PĒTERIS BARISONS (1904-1947): Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”, 3 Preludes for Orchestra.

Description: Anyone else out there discover this symphony on a mono Melodiya LP in the red and purple sleeve without notes that a little importer in San Francisco whose name I forget thought was necessary because there were often Russian-only notes on LP in those bygone days? Barisons studied under Ernests Vīgners and Jānis Mediņš and was publicly known best for his vocal works. Fortunately, an English reviewer, Stephen Greenbank, tells us more than the CD notes so I quote him here: “The Second Symphony is structured in four movements. Each has a title: The Awakening of Love, Delight, Erotica and The Death of Love. The composer quotes at the end of the first and fourth movements Edvard Grieg’s song “I love but Thee”, widely known in Latvia in the 20s and 30s. It’s quite evident that Barisons is more than a competent orchestrator, and the score is enriched with a panoply of instrumental colour. If you like the music of Zemlinsky, you’ll positively love this. I could hear faint hints of Die Seejungfrau. The opening movement sets the tone for what is to follow. The music is soused in Straussian opulence and layered luxuriance. The booklet notes aptly sum up the second movement as “a poetic twilight nocturne”. It begins with a tender violin solo, which opens out into serene dreaminess. Erotica sounds unsettled and acts as an extended prologue to the finale. The Death of Love is melancholic with an abiding sense of portent. There’s a deep unease in its utterances. It never seems to find any repose.” I heard echoes of Scriabin but that was way back when and the mono recording was not too great. I found the last movement picture of romantic desolation, devastation eve. Great stuff and a very good recording. Liepāja Symphony Orchestra; Gintaras Rinkevičius.