Alexander Mosolov gets a rare U.S. performance

One of the largely-forgotten Russian composers I like to champion, Alexander Mosolov (1900-1973), got a rare U.S. performance the other day.

Mosolov’s harp concerto was performed in season-opening concerts earlier this month for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Nathalie Stutzmann and French harpist Xavier de Maistre.

“What was memorable was the performance by the featured soloist of the evening, harpist Xavier de Maistre, who was brilliant in technique but even more so in his musicality, unleashing a broad palette of color and expression in this meandering, albeit otherwise attractive, work,” wrote Mark Gresham in his review of the performance.

Stutzmann, de Maistre and the WDR Sinfonieorchester are featured on a recording of the Mosolov work (and a Gliere concerto) issued in 2022. A Gramophone podcast is available in which de Maistre discusses the work.

The Gramophone site says that’s a “first recording” of the Mosolov piece, but that’s actually not correct. The piece was in fact revived with a Naxos recording, issued in late 2020, featuring the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Arthur Arnold and soloist Taylor Ann Fleshman. And if you get that recording, you also get the premiere recording of Mosolov’s Symphony No. 5, which I really like. Here’s my interview with Fleshman.

Both of the previously unrecorded Mosolov pieces on Naxos recording came out because the recording was backed by Max Gutbrod, an entrepreneur and music philanthropist. I am anxiously awaiting the completion of a movie about Mosolov, which Gutbrod also is backing.