Boris Lyatoshynsky: Complete Symphonies

Boris Lyatoshynsky: Complete Symphonies

8.503303 (Naxos Records, CD, 3 discs)

DDD
COMPILATION (10 June 2022)

Playing time: 56'50"/76'47"/55'23" - TT 189'0"
Tracks: 4 + 7 + 6
Booklet pages: 8 + 8 + 8
℗ 1993-4 Naxos Rights US Inc
© 2014 Naxos Rights US Inc
Main country of recording: Ukraine
Country of manufacture: Germany
Reviewer: Geoff Pearce
Review of Boris Lyatoshynsky: Complete Symphonies published on 4 July 2022

Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra
Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Boris Lyatoshynsky (1895-1968):

CD1 (8.555578):

Symphony No 1 in A, Op 2 (1917-19)
1 Allegro non troppo un poco agitato
2 Molto lento
3 Allegro energico

4 Grazhyna - Symphonic Ballad, Op 58 (1955) (Andante sostenuto - Allegro risoluto)

CD2 (8.555579):

Symphony No 2, Op 26 (1935-6, revised 1940)
1 Lento tenebroso e con maestà - Allegro deciso ed impetuoso
2 Lento e tranquillo (Alla ballata)
3 Andante - Allegro precipitato

Symphony No 3 in B minor, Op 50 (1951, revised 1954)
4 Andante maestoso - Allegro impetuoso
5 Andante con moto
6 Allegro feroce
7 Allegro risoluto

CD3 (8.555580):

Symphony No 4 in B flat minor, Op 63 (1963)
1 Andante sostenuto e maestoso - Allegro moderato ma risoluto assai -
2 Lento tenebroso - Andante -
3 Allegro molto risoluto

Symphony No 5 in C, 'Slavonic', Op 67 (1965-6)
4 Andante maestoso - Allegro molto
5 Lento e mesto - Andante tranquillo - Grave - Andante tranquillo - Lento e mesto
6 Moderato - Allegro energico

Boris Lyatoshynsky was a leading member of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance in the twentieth century and his five symphonies remain the most important cycle in his country's musical history. Although the Romantic and lyrical First Symphony evokes the traditions of Borodin, Glière and Tchaikovsky, Lyatoshynsky soon moved away from Russian models, drawing together Ukrainian folk songs and melodies with contemporary harmonic and formal approaches. His symphonic orchestration was inventive, his themes memorable. The Third Symphony is his most moving and famous, and originally bore the epigraph 'Peace will defeat war'. Also included is his emotionally charged symphonic ballad Grazhyna.

Recorded 8 and 13-15 May 1994 at the Studio of the State Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine (Symphony No 1 and Grazhyna), 4-9 June 1993 at the Concert Studio, Ukrainian Radio, Kiev, Ukraine (Symphonies 2 and 3) and 27-30 December 1993 in the Hall of the State Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine (Symphonies 4 and 5).

CD1 was previously released on Marco Polo 8.223542.
CD2 was previously released on Marco Polo 8.223540.
CD3 was previously released on Marco Polo 8.223541.