Day 342
Glinka: Kamarinskaya
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Loris Tjeknavorian
Another fairly full day today so not much time for extended listening. This short orchestral piece by Glinka is seen as one of the key works in the development of authentically Russian music. It is said to be the first work based solely on Russian folk song. For such a slight work it had a very important influence on the next generation of Russian composers - you can hear pre-echoes of Tchaikovsky and Borodin in particular. It is attractive music with a new nice touches but it does rather call to mind Constant Lambert’s famous quote The whole trouble with a folk song is that once you have played it through there is nothing much you can do except play it over again and play it rather louder. Most Russian music, indeed, consists in ringing changes on this device, skilfully disguised though the fact may be.
That’s certainly true here. At least the piece doesn’t outstay its welcome but even so by the end the folk tune does start to get on your nerves.
No comments:
Post a Comment