# SS 01.02.20 - Shcherbachov #5



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Vladimir Shcherbachov (1889 - 1952)*

Symphony No. 5

1. Lento assai
2. Allegro drammatico
3. Lento
4. Allegro moderato
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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This week it's Russian composer Vladimir Shcherbachov's Fifth Symphony. I'm not familiar with Shcherbachov at all so this will be a new one for me. I'm looking forward to giving it a spin and I hope everyone else will too.

I'll be listening to this one:




Alexander Titov/St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I'll have to listen to this on the youtube link as it's not available on my streaming sources. Never even heard of this composer.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I don't see another recording of this piece so it'll be the Titov on You Tube. Also unfamiliar with this composer.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

realdealblues said:


> Another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This week it's Russian composer Vladimir Shcherbachov's Fifth Symphony. I'm not familiar with Shcherbachov at all so this will be a new one for me. I'm looking forward to giving it a spin and I hope everyone else will too.
> 
> I'll be listening to this one:
> 
> ...





D Smith said:


> I'll have to listen to this on the youtube link as it's not available on my streaming sources. Never even heard of this composer.


Mo too, going give it a try later


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

cougarjuno said:


> I don't see another recording of this piece so it'll be the Titov on You Tube. Also unfamiliar with this composer.


My pick also. This one is also in spotify.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

cougarjuno said:


> I don't see another recording of this piece so it'll be the Titov on You Tube. Also unfamiliar with this composer.


Listening to this one on Spotify. Shcherbachov is a name I've never come across before (and there seems to be some confusion online to how it should be spelled). 
Pleasant enough stuff.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'll have to try the same. I am also unfamiliar with the composer or his name. Interesting.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I listened on youtube. I agree with Merl, pleasant enough. Thanks for introducing a new composer RDB.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

cougarjuno said:


> I don't see another recording of this piece so it'll be the Titov on You Tube. Also unfamiliar with this composer.


Likewise and also new to me


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I'll be listening to it on Naxos Music library - Northern Flowers. Just gave it a sampling and was surprised by the excellent sound.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I’d never heard this symphony or, for that matter, anything by the composer. I did enjoy the music, which I found accessible, euphonic, and interesting. The same theme appears in all four movements and is important in all of them as well. Here’s what I heard:

The first movement is moderately paced, an epic work painted in broad strokes. The orchestration is striking.

The second movement seems to be an allegro continuation of the first with the same main theme (I’ll call it the “early theme” because we’ll see it again). The music is mostly cinematic with lots of snare drum and tam tam in the climaxes. Pretty noisy but kind of broken up – maybe it goes on a bit too long.

The slow movement starts with a gentle solo flute followed by a continuation on other instruments. The lighter scoring is welcome. There are some nice “almost tunes.” The early theme invades and makes a bit of a racket in a climax at about the two-thirds mark. The flute and its friends return for a peaceful close, though there is an underlying unease.

The finale opens with some quick themes played in a “popular” manner. Then a variant of the early theme shows up and things get slower, darker, and more dramatic. The happier music comes back without transition and there are further episodes (this may be a rondo) including a final turbulent return of the early theme. The symphony ends with heavy use of the brass choir, pretty much on a positive note.

This was an enjoyable listen and a great way to spend three-quarters of an hour. But somehow it all felt too “easy.” I wonder how well this would hold up with repeated hearings. Time, of course, will tell.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I actually listened to this same symphony a few weeks ago when I was cataloguing my Northern Flowers discs at Discogs.









It appears on the Wartime Music series, Vol. 2. I'm pleased to have the entire 18 disc series as part of my collection. This Shcherbachov Fifth Symphony is a highlight of the series, which contains some stunning works overall, including important symphonies and concertos by the likes of Myaskovsky, Gavriil Popov, Mieczysław Weinberg, Lev Knipper, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev, among other familiar names. And a goodly portion of music from lesser known folks such as Leonid Polovinkin, Yuri Kochurov, Orest Yevlakhov, and of course Shcherbachov. Also music by Reinhold Glière and Alexander Mossolov.

I don't mind listening to the Shcherbachov again. I recall it has a sublimely beautiful opening, very dramatic _Russiany_ Allegros, and a startlingly haunting third movement Lento built around what seems the Dies Irae hymn.


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