BaL 7.10.23 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 a.m.
Building a Library: Nigel Simeone discusses his favourite recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
Scheherazade is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 and based on The Arabian Nights. It is one of his most popular works combining colourful orchestration and gorgeous melodies.
Rimsky-Korsakov set the scene with a brief introduction: The Sultan Schakhriar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating tales for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely.

Available versions:

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ansermet *
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ansermet
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Kees Bakels
Philharmonia Orchestra, Enrique Bátiz
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham *
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham *
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein *
Philharmonia Orchestra, William Boughton
Orchestre d'harmonie de la Garde Républicaine, Francois Boulanger *
Münchner Philharmoniker, Sergiu Celibidache
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Zdenek Chalabala
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Genadi Cherkasov *
Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille, Myung Whun Chung *
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, André Cluytens
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Oskar Danon *
Philharmonia Orchestra, Issay Dobrowen
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Charles Dutoit
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Dutoit *
USSR TV and Radio Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev *
Stanislav Gorkovenko, Viktor Fedotov *
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Louis Fremaux *
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay
Symphonic Rai TV Vilnius Orchestra, Silvano Frontalini *
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, David Garforth *
Kirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev
Münchner Philharmoniker, Valéry Gergiev
New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert *
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sascha Goetzel
USSR State Academia Bolshoi Teatre Orchestra, Nicolai Golovanov *
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens *
St. Petersburg Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, Volker Hartung
Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingenl, Norichika Iimori
Anima Eterna, Jos van Immerseel
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons *
Berliner Philharmoniker, Neeme Järvi (DVD)
Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi *
Orchestre De La Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan *
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan *
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, Laszlo Kovacs *
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Emmanuel Krivine
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Lazarev *
Concert Arts Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf *
Philharmonia Zürich, Fabio Luisi
Berliner Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
Uppsala Kammarorkester, Paul Mägi
London Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur
Philharmonia Orchestra, Lovro von Matacic
London Symphony Orchestra, John Mauceri *
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux
Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Anton Nanut *
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Andris Nelsons (DVD/Blu-ray)
Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino, Gianandrea Noseda*
Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy *
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Peter Oundjian (SACD)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa *
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Wiener Philharmoniker, Seiji Ozawa *
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Alejo Pérez
Bamberger Symphoniker, Jonel Perlea *
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
Russian National Orchestra, Carlo Ponti Jr *
London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn *
Wiener Philharmoniker, André Previn
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner *
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bystrik Rezucha *
Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski *
Vienna Symphony, Mario Rossi *
Orchestre de Paris, Mstislav Rostropovich
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Rico Saccani *
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Janos Sandor *
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Hermann Scherchen
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hanns-Martin Schneidt *
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jose Serebrier
National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano *
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg *
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski *
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski *
Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski *
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski *
London Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov
New York Philharmonic, Yuri Termirkanov *
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov
Tonkünstler-Orchester, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian *
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Loris Tjeknavorian
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimír Válek *
Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä *
TMEA All-State Philharmonic Orchestra, Joseph Young *

(* = download only)

[Pulcinella]

What! No Abbado, and the Kletzki nla?

:shock horror emoticon:

[Bryn]

Kondrashin for me, plus, of course:

[smittims]

By coincidence I was wondering the other day if this had ever been chosen for BaL. It's a work I've loved since childhood and there are so many 'favourite' versions choosing one must be next to impossible. I haven't heard any recent recordings.

The ones I return to with equal pleasure are Beecham , Kletzki, Goossens , Karajan, Stokowski and Dobrowen. The latter is a particular favourite. He is slower than others in the first and third movements, but it's clear he loved the work dearly.

I was interested to read that the composer ebbed and flowed in his admission of the extent to which the work is 'meant' to be programmatic. This has never bothered me as I always listen to it as a pure symphony, the second (after Brahms 4) in a sudden vogue for E minor symphonies (Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Rachmaninov, Bax, etc.) where previously there had been scarcely a one.

[Rolmill]

Sadly the Silvestri is not listed - presumably the Icon box is no longer available. Worth picking up if you see it. The Scheherazade is exciting, albeit rather brash-sounding at times.

I also have Kondrashin (my favourite), Reiner, Beecham, Goetzel, Kempe and Jansons (rather uninspiring).

[Retune]

Beecham/RPO for me. Maybe this programme will encourage me to seek out a more recent recording, or maybe not. Incidentally, I'm drawing a blank on the other Beecham version with the LPO listed above - if this is correct, where is it available?

[Parry1912]

Muti was Geoffrey Norris’ choice in a Gramophone Collection article in 2010. Excellent, but still Beecham for me.

[Master Jacques]

Kondrashin, Previn ... and Golovanov when I want a sugar rush (the most dangerous performance on record!)

[gradus]

Anyone who allows us to hear the harp writing at the climax of the second movt eg Beecham or Silvestri.

[Alison]

I have Kondrashin, Haitink, Mackerras and LPO/Jansons (not listed), all excellent. Thoroughly looking forward to this edition.

[pastoralguy]

Scheherazade is one of my very favourite works that I first discovered in my early teens courtesy of CfP. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Kempe is still my touchstone partly due to the gorgeous playing of Alan Loveday. Other favourites include the LSO/Previn with the late, great John Georgiadis’ solo playing. I also love the LSO/Mauceri disc on the Orchestra’s own label that has, for me, the loveliest slow movement with some gorgeous portamenti from the then leader Michael Davis.

The (R)SNO Chandos disc under Jarvi brings back so many memories of hearing Edwin Paling’s lovely rendition of the solo violin part. I was lucky enough to hear him play it on many occasions, not least when the late Carl Davis used chunks of the piece to accompany the silent movie ‘The Thief of Baghdad’. I was sitting about 4 feet away from Mr. Paling when he played the solo part and I’m sorry to report that I was so busy watching him I completely forgot about the movie!

I did hear a story that Sir John Barbirolli wanted to play Scheherazade with the Hallé when they appeared at an Edinburgh Festival performance but were told it wasn’t a suitable work for an EIF concert! There does seem to be a degree of snobbery attached to this work.

[smittims]

Maybe the moderators of the Church of Scotland objected to it on the grounds that it's a 'pagan' work. They succeeded in banning the Missa Solemnis in 1956 onthe grounds thatit was a 'catholic mass' .

[richardfinegold]

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Reiner/CSO

[Petrushka]

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Reiner/CSO

I have the Reiner along with Karajan, Gergiev, Kondrashin, Kempe and Beecham. All of these are excellent apart from Gergiev which sounds horrible. It's a pity because he and the Kirov Orchestra gave a terrific performance on a sweltering hot night at the 1997 Proms. Kempe would be my first choice tying with Kondrashin, both are superb.

[pastoralguy]

Maybe the moderators of the Church of Scotland objected to it on the grounds that it's a 'pagan' work. They succeeded in banning the Missa Solemnis in 1956 onthe grounds thatit was a 'catholic mass' .

Oh my goodness!