COMPOSERS: Lyatoshynsky
LABELS: Marco Polo
WORKS: Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3
PERFORMER: Ukraine State SO/Theodore Kuchar
CATALOGUE NO: 8.223540 DDD
Boris Lyatoshynsky (1895-1968), like Shostakovich, trod a lifetime’s tactical tightrope for the Soviet authorities. His bleak Second Symphony (1936), condemned even before its cancelled premiere, languished unheard for 28 years, and might have waited indefinitely for an airing in the West, were it not for Marco Polo’s vote of confidence in the Ukraine’s foremost 20th-century composer. The conflicts of the times find powerful expression both here and in the lusher, more popular Third, the composer’s compatriots playing with nationalistic fervour. Janet Banks
Lyatoshynsky
Boris Lyatoshynsky (1895-1968), like Shostakovich, trod a lifetime’s tactical tightrope for the Soviet authorities. His bleak Second Symphony (1936), condemned even before its cancelled premiere, languished unheard for 28 years, and might have waited indefinitely for an airing in the West, were it not for Marco Polo’s vote of confidence in the Ukraine’s foremost 20th-century composer. The conflicts of the times find powerful expression both here and in the lusher, more popular Third, the composer’s compatriots playing with nationalistic fervour. Janet Banks
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:17 pm