Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui – Russian Spectacular (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan Shui - Russian Spectacular (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

This programme of orchestral showpieces features four of the five members of the “Mighty Handful”, a group of Russian composers who during the second half of the 19th century collaborated to create a distinct national style. The recorded works illustrate different aspects of their endeavours – both in terms of the musical means they employ and their subject matter. Orientalism is one of the typical features of the music of the group, as witness Balakirev’s Islamey – employing material from the Caucasus Mountains – and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, describing the revels of a nomadic eastern tribe during a 12th-century raid into the Russian lands.

The most individual of the group was Modest Mussorgsky, with a musical language both powerful and startlingly vivid in imagination. His celebrated Pictures from an Exhibition was composed in 1874 as a tribute to a recently deceased artist friend, and takes in such specifically Russian elements as the fairy-tale witch Baba Yaga and the Great Gate of Kiev. Originally written for the piano it is here performed in the 1922 orchestration by Maurice Ravel.

Also by Mussorgsky, the opening Night on the Bare Mountain paints a witch’s Sabbath in bold brushstrokes, and was re-orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov after the composer’s death. It is his version, with more sumptuous orchestral textures and a tighter formal plan that is heard here.

Tracklist:

01. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Night on Bald Mountain (Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov) (12:22)
02. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade I (01:45)
03. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): I. Gnomus (02:40)
04. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade II (00:55)
05. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): II. Il vecchio castello (04:35)
06. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade III (00:34)
07. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): III. Tuileries [Dispute d’enfants après jeux] (01:01)
08. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): IV. Bydło (03:07)
09. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade IV (00:44)
10. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): V. Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells (01:16)
11. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle (02:22)
12. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VII. Limoges, le marché [La grande nouvelle] (01:25)
13. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VIIIa. Catacombæ [Sepulcrum romanum] (01:57)
14. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VIIIb. Con mortuis in lingua mortua (01:52)
15. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): IX. The Hut on Fowl’s Legs [Baba-Yagá] (03:41)
16. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): X. The Great Gate of Kiev (06:00)
17. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Islamey, Op. 18 (Orch. S. Lyapunov) (08:45)
18. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Introduction (02:45)
19. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Wild Dance of the Men (01:10)
20. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. General Dance [1] (02:10)
21. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Dance of the Boys [1] (01:16)
22. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Gliding Dance of the Maidens (01:43)
23. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Dance of the Boys [2] (01:18)
24. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. General Dance [2] (00:24)
25. Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Lan Shui – Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Più animato (01:19)