Performed by the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi

Based on a poem by Heinrich Heine (English translation by Hal Draper)

Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam
Im Norden auf kahler Höh.
Ihn schläfert; mit weißer Decke
Umhüllen ihn Eis und Schnee.
Er träumt von einer Palme,
Die, fern im Morgenland,
Einsam und schweigend trauert
Auf brennender Felsenwand.

A pine is standing lonely
In the North on a bare plateau.
He sleeps; a bright white blanket
Enshrouds him in ice and snow.
He’s dreaming of a palm tree
Far away in the Eastern land
Lonely and silently mourning
On a sunburnt rocky strand.

Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) was a Russian composer who, if not for his death from tuberculosis at the age of 35, would undoubtedly have become a leading light of Russian music. Kalinnikov - who counted both Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff among his friends and advocates - is best known for his two vibrant symphonies, which are masterfully orchestrated and draw from rich Russian folk melodies; both works are achieving increasing recognition outside of the USSR, particularly among youth orchestras and community orchestras. "The Cedar and the Palm", which Kalinnikov completed in 1898 - the year after his second symphony - is in a similar vein, although perhaps more rhapsodic in quality than some of his other orchestral works.

Read more about Kalinnikov on my blog here: [ Ссылка ]
A full score can be found at the New York Philharmonic archives: [ Ссылка ]. An IMSLP score is also available but is missing page 7 (page 9 in the NY Phil edition.)

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