American Symphony's "After the Thaw" Concert of Soviet Music

On February 24, the American Symphony Orchestra presented a program at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, devoted to music by Soviet composers written between the post-Stalinist "thaw" of repressive censorship in the arts that took place in the 1950s and the period of the fall of the Soviet state at the end of the 1980s.  The works on the program were Alexander Lokshin's 4th Symphony (1968), Boris Tchaikovsky's Cello Concerto (1964) and Music for Orchestra (1987), and Boris Tischenko's 5th Symphony (1976).  Leon Botstein conducted, and Anita Leuzinger was the cello soloist.  The Lokshin symphony and the Tchaikovksy Music for Orchestra were claimed to be U.S. premiere performances.

Very little Soviet music from this period has gained any appreciable exposure in American concert halls, apart from the works that Dimitri Shostakovich produced during the last decades of his life, so it was very enterprising of the American Symphony Orchestra to dig this stuff up and put together a coherent program.  In the event, I thought the music by Boris Tchaikovsky (no relation to Peter I. Tchaikovsky, the leading 19th century Russian composer) towered above that of Lokshin and Tishchenko in terms of inspiration and craftsmanship.  Lokshin's music just felt like somebody who was very upset was shouting for a prolonged period of time.  (It is a single-movement work.)  I had the same feeling through the first three movements of Tishchenko's 5-movement symphony, but then the Interlude & Rondo movements seemed to come from a much higher level of inspiration.  The Interlude reminded me at times of the first movement from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11, depicting the eerie quiet on the palace square prior to the 1905 revolutionary activities.  Here we had a master orchestrator at work, and that Interlude movement has continued to haunt me in the days after the concert.

But B. Tchaikovsky towers above his contemporaries.  The Cello Concerto, a four-movement piece, struck me as overextended but full of interesting ideas, wonderful orchestrational effects, and some terrific melodies for the cello soloist, who played very expressively.  As with many western composers, Tchaikovsky seems to have moved to simplify his musical language from the 1960s (Cello Concerto) to the 1980s (Music for Orchestra).  The next time the music director of an American symphony orchestra thinks of programming one of the Respighi Roman trilogy pieces, I think he or she should reconsider and take a look at Tchaikovsky's Music for Orchestra. The orchestration made the strongest impression on me, but his flair for melody, interesting harmonic movement, and rhythmic variety were all in evidence.  This is a piece that should receive frequent outings from major orchestras.

These ASO concerts are by design exploratory, attempting to find and present little-known music.  The results can be hit or miss.  At times they are tracking down pieces known mainly from references in old media or word of mouth, and they can't be certain how good a piece will be until they have prepared parts (which frequently don't exist for these old, forgotten works) and then can read through the music in rehearsal.  Few of these pieces have been recorded.  (I actually have a recording of Tchaikovsky's Music for Orchestra, but not for any of the others despite my vast classical music recording collection.)  I count one of these concerts as a success if I come away feeling that I have heard some music that is so worthy that I'd like to hear it again, or that I would like to hear more music by the composers.  In this case, the concert left me with the conviction that I should continue exploring Tchaikovsky's music, and that I should pay more attention to Tishchenko.  I can't say it made me into a Lokshin fan, however. 

The orchestra seemed to me to be struggling at times during this concert.  Leon Botstein loves long programs.  The typical symphony orchestra concert when I arrived in New York in 1977 was about two hours, including intermission.  Somehow over the last several decades the typical concert has gotten longer, and these days usually runs to about 2 hours and 15 minutes.  But this program ran for more than 2-1/2 hours, which is particularly demanding for players and audience on a weeknight. I could have done without the Lokshin symphony, which would have resulted in a concert of "normal" length and would have left the orchestra rather more energetic for the best piece on the program, Tchaikovsky's Music for Orchestra.  I have to believe as well that trying to play so much unfamiliar music in one concert puts quite a strain on the rehearsal process.  The rather loose ensemble I heard at times, and the occasional faint false entries, might have been avoided with less new music to learn.  So herewith a suggestion that the ASO strive to keep the length of their concerts closer to the contemporary norm, if not even slightly shorter than that.  (I've long thought that 2 hours is just about right for a symphony concert.)

The ASO has two more concerts at Avery Fisher this year, both worth attending.  On April 9 they will perform the rarely-heard "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" by Robert Schumann (every now and again they will play something by a major composer, so long as it is a piece that is rarely heard), and on May 9 they have a wildly enterprising program of music inspired by the mythological figures of Apollo and Dionysus, by Arthur Bliss, Luigi Dallapiccola, Hans Werner Henze, Granville Bantock, and Albert Roussel.  The only really familiar piece on the program is Roussel's ballet (rather short) on Bacchus et Ariane, Op. 43, a wonderful work.  The second suite is played occasionally on US symphony programs, but Botstein promises us both suites, which will be a treat.  (I remember hearing Ormandy conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra in a performance of the 2nd Suite in Carnegie Hall decades ago....)  This looks like another marathon program, with the Bliss Hymn to Apollo claimed as a NY premiere.  Be there!

Comments

[Igor Prokhorov]

Thanks to the author for the positive and enthusiastic words about Boris Tchaikovsky's music.
For those who interested - welcome to the official site of The Boris Tchaikovsky Society:
www.boris-tchaikovsky.com

[Alexander A.Lokshin, son of the composer]

Dear Mr.Botstein,
Your interview given to NeuFutur spreads defamating rumours about my father. I forbid you to execute compositions by my father.
A.A.Lokshin.

[Art Leonard]

I am not Mr. Botstein, and I have no idea whether he would see anything that is posted on this blog. I also rather doubt that he can be forbidden from playing compositions because a composer's son disagrees about what the conductor has said about his father.

[Alexander A.Lokshin, son of the composer]

Symphony №4 by Lokshin (a fragment of ballet). Cond. R.Barshai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkQucMSMcVg&layer_token=3dc4fb67008bd994