VLADIMIR JUROWSKI (1915-1972): Symphony No. 5, Op. 79, Russian Painters - Symphonic Poem for Large Orchestra.
Catalogue Number: 05Q008
Label: CPO
Reference: 777 875-2
Format: CD
Price: $15.98
Description: Shockingly for a work finished at the end of 1971, there are almost no echoes of Shostakovich in Jurowski's 45-minute symphony - the first movement sounds more like his teacher Myaskovsky than anything else but an unexpected, loud dissonant crash will grab you by the ears toward its end. The second is a quietly depressed andante amoroso in which the composer seems to evoke happier past times and the finale is described in the notes as a "Parade of Madness" where Shostakovichian march rhythms finally make a brief appearance. Suggestions that Jurowski was completely disillusioned by the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia provide a reason for the general darkness and sardonic humor of this fascinating work. The 29-minute Russian Painters depicts seven paintings (some of which you'll recognize from their later use as cover art) in a colorfully orchestrated (Jurowski also had a career in film scoring) suite from the late 1950s. Norrköping Symphony Orchestra; Michael Jurowski.