Tikhon Khrennikov: Symphonies & Concertos (2013) 3CDs

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Tikhon Khrennikov: Symphonies & Concertos (2013) 3CDs

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This is brilliant and penetrating music by a composer who deserves to be much better known. His music is lyrical and heart-felt and his melodies stay with you long after you've heard them, which is my benchmark for great music. What I really like about Khrennikov is that he never wastes your time and often he says much in the 15 minutes or so of his symphonies or concertos that others take over twice as long to say.

His melodies have a beautiful simplicity about them and yet are also very strong. My favourite piece in this collection is the Symphony No.3 in A major op.22, composed in 1973. At a time when the BBC in the UK had declared the music of fellow Romantic George Lloyd "irrelevant in the Modern Age", Khrennikov composed a symphony that was inspired in part by J.S.Bach in the furious fugal 1st movement, but then relaxes into a melody of heart-breaking beauty in the 2nd, followed by a crazy, almost slap-stick finale. All over in a little over 15 minutes. But memorable and beautiful.

The same can be said of the Violin Concerto No.2 in C major op.23, composed for Leonid Kogan in 1975 and the Cello Concerto No.1 in C major of 1964, composed for Rostropovich. Again, heart-felt, beautiful and graceful. It's no surprise that, like many Russian composers of previous generations, Khrennikov had a special "feel" for the lyrical lines of the Ballet. Check out "Love for Love" or "The Hussar Ballad", if you can find them.

Finally, in the latest work in the collection, the Piano Concerto No.4 op.37 of 1991, we see him almost inhabiting the world of Rautavaara. Khrennikov was evidently very interested in new ideas, but, like most Russians, these ideas have to be part of Nature and, as Leonard Bernstein once observed in his "Unanswered Question" lectures in 1973, "tonality" - music centred on a key-note was a phenomenon that was an integral part of Nature Herself. Khrennikov and his fellow Russians understand this instinctively. Khrennikov's music goes from his heart to yours, like Rachmaninov before him.

Listen to and "feel" the music - it's great stuff - and make up your own mind…

Review by Ballerina, Amazon.co.uk

The music of Tikhon Khrennikov is pure delight. He was a great composer of 20th Century. I frankly was a little bit surprised by such exciting experience. Knowing this composer as a popular songwriter I wasn't familiar with his classical music. I only remember that his opera "Mother" (after the Gorky's novel) was a flop. Moreover, he was the head of Association of Russian Composers and it made me think of him more like of a bureaucrat than a composer. I sinfully assumed that his classical music was probably too official, too conservative and most likely dull. Then in one of my phone conversations with my brother who lives in Moscow and who is also a passionate music / opera / ballet lover (like myself) he mentioned Tikhon Khrennikov and said that the composer is now a talk of the town but in different key.

(It's no secret that after 1991 Russian Media gone just as crazy as Bolsheviks after 1917. The latter denounces everything that was before Socialism, and the former – everything that was during. There were very few cool heads who evaluated the talents regardless their political views and associations. And thus Tikhon Khrennikov was viciously attacked by some bigots of new wave).

Well, as my brother told me lately both lines of extremism lost public appeal in Russia. Now public opinion is re-evaluating the victims of both pro-Socialism and anti-Socialism propaganda trying to clear the great names from ANY propaganda leaving only their pure artistic talents. Many music professionals are now voicing their opinion that Tikhon Khrennikov was a remarkably talented composer. Moreover, many also remember him as a marvelous personality. So, all this story made me to hurry on the Amazon site and buy this 3 CD set of his classical music to make my own opinion.

Well, as I said in the beginning I was up for a nice surprise: his music was anything but conservative or dull! Sometimes it was bright and sparkling, sometimes graciously subtle, sometimes playful and even flirtatious, and always colorful, always invigorating, always breaking into exploration of different ways to be a MUSIC.

The sound of the recordings is another surprise: so many times Russian engineers were criticized for being behind the most advanced sound recording technology. Well, it is apparent now that they caught up with the best recording studios of Europe and America – I didn't find any flaws in recordings, the sound is absolutely perfect, although some recordings were made decades ago.

Review by Natalia A., Amazon.com

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Tikhon Khrennikov: Symphonies & Concertos (2013) 3CDs

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Tikhon Khrennikov: Symphonies & Concertos (2013) 3CDs

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