Glazunov: Prelude from the Middle-Ages Suite | Mikhail Pletnev & the Verbier Festival Orchestra

Wagner goes to Holywood might be a good way to describe Glazunov's Prelude to the Symphonic Suite From the Middle Ages. The orchestral piece, which sounds very much like film music, is played here by the Verbier Festival Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev. It was the first piece in a concert at the Verbier Festival on August 6, 2017.

(00:00) Applause
(00:36) Prelude

Russian composer Aleksandr Glazunov (1865 - 1936) is considered a master of orchestration and sound. This can be heard in his orchestral suite From the Middle Ages (originally Iz srednikh vekov) in E major, Op. 79. The suite, composed in 1902, is in four movements:

I. Prelude (Allegro)
II. Scherzo (Allegro assai)
III. “Serenade of a Troubadour” (Andantino)
IV. Finale “The Crusaders” (Allegro)

The title From the Middle Ages does not indicate that elements of medieval music have been incorporated here. Rather, the 4 movements depict moods that represent the medieval topoi of Minne, Dance of death, Troubadours and Crusaders. Formally, the four-movement structure corresponds to that of a symphony.

The premiere of Glazunov's Opus 79 took place on December 21, 1902 in Saint Petersburg. The Russian composer himself stood at the conductor's podium. In the program booklet for the premiere, the four movements were marked with brief descriptions of their content. According to this, the Prelude depicts a contrasting scene: while the gray waves of the sea roll onto the beach outside, a young couple is lost in love inside the castle. The lovers hear neither the waves nor the roar of the storm.

Glazunov's musical realization of this scene is almost onomatopoeic. At the beginning, the waves roll through the low and high strings, as it were, while the storm blows through the winds. The theme of the storm develops further and becomes a kind of storm of love in the castle. There, the lovers' theme is heard, which gradually takes hold until nothing more can be heard of the raging weather outside. It is only towards the end of the love scene that the theme of the storm is heard again.

This prelude is thoroughly late Romantic. The imagery, leitmotifs and timbres are reminiscent of Richard Wagner's (1813 - 1883) Die Walküre (Act I, Prelude). In terms of its content, it is reminiscent of the nocturnal love scene between Tristan and Isolde from Wagner's music drama of the same name (Act II), which appears to be under threat from the outside world. One can easily imagine Glazunov's Prelude as film music for a love scene.

(C) 2017 Idéale Audience

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