Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade – Symphonic Suite, Op. 35 London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Eugene Goossens, Conductor 1 I. The Sea and Sindbad‘s Ship 10:29 2 II. The Tale of the Kalendar Prince 10:39 3 III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess 09:49 4 IV. The Festival At Baghdad, The Sea, Shipwreck On A Rock 11:54 Surmounted By A Bronze Warrior – Conclusion RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Rimsky Korsakov composed Scheherazade No composer has been as communica- SCHEHERAZADE during the summer of 1888, completing it tive as Rimsky-Korsakov in informing us of SYMPHONIC SUITE after “THE early in August. It was first performed the his aims and achievements. In his autobiog- THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT,” following winter at the Russian Symphony raphy, My Musica1 Life, he has much to say Op. 35 Concerts in St. Petersburg. about Scheherazade. SIR EUGENE GOOSSENS conducting Considering the opulence and infinite “The program I had been guided by in the London Symphony Orchestra variety of sounds produced in this sym- composing Scheherazade,” he writes, “con- HUGH MAGUIRE, solo violin phonic suite, the instrumental requirements sisted of separate, unconnected episodes of the score are relatively modest. They are: and pictures from The Arabian Night, scat- Few works in the entire literature of two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, tered through all four movements of my orchestral music can match Scheherazade for two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, suite: the sea and Sinbad’s ship, the fan- brilliance, appeal or vividness of instrumen- two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, ket- tastic narrative of the Prince Kalendar, the tal coloring. But then, few composers have tledrums, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, Prince and the Princess, the Bagdad festi- possessed the wizardry to orchestrate music triangle, tambourine, tamtam, harp and val and the ship dashing against the rock as did Rimsky-Korsakov. And until now, it has strings. The work bears a dedication to the with the bronze rider upon it. The unifying been difficult to reproduce the full spectrum critic, Vladimir Stassov. thread consisted of the brief introduction to of the composer’s palette on records. Thanks Movements I, II and IV and the intermezzo to Everest’s advanced recording techniques Prefacing the score of Scheherazade are in Movement III, written for violin solo and on 35 mm magnetic film, every subtle ori- the following introductory remarks, written delineating Scheherazade herself as telling ental shading, every overtone of this sump- by the composer: her wondrous tales to the stern sultan. The tuous symphonic suite can be enjoyed with final conclusion of Movement IV serves the startling realism in the home. “The Sultan Schahriar, persuaded of the same artistic purpose. In vain do people seek falseness and the faithlessness of women, in my suite, leading motives linked unbro- Actually, Rimsky-Korsakov learned the has sworn to put to death each one of his kenly with ever the same poetic ideas and art of orchestration relatively late in life. At wives after the first night. But the Sultana conceptions. On the contrary, in the major- the start of his career, music played a second- Scheherazade saved her life by interesting ity of cases, all these seeming leitmotives are ary role, for he started out as a naval officer. him in tales which she told him during one nothing but purely musical material or the It was only at the insistence of the composer thousand and one nights. Pricked by curi- given motives for symphonic development. Mily Balakirev that he accepted a professor- osity, the Sultan put of his wife’s execution These given motives thread and spread over ship of composition and orchestration at the from day to day, and at last gave up entirely all the movements of the suite alternat- St. Petersburg Conservatory. There at first his bloody plan. ing and intertwining each with the other. he learned more from his pupils than they Appearing as they do each time under dif- from him. Meanwhile, the Navy appointed Many marvels were told Schahriar by the ferent illumination, depicting; each time dif- Rimsky-Korsakov Inspector of Naval Bands. Sultana Scheherazade. For her stories the ferent traits and expressing different moods, The combination of these two positions, plus Sultana borrowed from poets their verses, the self-same given motives and themes a great deal of study of counterpoint, compo- from folks songs their words; and she strung correspond each time to different images, sition and orchestration, succeeded in giving together tales and adventures.” actions and pictures. Thus, for instance, the him the technical equipment to support his sharply outlined fanfare motive of the muted already inventive intuitive musical ideas. trombone and trumpet, which first appears in the Kalendar’s Narrative (Movement II) appears afresh in Movement IV, in the delineation of the wrecking ship, though doubt an oriental narrative of some numer- this episode has no connection with the ous and varied fairy-tale wonders and not Kalendar’s Narrative. The principal theme of merely four pieces played one after the other the Kalendar’s Narrative (B minor, 3/4) and and composed on the basis of themes com- the theme of the Princes in Movement III (B mon to all the four movements. Why then, flat major, 6/8, clarinet) in altered guise and if that be the case, does my suite bear the quick tempo appears as the secondary theme name, precisely, of Scheherazade? Because of the Bagdad festival; yet nothing is said in this name and the title The Arabian Nights The Arabian Nights about these persons tak- connote in everybody’s mind the East and ing part in the festivities. The unison phrase, fairy-tale wonders; besides, certain details of as though depicting Scheherazade’s stern the musical exposition hint at the fact that all spouse, at the beginning of the suite appears of these are various tales of some one person as a datum, in the Kalendar’s Narrative, (which happens to be Scheherazade) enter- where there cannot, however, be any men- taining therewith her stern husband.” tion of Sultan Schabriar. In this manner, developing quite freely the musical data Original Liner Notes by PAUL AFFELDER taken as a basis of the composition, I had in view the creation of an orchestral suite in four movements, closely knit by the commu- nity of its themes and motives, yet present- ing, as it were, a kaleidoscope of fairy-tale images and designs of oriental character. …Originally I had even intended to label Movement I of Scheherazade – Prelude; II-Ballade; III-Adagio; and IV-Finale; but on the advice of Liadov and others I had not done so. My aversion for the seeking of a too definite program in my composition led me subsequently (in the new edition) to do away with even those hints of it which had lain ill the headings of each movement, like: The Sea; Sinbad’s Ship; the Kalendar’s Narrative, etc.” “In composing Scheherazade I meant these hints to direct but slightly the hearer’s fancy on the path which my own fancy had travelled) and to leave more minute and par- ticular conceptions to the will and mood of each. All had desired was that the hearer, if he liked my piece as symphonic music, should carry away the impression that it is beyond Some notes on the history of Everest Below is a graphic representation of this new “wow and flutter” to an absolute minimum. recordings made anywhere in the world. By Records and the digital remastering material. What you see here, your ears will The film has another advantage in its great utilizing specially designed portable versions quickly verify when you listen to an EVER- tensile strength which effectively eliminates of EVEREST 35 mm equipment, EVEREST When Everest Records was founded by Harry EST recording. pitch changes due to “tape stretch”, a condi- engineers are able to make recordings and Belock in 1958 as a division of Belock Instru- tion heretofore almost impossible to control. maintain the rigid standards and excellence ment Corp., the aim was to produce a cata- Notice that now EVEREST engineers have of quality available in the Studios. logue of stereo recordings of the highest pos- over 3 times the normal space available Drawing on the extensive experience in the sible technical standard, with interesting and [than] on ¼” tape. This means distortion free, motion picture sound field BELOCK INSTRU- The advanced engineering and special equip- innovative classical repertoire played by some perfect sound. 35 mm magnetic film allows MENT (of which EVEREST is a division), ment, in addition to meticulous attention of the best artists and orchestras. EVEREST engineers to make recordings with requested Westrex Corporation to build spe- to detail, results in the EVEREST sound, a cial equipment to EVEREST’S exacting sound that has been acclaimed as superb by For the first Everest recording sessions in • No distortion from print through specifications in order to accomplish these critics and record enthusiasts throughout the 1958, an Ampex 300-3 half-inch three- • No distortion from lack of channel width advantages. This equipment includes the use world. channel recorder was used. Later on the label • Absolute minimum of “wow or flutter” of special recording heads which afford com- moved to use a Westrex 35 mm 3-track mag- • Highest possible signal to noise ratio plete wide band frequency response beyond netic film recorder, which had a wider possible • Greatest quality and dynamic range ever that normally specified in any present-day dynamic range, less print-through, less tape recorded motion picture recording. It is of interest to stretch and less ‘wow and flutter’, and which note, that when soundtracks of great motion was the basis for the highly acclaimed typical With 35 mm magnetic film, the base mate- pictures originally recorded on 35 mm mag- Executive Producer: Mark Jenkins for Countdown “Everest-sound”.