More rare Mosolov will be recorded for release

Maestro Arthur Arnold and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. See the orchestra's website.

The two premiere recordings of the two pieces by Alexander Mosolov on the new Naxos recording of his Symphony No. 5  and his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra are only the beginning of a new effort to make more of his music available. There are also plans to release a recording of his 3rd and 4th symphonies. That's the interesting bits of news in a press release from Naxos issued earlier. Max Gutbrod, the executive producer the new album, says some of Mosolov's chamber and choir music also is being considered.

The press release, which Mr. Gutbrod passed on to me, has quite a bit of information I did not have when I did my previous blog posts on the album (you can read my review and also read my interview with harpist Taylor Ann Fleshman). Here is the release. -- Tom 

Moscow Symphony Orchestra releases world premiere recording Dec. 4 CD is the first to include Alexander Mosolov’s 5th Symphony & Harp Concerto 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

December 4, 2020 

Today, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (MSO) makes history with the release of a world premiere recording of rare works by Russian composer Alexander Mosolov. Now available on the Naxos label, the CD features Mosolov’s Symphony No. 5, as well as his “lost” Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. 

Though no longer a household name, Mosolov (1900–1973) was once dubbed the “experimental head” of Soviet avant garde music. His 1927 work, Iron Foundry, remains his best  known composition in the western world. But to be experimental and boundary-pushing did not come without consequences, and by 1937 Mosolov had been expelled from the Union of Composers and arrested on accusations of anti Soviet propaganda. He was granted early release in 1938. After the experience Mosolov altered his style significantly. Most of his post-Gulag works took influence from Central Asian folk music rather than Soviet politics, and were performed only once or twice, if at all. 

Mosolov’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra had its premiere in December 1939 at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. By all accounts it should have become one of his signature works, but after an initial performance featuring famed Russian harpist Vera Dulova and maestro Aleksandr Gauk, it was soon forgotten. Only the cadenza lived on, and to this is day studied in the harp class of the Moscow Conservatory. Mosolov’s 5thSymphony, his last, was completed in 1965. It met a similar fate and the work was never even performed in his lifetime. 

Enter entrepreneur and music philanthropist Max Gutbrod. Over the past three years, the retired lawyer, mentor to startups, and avid flute player has supported the restoration and resurgence of these compositions, in collaboration with MSO music director Arthur Arnold. 

“I came across the legendary Russian musicologist Ina Barsova who showed me some manuscripts of Mosolov,” Gutbrod recalls. “I immediately contacted Arnold, whose concerts with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra I have been admiring for years now, to see if we could bring these unperformed works to life. Together with Barsova I went to a play-through of the 5th Symphony that Arnold arranged with the MSO. When the music sounded I realized we had found valuable hidden gems.” 

The MSO’s managing director, Marina Levine, agrees. “As soon as I heard the 5th Symphony I knew that we had something unique in our hands,” she says. “How wonderful that the Moscow Symphony Orchestra is part of this exciting project.” 

The only source for the 5th Symphony is a conductor’s score from now-defunct publisher, Kompositor Moscow and a reprint from Schott. No one knows what happened to the original manuscript. The only source for the harp concerto is the composer’s manuscript that Arnold discovered in the library of the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow. Orchestra parts were created to get the works ready for performance. 

By the winter of 2018, Arnold and the MSO were preparing for a concert and recording session. “There were clear mistakes in the printed score of the 5th Symphony, but with no manuscript to reference, I could only compare notes with other parts of the score and with the manuscripts of his other symphonies. There are no traditions to fall back on. It’s exciting to discover a never performed work to that depth.” says Arnold. 

The harp concerto offered a particular thrill in this regard. Not only had it never been completely performed (Gauk decided to scrap the third movement Gavotte for the premiere in 1939) but Arnold was able to share the groundbreaking event with a young musician connected to one of his other artistic projects — the Pacific Region International Summer Music Association (PRISMA) Festival & Academy in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada.

American harpist Taylor Ann Fleshman was the winner of PRISMA’s 2018 Concerto Competition. The first prize is the opportunity to perform in the MSO in Russia. The 24-year-old got a whole lot more than she bargained for. 

“For me it was obvious to give Taylor the chance to be the soloist for the harp concerto,” says Arnold. “It’s so important to support young musicians. She’s an excellent harpist, has proven herself at PRISMA and was ready for the big leap. What a great opportunity for her career.” 

Arnold and Gutbrod expect that the album, recorded at the Mosfilm Studios, will result in future performances of Mosolov’s music by other orchestras around the world. An upcoming biopic by filmmaker Matthew Mishory, entitled Mosolov’s Suitcase, is also part of their multi-faceted plan to bring the composer more recognition. 

“What Shostakovich was so afraid of—being deported at night—happened to Mosolov,” says Arnold. “How did the actions of the regime impact his writing? He has a clear change in style after his imprisonment, but why? Natural development, political influence, a combination? We will probably never know. It is clear however that the musical language of Mosolov is his unique own and needs to be heard. I feel privileged to be able to discover and study manuscripts of these never-performed symphonies and it is an honor to premiere and record them, so that Mosolov’s musical voice doesn’t get lost and will be known to a broader public.” 

Arnold recently discovered the manuscripts of Mosolov’s 3rd and 4th symphonies in the Russian State Library and is preparing them for performance with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and for recording on Naxos “World Premiere Recordings.”

Currently Arnold is working closely together with music publisher Kompozitor St. Petersburg to create an official edition of the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra that will be available for performance in the near future. 

To purchase a copy of the album, visit https://naxos.lnk.to/8574102. 

For bookings, commissions and music rental, contact Latitude 45 Arts Management: latitude45arts.com. 

ALEXANDER MOSOLOV 

Alexander Mosolov was one of the foremost composers of the Russian avant-garde during the 1920s. His music was considered 'a testament to the revolutionary spirit of his time’, but the legacy of his fame from that period now rests solely on his work The Iron Foundry. Soviet-era politics brought persecution and imprisonment, and these two recorded works were both composed after his ‘rehabilitation’. The harp concerto – a piece worthy of a place in the mainstream repertoire – is Mosolov’s ‘response ’to the harp concerto by his teacher Glière, and is heard here in its first complete performance. Coupled with the first recording of his final and colorful 5th Symphony, these are fascinating additions to the corpus of neglected Soviet-era works. 

ARTHUR ARNOLD – MOSCOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 

Dutch-born conductor Arthur Arnold is the Music Director of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra since 2012 and the Artistic Director of the Pacific Region International Summer Music Association (PRISMA) Festival & Academy in Canada. He is a guest conductor for orchestras all over the world. 

The Moscow Symphony Orchestra is one of Russia’s leading orchestras, recognized for its outstanding discography, with its recording of film music by Bernard Herrmann (Marco Polo 8.225168) named among the top ten recordings of 2001 in The Economist. International awards for its recordings include CD of the Month awarded by CD Review, the prestigious Diapason d’Or and the Chairman’s Choice at the Cannes Classical Awards. 

TAYLOR ANN FLESHMAN 

Young harpist Taylor Ann Fleshman has, among numerous awards, been First Prize winner of the 2018 Pacific Region International Summer Music Association’s concerto competition. After performing and recording the Mosolov Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in Moscow for Naxos she was invited to the PRISMA Festival to perform the work as a guest soloist for the North American premiere with the PRISMA Festival Orchestra under the baton of Arthur Arnold.

Mosolov concerto harpist: Piece 'shows off the brilliancy of the instrument'

 

Taylor Ann Fleshman (photo courtesy of the artist) 

I've been listening often to the important new Alexander Mosolov recording that includes two previously unavailable pieces, Mosolov's Symphony No. 5 and the composer's harp concerto. 

The recording demonstrates there's more to Mosolov than his best-known works from the 1920s and 1930s. And listening to the harp concerto made me wonder: What was recording it like for the harpist? What did she think of the work?

The soloist on the concerto is Taylor Ann Fleshman, a young North Carolina native now based in New York as principal harpist for The Orchestra Now. I wondered how a Southern lady wound up recording a Russian concerto in Moscow, and she obliged me by taking my questions: 

Russian Futurism: How did you get involved in the project to record the "lost" Mosolov harp concerto?

Taylor Ann Fleshman: In 2018, I attended the PRISMA Festival in British Columbia, Canada and competed in their concerto competition. If one wins, they can either choose $1,500 or they can play one concert with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. I ended up winning the concerto competition and chose to play with the MSO, but the prize is to play as a regular orchestra musician, not as a soloist. Months later, I believe it was September, I received a phone call from Arthur [MSO conductor Arthur Arnold] with exciting and unexpected news. They originally planned to do the concert with a trumpet soloist, but it was cancelled, so they decided to go down another route, which was an all Mosolov concert. This included the harp concerto, and I immediately said yes!

Russian Futurism: Do you think the Mosolov concerto deserves to enter the performance repertoire? Are you hoping to get invitations to perform it with various orchestras?

Taylor Ann Fleshman: I believe the Mosolov harp concerto deserves to enter the repertoire. It’s definitely one of the larger and longer harp concertos, totaling about 35 minutes. The work offers a wide range of colors and shows off the brilliancy of the instrument.

I do hope to get invitations to perform this work again! I did get the chance to perform it twice the summer of 2019 in Powell River, Canada. Every time I perform it, I uncover something new or find different ways to phrase melodic lines.  

Russian Futurism: Why did you pick the harp as your instrument? What are your favorite pieces for harp? 

Taylor Ann Fleshman: My parents saw a harpist on TV back in 2003 and thought to themselves “Wow, you don’t see many people who play the harp.” I was seven at this time and had been taking piano lessons for two years already, so they thought that it was maybe time to get me involved in a second instrument. One night, my dad asked me if I wanted to play it, and I responded with “David played the harp in the Bible so why not?” At that age, that was my only connection with the harp. 

Henriette Renié (public domain photo)

I really love the repertoire by Henriette Renié, a French harpist, composer, and teacher who was a pioneer in the harp world. One of my favorite pieces by her is “Ballade Fantastique,” which is based on Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The harp is clichédly associated with the angelic, but in this piece, it is linked with horror. One can hear in the music the actions that are occurring in the short story, such as the narrator’s stalking and hiding of the old man’s body.

Russian Futurism: Piano players usually have to use whatever piano is available locally, while violinists travel with their instruments. What's it like for harpists? How often do you get to use your own instrument when you are on the road?

Taylor Ann Fleshman: Most of time, when in the U.S. I will use my own instrument, especially if I am playing with an orchestra or a gig. There have been times though, like when I’ve performed in Europe, Asia, or even the West Coast, where I’ve rented a harp. It is a lot more convenient and safer to rent an instrument than to fly with it. 

Russian Futurism: Please tell me a little bit about The Orchestra Now and your role in it.

Taylor Ann Fleshman: The Orchestra now is a pre-professional orchestra program that trains the upcoming generation of musicians from across the globe.  We perform concerts across the Hudson Valley as well as in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Met Museum of Art. Not only do we perform concerts, but we also write concert notes, have discussions with patrons during intermissions, and do outreach programs in the community, and we also do coachings with leading musicians in our field along with mock auditions to practice taking orchestral jobs. While we're doing all of this, we're also getting degrees at the Bard college in either a Master of Music or an Advanced Certificate. I am the only harpist (principal harp) with The Orchestra Now and earning my Advanced Certificate at the Bard College.

A fine new Alexander Mosolov album

I'm really excited about the new Alexander Mosolov album issued by Naxos. It has 68 minutes of music that's never been available before, so it would be of interest even if the music wasn't that great. But in fact I like the album and expect to listen to it many times. 

The recordings feature Dutch born conductor Arthur Arnold, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and harpist Taylor Ann Fleshman. There are two pieces: A harp concerto that dates to 1939, and a Fifth Symphony in E Minor that according to this chronology dates to 1960. The harp concerto is pretty and charming, four movements about 37 minutes; the three-movement symphony apparently was Mosolov's last. I wouldn't call the symphony avant garde, but it is interesting enough to hold my attention; the notes for the album (by Anthony Short) say, "Its colourful, if uncontroversial, scoring makes it an enjoyably fascinating addition to the corpus of neglected Soviet-era symphonies now seeing the light of day for the first time." That seems like a fair judgment to my ears.

Short's notes say about the harp concerto "Three of its movements were first performed in 1939 at the Moscow Conservatoire with Vera Dulova as the soloist, but the manuscript score and parts were subsequently consigned to oblivion before being rediscovered and restored for performance by the conductor Arthur Arnold." Short says the symphony was never performed in Mosolov's lifetime and was not even published until 1991.

I even like the album cover, a detail of Wassily Kandinsky's 1929 artwork Jocular Sounds. 

Taylor Ann Fleshman

Arthur Arnold

Movie in the works about Alexander Mosolov

There's a movie in the works about one of my favorite composers, Alexander Mosolov. Only a few weirdos like me even know who Mosolov is, so finding out that there's a movie in the works about him is unexpected and exciting. 

The movie is called Mosolov's Suitcase. The website promoting the film says,  "The life, art, and enduring significance of  Russian avant-garde composer Alexander Mosolov inspire four stories  (fictional, semi-fictional, and documentary) about creation and individualism in the face of state power.  Kirill Emelyanov, nominated  for a Best New Actor César (French Oscar), plays the mercurial Mosolov: musician, bad-boy dandy, and forgotten genius of Soviet music.  A film by Matthew Mishory (Absent, A Portrait of  James Dean)."

I can't find anything on the website about when the movie might come out, but I've signed up for an email list. 

Mishory is apparently a rising young director who pays the bills with TV commercials while he pursues his artistic projects.

An April article in "Palm Springs Life" by Sandy Cohen offers quite a bit of information on the film:

"Mishory has spent years working to bring the composer’s story to the screen, making several trips to Mosolov’s native Russia to explore how he and his music persevered despite Communist expulsion in the 1930s."

The piece also says, "As production on the film continues, Mishory is planning a series of concerts by international musicians to introduce contemporary audiences to Mosolov’s music. The filmmaker and his team hope to arrange intimate concerts around the world, including Palm Springs."

Here's a review from Allmusic.com of an album of Mosolov's music, including "Iron Foundry," a short piece that's probably his best-known work, and his once-lost and rediscovered piano concerto.  Quite a bit of Mosolov's music has been recorded and is available on the various music streaming services. 

Alex Ross on Russian Futurists such as Popov

 

Gavriil Popov

Alex Ross, the "New Yorker" music critic,  recently was interviewed for Tyler Cown's podcast series.  

When Cowen announced he was going to interview Ross, he invited readers to suggest questions in the comments. My question didn't make the cut, so I wrote to Ross and posed the question myself, and he was nice enough to write back:

Wed, Sep 30, 11:16 AM 

Dear Mr. Ross,

I very much enjoyed your recent interview by Tyler Cowen, and I am a fan of your books.

Before he did the interview, Tyler solicited possible questions on his blog. He didn't use my question, which is fine, but I was hoping I could email you and ask my question, anyway.

I am a big fan of 20th century Russian composers, particularly Prokofiev and Shostakovich. But I also spend a lot of time listening to early Gavriil Popov, Alexander Mosolov, Nicolai Myaskovsky and Nikolai Roslavets. My question is, do you think the Russian Futurists such as those last four are neglected, and deserve to be better known? I know you have written about Popov, at least.

                                           Tom 

Thanks for the note, Tom! Yes, I believe those composers deserve much wider exposure. I think that the Popov First Symphony is one of the great 20th-century symphonies, and it obviously had a huge influence on Shostakovich.

All best,

Alex

[Alex Ross' Popov article is available online]. 

Laurel Fay's 'Shostakovich, A Life'

Laurel Fay's Shostakovich biography, Shostakovich, A Life, came out in 2000, but it's still a really interesting read, as I learned when I checked it out from the library. 

The collisions between politics and music are a recurring theme, and there were some surprises as I went through the book; while there are a few obvious bad guys (such as Stalin) and some unreservedly good people, many (such as Shostakovich himself) veered from accommodation with the regime to acts of decency. (Fay stresses that the composer learned to cooperate with the regime under Stalin, when the price of resistance could mean death or a stint in a labor camp; some of Shostakovich's younger critics came of age when dissidence did not carry a huge price.)

As an example of somebody who changed depending upon the circumstances, consider Moisey Grinberg. who wrote a piece sucking up to Stalin that accused Shostakovich's Piano Quintet, to my ears a fine piece of music, of being too "formalist," i.e. not Socialist Realist enough. Grinberg griped about "stilted, singular new sounds resulting from abstract formal quests ... This is music that does not connect with the life of the people."

My favorite Shostakovich symphony is the Fourth, so when Fay began Chapter 11 by describing how it was finally performed in the Soviet Union in late 1961 (after a 25-year ban), I followed the account carefully. Fay writes, "The idea of resurrecting Shostakovich's 'missing' symphony originated with the [Moscow] Philharmonic's artistic administrator (1)." Because of my strong interest, I turned back to the notes to learn more. And I found out the administrator who pushed for the revival of the Fourth was the same Moisey Grinberg! 

Similarly, Tikhon Khrennikov, a minor composer and the general secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, plays the role of a Stalinist dirtbag for much of the narrative. But when Shostakovich's Lady MacBeth of the Mtensk District was being considered for a possible revival in in 1961 (it had been banned since the infamous "muddle instead of music" editorial in Pravda), Khrennikov played a positive role, making the case to authorities that "continued prohibition of the opera would be extreme awkward," Fay writes. 

There's also quite a bit about two of my favorite composers, Gavriil Popov and Edison Denisov, and their interactions with Shostakovich. Popov was a longtime friend; Shostakovich provided important early help and encouragement to Denisov. 

Yury Favorin's great album

I want to launch this blog by calling your attention to a great album, released in 2017 by the venerable Melodiya record label in Russia.

It has a couple of virtues. One is that Yury Favorin (Ю́рий Влади́мирович Фаво́рин in Russian, just in case I'm using the wrong English rendition) is a particularly good piano player from Russia, a country that seems to produce a large supply of very good, young piano players. He has plenty of power and a gift for melody. He also seems to have a wide range of music interests; his official website also lists jazz albums.

But this album also has a wonderful program of Russian Futurist music, much of it hard to find anywhere else. There isn't a bad track on the album, and it's likely to all be new to you.

For me, the big piece that makes this essential is Gavriil Popov's "Grosse Suite," a 1927 piece in four movements that dates from the brief period when Popov was arguably one of the best composers in the Soviet Union, and even the world. I have not been able to find a recording of it anywhere else.

There's also "On the Other Side," seven brief, charming pieces by another fairly obscure composer, Vladimir Rebikov, and Samuel Feinberg's Sixth Piano Sonata.

Even the "name" composers on the album are represented by pieces you may not have heard. I own a lot of Prokofiev, but this is the first performance I've come across of his very early (and lovely) "Four Etudes," and Shostakovich's First Piano Sonata also was new to me, too.

Notes: You can read a review of the album by Richard Kraus, and the discussion on Amazon by Hexameron is very well done. Favorin does have a rather incomplete Wikipedia bio.