If you thought you knew Glinka, then you must hear this disc. He didn’t write much orchestral music, and two of these pieces (the symphony and two of the three dances intended for A Life for the Tsar) had to be edited/scored by another hand–in this case the very able Petr Klimov. The rest is all original, and all delightful. The two overtures have a winning, Italianate charm. Important? No; but it hardly matters. The symphony movement is more substantial, and really does make you regret that Glinka never finished the work. The three dances (one of which Glinka actually used in the opera) make a substantial suite–a good 20 minutes’ worth–and they are full of rewarding solos, here immaculately played.
Best of all, though, are the four romances. Glinka wrote dozens of songs, but he only orchestrated this tiny handful. They are marvelous, both melodically and atmospherically. Most remarkable is “The Midnight Review”, for bass, one of those dead soldier military numbers, complete with rolling snare drum. You’ll swear that you’re listening to one of Mahler’s Wunderhorn songs–not something from the Russian/Italian school of the 1840s. The two famous pieces, Kamarinskaya and Valse-fantasie, are brilliantly performed, the three singers are outstanding, and so is the engineering. In short, this is a magnificent, rewarding collection in every respect.
