiev – PH 473 343-2