Taneyev: Suite de concert & Ioann Damaskin

Inspired by a poem by Aleksey Tolstoy, Taneyev�s cantata John of Damascus was the first work that the self-critical Russian composer deemed worthy of an opus number, its sublime music drawing on an ancient sacred chant woven into rich passages of expressive counterpoint. A quarter of a century later, the virtuosic and scintillating Suite de concert, Taneyev�s first work for solo violin and orchestra, was also successfully premi�red. 

Suite de concert, written in 1909, is a novel, if rather disorganized, approach to a Romantic violin concerto. It�s an unusual conflation of serenade, neo-Baroque suite, and theme and variations that�in the hearing of it�seems to divide into movements or sections: an introductory Prelude, followed by a scherzo-like Gavotte, and then a slowish �Fairy Tale� movement marked Andantino. These three movements, in turn, set the stage, none too convincingly, for a theme and six variations with an extended variation-coda. But that�s not the end of this identity-confused work. The grand finale is a spirited Tarantella. In terms of style, I suppose some of the writing is suggestive of Glazunov�s A-Minor Violin Concerto that preceded the Suite de concert by five years; but there�s a passage beginning at 2:49 in the �Fairy Tale� movement that bears an uncanny resemblance to Chausson�s Po�me for violin and orchestra , written in 1896. It has long been the composer�s most widely known and recorded piece�Russian violinist Ilya Kaler has been one of Naxos�s long time and most dependable house artists, having recorded a respectable cross section of the Romantic violin repertoire. While Taneyev�s piece is no salon morceau, neither is it a virtuosic vehicle like the almost exactly contemporary Glazunov and Sibelius concertos. Kaler�s rounder tone and less excitable approach work well in the Taneyev, and I prefer his performance to that of Gringolts [on Hyperion].

When it comes to the cantata, Ioann Damaskin, Naxos[�s recording, with�] its Russian chorus, orchestra, and conductor� sounds convincingly authentic�At Naxos�s budget price, though, I�d say the new CD is well worth the modest investment. --Fanfare, March 2010