Liadov: Baba-Yaga, Op. 56

Lyadov was born in 1855 and taught in the St. Petersburg Conservatory, as well as being a conductor and composer. He was very interested in folklore and most of his works are on a small scale for instruments, orchestra and choir. He had a great understanding of fairy tales and poetry and some works resemble those of Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov. These interpretations are in the expert hands of Svetlanov.

A stunning 2CD of Russian music from Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra that includes a mix of the familiar and the not so familiar. Liadov’s exquisite miniature tone poems and Glinka’s effervescent overture to Ruslan and Ludmila rub shoulders with a rare Tchaikovsky overture and two preludes by Tcherepnin. All the composers here had a deep knowledge and respect for the traditional music of Mother Russia, and every work on these discs has the unmistakable sound of Russia irrespective of whether it was composed under the Tsarist or Soviet regime.

Recordings made in 1993/94

Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914) was, like his Norwegian contemporary Grieg, a miniaturist. At a time when his fellow Russian composers were composing operas, symphonies and concertos, he concentrated on producing a remarkable collection of wonderfully scored and evocative orchestral miniatures. He did sometimes venture into larger musical forms, and this is illustrated by 'Fragment from the Apocalypse', a large unfinished work that shares the same visionary sound world as Scriabin. One of his most famous works 'the Enchanted Lake' is suffused with a Debussian soundscape. This work, like 'Kikimora' (about a tiny thimble sized human hating witch who listens to stories told by her cat) were intended to be incorporated into operas that were either never started or finished.

Liadov was the first composer Diaghilev asked for a ballet on the Russian folktale 'The Firebird'. Liadov's legendary laziness saw to it that he never completed the commission - another pupil of Rimsky Korsakov, the young Igor Stravinsky was asked instead and made it his first major ballet success.

Liadov's research into folk music - another thing he had in common with Grieg, laid the foundations for other composers including Bartok, Kodaly, and Vaughan Williams to preserve and exploit the rich musical heritage of folk music in Europe.

Petrushka follows the last year’s release of Stravinsky’s Firebird on Signum and is the second in a three-part series of works from Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Thierry Fischer. These recordings encapsulate the vivacity and passion of Stravinsky’s tale of three life-sized puppets, seemingly brought to life.

The disc also features three works by fellow Russian and Ballet Russes composer Anatoly Liadov: dark and dramatic tone-poems on Slavic witches and demons in Baba-yaga and Kikimora, and a tranquil and fairytalelike portrait of the Russian countryside in The Enchanted Lake.

A Russian showcase from Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre opens with a virtuoso Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, and concludes with a spectacular account of the ever-popular 1812 Overture. A demonstration quality disc that is now available at mid-price for the first time