FINALE TO SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN G MINOR (KALINNIKOV)
THE FINALE TO RUSSIAN COMPOSER VASILY KALINNIKOV'S 1ST SYMPHONY, WRITTEN IN 1895. PERFORMED DURING MY LAST YEAR IN THE AIR FORCE, AS A MEMBER OF THE USAF BAND OF THE GOLDEN WEST. KALINNIKOV DIED PREMATURELY AT AGE 35. THIS IS HIS MOST FAMOUS WORK.
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Story behind the song
This is performed by the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West from Travis AFB, California. I played in this band as a member of the Air Force Reserves, my final two years of enlistment.
Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov (January 13, 1866 to January 11, 1901) was a Russian composer of two symphonies, several additional orchestral works and numerous songs, all of them imbued with characteristics of folksong. His symphonies, particularly the First, were frequently performed in the early 20th century. In recent years his fame has diminished but the symphonies are available in recordings.
The relative fame of Kalinnikov is due largely to his first Symphony in G minor, written between 1894 and 1895, whose themes are characteristic of Russian music. The symphony, dedicated to Kalinnikov's teacher S.N. Kruglikov, was given its premiere in Kiev at a Russian Music Society concert conducted by Vinogradsky. The audience loved the work, requesting and receiving repeat performances of the work's two middle movements. Further successful performances followed soon all over Europe, including Vienna, Paris, London, and Berlin.
The reception the work enjoyed is not hard to understand. Kalinnikov loads his symphony with memorable melodies, he develops them with great skill, and his fluent and colorful orchestration calls Tchaikovsky to mind. The arresting theme with which the work opens is evocative of Russian folk song. Later in the Allegro moderato first movement, a broad second theme emerges in the strings, with decorations provided by the woodwinds. The fluently contrapuntal development section reminds the listener that Kalinnikov had practiced polyphonic writing in a series of fugues composed in the 1880s. The lyrical and melancholy second movement, Andante commodamente, is highlighted by a rich main theme in the oboe over pizzicato strings. Russian folk song is once again called to mind in the swaggering theme of the Scherzo third movement; the more restrained middle section featuring another folksy melody over a drone. The rousing Finale comes complete with reminders of some of the themes heard earlier in the work; the extroverted main theme interacts with some of those earlier tunes, leading to a powerful and triumphant conclusion.