Glinka (1804-1857)
Waltz Fantasia (Valse Fantaisie, Waltz Fantasy) (1856)
USSR Symphony Orchestra
Cond.: Evegeny Svetlanov
Recorded in 1968
In 1839 Glinka composed a waltz-scherzo for piano. In this fateful year he fell in love with the young and bright Yekaterina Kern (1818-1904) and separated from his wife after four years of marriage: "My grief is light" (Pechal' moya svetla) reads the epigraph on his work, borrowed from a poem by Pushkin. As "melancholic waltz" (orchestrated by the conductor of the Court Orchestra in Pavlovsk) the piano scherzo caused a sensation. In 1845, now orchestrated by the composer himself, it was performed under Hector Berlioz in Paris. A revision in 1856 resulted in the final title: Valse-fantaisie. (...) In 1856 Glinka dedicated his Valse-fantaisie to his "old friend K. A. Bulgakov" and commented on the gift as follows: "This music will remind you of the days of love and youth." The composition served Tchaikovsky and Glazunov in all respects as a model. Later on it even inspired Shostakovitch.
