Big Like the Motherland: The Phoenix on National Phil of Russia

National Philharmonic of Russia

Lot's of people braved the storm to hear the National Philharmonic of Russia with Vladimir Spivakov and Olga Kern last Friday at Symphony Hall - lots of reviewers, too. Jeffrey Gantz of The Boston Phoenix was out of the gate first with a review bearing the oddly enjoyable headline, Big Like the Motherland. I think it should be the title of the Orchestra's next CD, but that's me:

"The orchestra got off to a good start before even playing a
note, having seated itself with first and second violins deployed antiphonally
rather than grouped together on the conductor’s left; this is the arrangement
that Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky wrote for, and the one that many conductors
(BSO music director James Levine among them) are returning to.Shostakovich’s Festival Overture was first performed (there’s some
question about when it was written) in November 1954, in celebration of the 37th
anniversary of the Revolution. It’s a kind of Russian Pops piece, the slow
introduction giving way to zippy fare that could accompany the Rockettes or the
June Taylor Dancers. Under an unostentatious Spivakov it never sounded the least
bit cynical or cheap; the introduction was heavy-footed and hymn-like (you could
hear the Orthodox chant influence), and the release of tension when Spivakov
changed speeds conjured great Russian conductors of the past century, Evgeny
Mravinsky and Igor Markevich. Who knew Shostakovich could be so much fun?"

Read all of Big Like the Motherland.