Soviet composer Sergey Slonimsky (born 1932) (the nephew of Russian-American composer and lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky) began his career in the mid-twentieth century as an avant-gardist, but whether because of Soviet edict or personal aesthetic development there is little evidence of modernism in the two works on this CD, an oratorio derived from his 1974 opera Virineya and Symphoniette (1966) for orchestra. Slonimsky is a natural dramatist with a flair for large, passionate gestures, writes well for the voice, and is an ...
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Soviet composer Sergey Slonimsky (born 1932) (the nephew of Russian-American composer and lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky) began his career in the mid-twentieth century as an avant-gardist, but whether because of Soviet edict or personal aesthetic development there is little evidence of modernism in the two works on this CD, an oratorio derived from his 1974 opera Virineya and Symphoniette (1966) for orchestra. Slonimsky is a natural dramatist with a flair for large, passionate gestures, writes well for the voice, and is an inventive orchestrator. While these pieces are conservative harmonically and make heavy use of folk-like melodies, they have more character and interest than what's usually associated with "Soviet realism" in music. The oratorio lies firmly in the tradition of Mussorgsky's and Prokofiev's choral music, and also draws on Orthodox liturgical music. Symphoniette is slightly more harmonically adventurous and is sometimes reminiscent of the more conservative symphonic music of...
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