# Glazunov



## taylorleamills (Jul 20, 2014)

Is Glazunov a Classical or Romantic Composer?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Romantic, I would say, but then, I do not know enough to comment on formal definitions of romanticism - I call it romantic if it has that romantic sound, which I cannot define.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Overall romantic, though by comparison with many of his contemporaries, especially in the later years, he does come up as "conservative"/"classical".

In his early years, he even had a Wagner-influenced period (symphonic poem "The Sea", for example). In his latest years he actually also experimented with a very slightly jazzy expression in the "Saxophone Concerto" and the "Saxophone Quartet".


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Definitely a Romantic composer - he was the generation after Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky, who were both Romantic composers.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Based only on our afflicted moderator, Glazunov was a Romantic.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

They don't get much more romantic than Glaz.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

"Classical" is a wide-ranged genre title when it's used in the general sense, just like Rock or R&B. It spans many centuries, styles and periods. Glazunov is a Classical composer (as opposed to pop or folk or whatever) but he is definitely _Romantic_ in both his time-era and style. I usually hear this question as "was he 20th century or Romantic?" because his life spanned both the 19th and 20th centuries, and he was composing in his Romantic idiom even while people like Stravinsky, Varese and the like were doing completely different things. Although he had a few odd tricks up his sleeves (he was using extended techniques in the orchestra way before Ravel, and he dabbled a little bit with borderline tonality in his later years).

I feel like your question could be loaded... care to ask any questions which are _behind _this question? Ask away, I don't bite! :tiphat:


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> [...]
> I feel like your question could be loaded... care to ask any questions which are _behind _this question? Ask away, I don't bite! :tiphat:


FYI A (notoriously grumpy) friend of mine once complained to me to the effect that he had your toothmarks in his hide.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ukko said:


> FYI A (notoriously grumpy) friend of mine once complained to me to the effect that he had your toothmarks in his hide.


Teehee! Maybe I'm a Glazombie. :tiphat:


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

taylorleamills said:


> Is Glazunov a Classical or Romantic Composer?


Romantic. Pure and simple. Russian Romantic to be more precise.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

And here is an excellent portrait of him, in 19th century attire and all.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Romantic. His violin concerto performed by Heifetz is very nice.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ilya Repin was the artist there. He was close friends with Glazunov (he possibly took painting/drawing lessons from Repin). They traded gifts, one drawing a portrait, the other dedicating a composition.

Here's a very nice (and positively narcissist) one  :


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I've long been a fan of Glazunov's symphonies, a complete set of which I have on the OLYMPIA label, by way of the individual discs, not the box set. The conductor is Rozhdestvensky with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra. The 1887 Ilya Repin painting (a head shot detail) graces the covers of all these discs (featuring the symphonies from one through eight), though the cover for the disc presenting the unfinished Ninth is different.









In answer to this thread's original question, I note that on OLYMPIA disc OCD119, which features the Symphony No. 2 in F-sharp, is a 10 minute piece titled "Romantic Intermezzo in D Major". Glazunov certainly was a Romantic by musical nature. I wouldn't want to be without his symphonies.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Ilya Repin was the artist there. He was close friends with Glazunov (he possibly took painting/drawing lessons from Repin).


Repin also painted the most well known portrait of Mussorgsky:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

brianvds said:


> Repin also painted the most well known portrait of Mussorgsky:


This was done but several weeks before the composer died, while Mussorgsky was in a clinic, in a state of heavy decline.

The deleterious effects of long-term alcohol abuse show plainly in the skin and eyes. 
I think it a brilliant and scary-honest portrait.*

*http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/08/repin-paints-mussorgsky.html


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