As late as 1982 Soviet musicologists claiming any significance for Nikolay Roslavets were vigorously suppressed. Only in 1990 was his unmarked grave identified. How many scores were lost when his flat was ransacked just after his death in 1944? The ruthless vengeance of a reactionary proletariat branding Roslavets, himself born of peasant stock and a fervent 1917 revolutionary, a mere pedlar of bourgeois ‘art for art’s sake’ has fortunately now given way to a gradual recognition of the very real significance of this ‘Russian Schoenberg’.

In the hours of the New Moon is an early work, probably dating from Roslavets’s student days at the Moscow Conservatory. Already present is a developed musical awareness, as French Impressionism and the heady orchestral textures of Richard Strauss are subsumed into a Scriabin-esque unity of considerable stature.

The Chamber Symphony of 1934/5 (not to be confused with the 1926 fragment of the same name which was reconstructed and recorded in the 1990s, before the manuscript of the present work was discovered) is without doubt Roslavets’s most significant symphonic work. Here recorded for the first time, this major work employs nine solo woodwind, two horns, trumpet, piano, string quartet and double bass to great effect. The closest analogy is perhaps to Schoenberg’s first Chamber Symphony (similarly scored), but alongside elements of conscious homage Roslavets adds his own magical sprinkling of Russian folksong, sardonic worldliness and symphonic jazz.



GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

'The music shimmers through two massive climaxes before closing in the rapt hush with which it began. The BBC Scottish SO's performances are simply wonderful; full praise to Ilan Volkov for two well prepared and keenly felt interpretations. The sound is superlative, too' (Gramophone)

'This revelatory new release from a major orchestra … I attribute the fact that the work seems far more epic in scale than its 11-odd minutes would suggest to its teeming wealth of detail; there is never a dull moment, and once again credit must go to Volkov and the Scottish team for allowing all of it to rise to the surface without ever compromising the work's internal balance. This is resonantly vital music, performed with passion and beautifully recorded by Hyperion' (International Record Review)

'Cette pianiste accomplie sait son métier et le pratique avec honneteté. Les couleurs sont jolies et une certaine profondeur de champ se discerne … Rameau composait avec des sons charnels et des sensations intimes, et non avec de désuets et évanescents effluves' (Diapason) 'Ilan Volkov's beautifully conducted recording...' (Guardian)

'powerfully projected by the present performers and makes one eager to hear more orchestral works by this fascinating figure' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Superbly played and recorded....a 'best of the year' release' (Classical Source.com)

'Leave it to Hyperion to come up with another first-class presentation of forgotten but fascinating music… Shimmering sonic fabrics flow into powerfully ecstatic climaxes, often with dancelike rhythms predominating…The performance... is superb in every way, and Hyperion's engineering is some of the best on standard CD today. Highly recommended to the orchestrally curious' (Audiophile Audition)

'[Aux heures de la nouvelles lune] L'oeuvre se présente comme un nocturne, une musique extatique, nettement scriabinenne d'ambiance et laissant poindre un climat volontiers sinistre … Publication indispensable pour les musicologues … ' (Diapason)

'Beautifully recorded, it is played with clarity and zest. (Just listen to the clarinet propelling the Chamber Symphony's Scherzo.) Ilan Volkov, 31 this year … is clearly a man to watch. In sum, this is a distinguished addition to a neglected composer's growing catalog' (Fanfare, USA)

'We owe Volkov, Hyperion, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra a major debt of gratitude for managing this intrepid and wholly successful musical rescue operation with such conviction' (Classics Today.com)

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Recording details: Various dates; Various recording venues; Produced by Various producers; Engineered by Various engineers; Release date: November 2006;