Gliere - Overtures and Orchestral Works

Reihold GLIERE (1875-1976) 

Overtures and Orchestral Works

Ballad, Op. 4, arranged Derzhanovsky

Concert Waltz, Op.90

Heroic March for the Buryiat-Mongolian ASSR, Op.71

Overture on Slavonic Themes

Overture: Gyul`sara

Overture: Holiday at Ferghana, Op.75

Overture: Shakh-Senem

Peter Dixon (cello)

BBC Philharmonic

Vassily Sinaisky

If you could describe any classical album as a guilty pleasure, it would be this collection of minor works by Reinhold Gliere. After his generally respected late-romantic period exemplified by his Third Symphony, Gliere threw himself wholeheartedly into the world of Soviet music. Never subversive like Shostakovich or Khachaturian, Gliere spent the rest of his long career churning out stuff like this. A specialist at shallow imitations of foreign musical styles (as in The Red Poppy), Gliere offers some mock-Uzbek stuff, and the overture to a Persian-themed opera. The Polish national anthem and the Internationale (as part of a "Heroic march for the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR) round out this ethnic/political drudgery.

I am amazed this got released on a major label. It is artistically meritless, and I love it.