Gliere - Sym #1 - Khaikin, USSR RTV Large SO (1950) [Philidor; FLAC]

Reinhold Gliere was a compositional pupil of Ippolitov-Ivanov, and a grandson pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. So he came by his Russian Nationalist credentials honestly, and never abandoned them over a very long, carefully non-controversial career that stretched into the 1950s.

Gliere's three symphonies were written during his early years. His First was a student work composed while at the Moscow Conservatory, and was considered a great success upon its debut. It is pure Russian Nationalism, with good, mildly folk-inflected tunes, and a sure sense of organization. There is as yet no individuality and not a great deal of imagination in the piece, but the only other First Symphonies of superior quality in Russia at the time would have been Balakirev's, Arensky's, and Glazunov's. Much was to be hoped for from the young man, as the press made clear.

Note that this is an historical recording, made in 1950. It's not even very good audio for the period: the Soviet engineers typically preferred a rather airless acoustic, and placed their microphones back far enough to lose some of the instrumental overtones. Still, it shows just what a fine conductor Gliere was, and the music comes through clear enough to enjoy.

Transfers are made at 768 kBits/s, directly from the disc.

Bio enclosed. You can find all my classical uploads by searching on Philidor, or just looking in this regularly updated thread:

http://kickasstorrents.ee/community.../philidor-s-classical-stuff/