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STENKA RAZIN, Symphonic Poem in B Minor, Op. 13
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THIS IS A TONE POEM WRITTEN BY 20 YEAR OLD RUSSIAN COMPOSER ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV IN 1885. THE COMPOSITION DRAMATIZES AND ROMANTICIZES THE CAREER OF STENKA RAZIN WHO, AFTER LEADING RAIDS AGAINST THE TSARIST REGIME, WAS CAPTURED AND EXECUTED IN 1672.
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Contemporary band compositions, classical music arrangements, marches, jazz, symphonies, overtures. A collection from bands that I have played in throughout hi
Hello and welcome! "Symphonic Band Performances" is a compilation of recordings from several high school and college bands that I played in including the TMEA (Texas) All State Band, the TMEA Region X All Region Band, the Interlochen Arts Academy National Music Camp, the Cal Poly Tech Band, San Luis Obispo, the USAF Golden West Band, and recordings from my h.s. band, Beaumont H.S. and a few band recordings that were passed down to me. Also included are various All State groups and college and university bands. I participated and played in the large majority of these recordings. There are no professional recordings here and every recording is Public Domain. Most are available for free download. Each song has been converted from the original analog or digital source and edited with Audacity or Dak software. In the majority of these recordings, I play the tenor sax or alto sax, b flat or e flat clarinet, or directing. I was drum major for 2 years in high school, I have a BA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I studied music ed, composition and theory. I had about 500 more recordings I was planning to digitize and upload, but this past Nov. 20th, my home was completely destroyed by fire, and all the contents, including all my music and instruments. So, this is it. Please feel free to post a comment here or on my member page. If you like, please become a fan by clicking "I'm a fan" below.
Song Info
Genre
Classical • Symphonic
Charts
Peak #52
Peak in subgenre #7
Author
Alexander Glazunov - 1885
Rights
public domain
Uploaded
November 15, 2009
Track Files
MP3
MP3 26.6 MB • 224 kbps • 16:37
Story behind the song
This is performed by the outstanding University of Illinois Concert Band in 1969 under the direction of Mark Hindsley. Mr. Hindsley was director from 1948 to 1970. He also transcribed hundreds of compositions for concert band, many which are listed on this site. Stenka Razin, Op. 13, is a symphonic poem composed by Alexander Glazunov in 1885. Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Borodin, it is one of the few compositions written by Glazunov on a nationalist subject and is composed in a style reminiscent of Borodin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Glazunov's composition dramatizes and romanticizes the career of the Cossack Stenka Razin. After leading raids against the Tsarist regime, Razin was captured and given amnesty in exchange of an oath of allegiance. He broke his promise, leading an army of several hundred thousand in an attempt to overthrow the government. Captured again, he was executed in 1672. The score focuses on a dramatic moment immediately preceding Razin's recapture. Razin and his mistress, a captured Persian princess, are afloat on a richly caparisoned boat on the River Volga. There, in one version of the story, the princess relates an ominous dream, warning of imminent disaster and her own death in the river. They are suddenly surrounded by tsarist soldiers. Razin casts the princess into the water, declaring, "Never in all my thirty years have I offered a sacrifice to the Volga. Today I will give it what is for me the most precious of all the world's treasures." The Cossacks then descend desperately upon the Russian troops. Another version of the story has Razin's men claiming that his love of the princess has dulled his lust for fighting—a charge Razin counters by drowning the princess before leading his followers once again into battle. The slow introduction evokes the River Volga, quoting "The Song of the Volga Boatmen," with the song's solemnity coloring not only the B minor introduction but also the outer sections of the main Allegro con brio in the same musical key. These outer sections depict Razin's raids on villages along the river. A gentler central section (Allegro moderato) features a contrasting clarinet melody in the major a semitone lower and was claimed to be of Persian origin, this theme, sensual and undulating in Russian orientalist fashion, portrays the princess. The two themes, singly and in conjunction, provide the substance for the central development section, culminating in the graphic depiction of the princess's death. "The Song of the Volga Boatmen" is reprised in the brass to bring the work to a rousing conclusion. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor. He served as director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was also instrumental in the reorganization of the institute into the Petrograd Conservatory, then the Leningrad Conservatory, following the Bolshevik Revolution. He continued heading the Conservatory until 1930, though he had left the Soviet Union in 1928 and did not return. The best known student under his tenure during the early Soviet years was Dmitri Shostakovich. Glazunov was significant in that he successfully reconciled nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Russian music. While he was the direct successor to Balakirev's nationalism, he tended more towards Borodin's epic grandeur while absorbing a number of other influences. These included Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral virtuosity, Tchaikovsky's lyricism and Taneyev's contrapuntal skill. His weaknesses were a streak of academicism which sometimes overpowered his inspiration and an eclecticism which could sap the ultimate stamp of originality from his music. Younger composers such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich eventually considered his music old-fashioned while also admitting he remained a composer with an imposing reputation and a stabilizing influence in a time of transition and turmoil.
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