USC SYMPHONY PLAYS ‘ILYA MUROMETZ’

Reinhold Gliere, an important link in Russian musical history--he was a pupil of Arensky and a teacher of Prokofiev-- may be remembered today mostly for his epic Symphony No. 3, “Ilya Murometz.”

The irony in that lies in the fact that the Third Symphony is seldom heard, when it is heard at all, in its full length. During the composer’s lifetime, Leopold Stokowski conducted the work twice in the Hollywood Bowl--in 1946 and again in 1955--both times in a truncated, 47-minute version.

“Ilya Murometz” returned to Los Angeles on Thursday night, courtesy of conductor Daniel Lewis and his game USC Symphony, which performed the work uncut.

At 80 minutes in length, the colorful piece is a Romantic musical mural illustrating ancient Russian folk tales of the legendary Murometz. With the work’s program in hand--as it was Thursday--one can follow the story: The son of peasants, Ilya is roused from lethargy to follow the “holy hero,” Svyatagor, who transmits his powers to the younger man. Ilya goes forth, has adventures, vanquishes evil, and is turned to stone.

The problem for the listener in 1985 is one of originality; Gliere had little of that quality, and only a small gift for melody. What propels “Ilya Murometz” is a lot of orchestral craft and a good story. Of musical interest--once one has identified Gliere’s debts to Liszt, Wagner and Richard Strauss--there is little.

With a strong sense of continuity, and masterful release of climaxes, conductor Lewis and his young players made all four movements of the lushly scored work seem inevitable, and connected. The upper strings soared, the lower strings sang forth, woodwinds and brass met all challenges bravely. It is a long piece, but this was not a long performance.