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Through the Night

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David Gutman's Essential CD/DVD Guide to Tchaikovsky

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Symphonies 1-6, Manfred etc
Philharmonia and Philadelphia Orchestras/Riccardo Muti
Brilliant Classics 99792

Muti’s pushy, red-blooded manner in the Tchaikovsky’s symphonies is not for everyone but his complete Philharmonia cycle, including an excellent Manfred, remains highly competitive. This set comes at rock-bottom price on seven CDs and includes a spread of familiar orchestral works set down later, during his Philadelphia tenure.

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    Symphonies 1-3
    Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
    DG 459 518-2

    Karajan offers more opulence and poise than rhythmic bite in the three earlier Tchaikovsky symphonies which, unlike their successors, he recorded just once, at the end of the 1970s. The twofer presentation also takes in Capriccio italien and Marche slave.

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      Symphonies 4-6
      Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra/Yevgeny Mravinsky
      DG 477 5911

      These histrionic, echt Russian performances, taped in the West in 1960, have an extreme dynamism and a specificity of tonal colour which has kept them at the top of most critical lists ever since. Tearing into their phrases, the Leningrad winds are closely scrutinized - there’s no attempt to mask the lack of refinement arising from their limited access to the best instruments and reeds - while the weighty, focused quality of the string playing is the stuff of legend, dominating the sound-stage without running to fat. Here is a unique sound and style of orchestral playing that has all but disappeared beneath the corporate sheen of globalized music-making.

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        Symphony No. 1 in G Minor (Winter Daydreams)
        Boston Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
        DG 463 615-2

        Freshness and flair from a conductor then (1970) in his twenties and more closely associated with contemporary scores; the CD also includes a bracing account of Debussy’s Images.

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          Songs [including None but the lonely heart]
          Joan Rodgers/Roger Vignoles
          Hyperion CDA 66617

          Tchaikovsky’s song writing is a neglected aspect of his creativity and Joan Rodgers’s identification with this repertoire is complete. She combines an idiomatic command of the language with a purity of intonation and simplicity of address less readily found among native Russian singers.

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            Romeo and Juliet
            London Symphony Orchestra/Geoffrey Simon
            Chandos CHAN 10041 X

            It was Balakirev’s idea that Tchaikovsky write his famous fantasy overture but we rarely hear it performed in its original 1869 guise as here with an entirely different opening section. The couplings include the first, 1872 version of the Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Little Russian).

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            String Quartets 1-3
            Borodin String Quartet
            Warner Elatus 2564-61774-2

            The most immediately attractive of the quartets is the D Major from 1871 but the others are perhaps not as familiar as they ought to be. This vibrant Borodin cycle also includes an early B flat Movement and the more familiar string sextet, Souvenir de Florence.

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              Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor
              Martha Argerich/Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado
              DG 449 816‑2

              While there are too many distinguished versions of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto for a definitive recommendation to be made, Martha Argerich’s variously sensational performances include this superb 1994 outing with Claudio Abbado, long a favourite collaborator. In the makeweight, a two-piano transmogrification of the Nutcracker Suite, Argerich is joined by its arranger Nicolas Economou.

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                Swan Lake
                Vienna Symphony Orchestra/John Lanchbery
                DG 073 404-4 (DVD)

                The musical aspect of this production is fully acceptable but it is the celebrated Sixties partnership of Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn that makes this straightforward cinematic record such essential viewing.

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                  Swan Lake
                  Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal/Charles Dutoit
                  436 212-2

                  Leaving the action to the imagination, Dutoit’s is the most sonically sophisticated audio recording of Tchaikovsky’s score. It dates from the early 1990s and is textually almost complete.

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                    Variations on a Rococo Theme
                    Mstislav Rostropovich/Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
                    DG 447 413-2

                    Rostropovich’s several recorded renditions include this much-acclaimed account from 1968, a substantial makeweight for the same artists’ sumptuous interpretation of the Dvořák Cello Concerto.

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                      Francesca da Rimini and Hamlet
                      New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski
                      Everest 9037 or Dell’Arte CDDA 9006

                      One of Stokowski’s greatest records is this classic pairing of Francesca da Rimini and Hamlet with the New York Stadium Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was a moonlighting New York Philharmonic then, in the late 1950s, under contract to American Columbia, and its unpredictable maestro was on fire. If you can find them, these uniquely gripping accounts still sound well too.

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                        Eugene Onegin
                        Soloists/St Petersburg Chamber Choir/Orchestre de Paris/Semyon Bychkov
                        Philips 475 7017

                        The best modern (1992) recording of Tchaikovsky’s most familiar opera is cast from strength with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the title role, Nuccia Focile as Tatyana, Neil Shicoff as Lensky and some distinguished veterans in subsidiary parts. Bychkov keeps everything moving without strain, emphasizing the special beauty of the scoring.

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                          Liturgy of St John Chrysostom
                          Prague Chamber Choir/Eric Ericson
                          Orfeo C127001A

                          Tchaikovsky’s devotion to the Orthodox Church prompted this once controversial a cappella setting, here restored to its authentic glory with the priests’ solos included. The disc also contains three further liturgical settings by Tchaikovsky.

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                            Violin Concerto in D Major
                            David Oistrakh/Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
                            Brilliant Classics 92609

                            The greatest virtuoso of the old Soviet Union, Oistrakh made several recordings of the much-loved concerto and this 1968 Moscow version, taped at his 60th birthday concert, should be snapped up before it again disappears from circulation. A rendition of awesome nobility and strength as well as warmth, it comes in a bargain 10-disc set of historic performances.

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                              Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major
                              Peter Donohoe/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Rudolf Barshai
                              EMI 585540-2

                              An underrated work especially well served here, with special guests Nigel Kennedy and Steven Isserlis putting in appearances for the slow movement’s extended solos for violin and cello. The recording now comes on a bargain twofer with the main artists’ rather less desirable accounts of the other two concertos and the Concert Fantasy.

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                                Serenade for Strings in C Major
                                Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Sir Neville Marriner
                                Decca 470 262-2

                                Now coupled with Grieg’s Holberg Suite and the String Serenade by Dvořák, this classic performance from 1968 remains an ideal introduction to one of its composer’s most perfect scores.

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                                  Capriccio italien
                                  RCA Victor SO/Kyrill Kondrashin
                                  RCA Living Stereo 09026 63302-2

                                  There are many versions in the catalogue, but that ‘classic’ appellation is certainly warranted by Kondrashin's top-rated 1958 collection of Russian orchestral showpieces, including works by Kabalevsky, Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol.

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                                    1812 Overture
                                    Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Erich Kunzel
                                    Telarc CD 80541 or SACD 60541 or DVD Audio 70541

                                    For the highest fi, Kunzel’s team go all out for sonic thrills in the bass department; they have cannon that could damage your speakers plus additional bandsmen and choirs including the Kiev Symphony Chorus. The orchestra itself is somewhat overawed.

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                                      Mazeppa
                                      Soloists/Stockholm Royal Opera Chorus/Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi
                                      DG 477 5637

                                      In the only modern audio recording of the opera currently available, Järvi keeps things on the move with a cast of Russian principals that includes Larissa Diadkova, Galina Gorchakova, Sergei Leiferkus, Anatoly Kotcherga and Sergei Larin.

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                                        Orchestral Suite No. 3
                                        Russian National Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski
                                        PentaTone Classics PTC 5186 061

                                        Once a repertoire staple, nowadays a decided rarity, Jurowski revivifies this enormously attractive score with easily the best recording since Sir Adrian Boult’s analogue version of the 1970s. One might suggest that Jurowski’s direction seeks to emulate the tautness of Pletnev and Mravinsky rather than the unpredictable emotional grandstanding of some of the bigger Russian names. The Theme and Variations finale works up a terrific head of steam even so, with the culminating Polacca variation as viscerally exciting as one might wish. The unexpected Stravinsky coupling, derived after all from lesser-known Tchaikovsky piano music and songs, is The Fairy's Kiss Divertimento.

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                                          Manfred Symphony
                                          Russian National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev
                                          DG 439 891‑2 or DG 477 053-2

                                          The Manfred has not always been included in Tchaikovsky series on disc but Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra make it a highlight. Their fine account is available either separately or in a useful three-disc conspectus of Tchaikovsky’s non-symphonic orchestral material. Typically disciplined performances all.

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                                            Symphony No. 5 in E Minor
                                            West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Daniel Barenboim
                                            Warner Classics 2564-62190-2

                                            Daniel Barenboim is a standard bearer for the traditional approach, closer to Furtwängler than to Toscanini in his conviction that musical truth resides not in the marks on the page but in the singularity of a candidly expressive musical performance. One might not associate him with the Russian repertoire but this Fifth is a remarkable achievement regardless of its rather special context. The CD and DVD package takes in a concert given in Geneva by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra plus more extended documentary material on the bridge-building youth orchestra workshop, its background, founders and participants.

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                                              The Sleeping Beauty
                                              Russian National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev
                                              DG 476 5321

                                              Tchaikovsky’s most accomplished ballet score is given the reading of a lifetime here, less concerned with surface charm than narrative thrust. Tempos can be brisk but everything is dazzlingly articulate.

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                                                Souvenir de Florence
                                                Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson
                                                Channel Classics CCS SA 21504

                                                Originally written for string sextet but equally familiar as a work for string orchestra, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta bridges the gap - a relatively small ensemble playing in what sounds like a large hall. As is often the case from this source the recording has remarkable depth and presence with a rich, warm bass. Leader and artistic director Candida Thompson keeps the music-making fresh by rationing vibrato and exploring varieties of articulation and extremes of dynamic. As with several other feisty ‘young’ groups, the band plays with unanimity and brilliance and does it, as far as possible, standing up!

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                                                  The Queen of Spades
                                                  Soloists/Kirov Opera and Orchestra/Valery Gergiev
                                                  Philips 438 141-2

                                                  The psychological intensity of Tchaikovsky’s opera has made it increasingly popular in the opera house, though, on record, no one version sweeps the board. Gergiev’s is perhaps the best conducted and has the advantage of the veteran Irina Arkhipova in the key role of the Countess, with Olga Borodina luxury casting as Pauline. The other singers are at least characterful and unmistakably Slav. A DVD version from the same company, differently cast, is also available (Philips 070 434-9).

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                                                    The Nutcracker
                                                    Kirov Orchestra/Valery Gergiev
                                                    Philips 462 114-2

                                                    Despite the many permutations of TheNutcracker obtainable on disc, acquiring the ballet complete has to be the most attractive choice, particularly now that Gergiev and his Kirov forces have managed to squeeze the score onto a single CD. There are no pauses between numbers in the Divertissement and some lack of old-world charm so this may be too swift and punchy an option for some tastes.

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                                                      18 Pieces for Solo Piano
                                                      Mikhail Pletnev
                                                      DG 477 5378

                                                      Pletnev makes a determined bid to rehabilitate these little known late miniatures, characterizing them with a masterly feeling for tone colour.

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                                                        Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (Pathétique)
                                                        Russian National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev
                                                        Virgin Classics 561636-2

                                                        The choice is wide indeed in Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. Some find the Salvation Army timbre of the old Leningrad Philharmonic winds a problem in Mravinsky’s otherwise unbeatable 1960 LP version (see above). In which case Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra, recorded digitally in London in 1991, represent a half-way house in terms of sonority and subtlety. This is thrilling music-making and the twofer package is enhanced by a coruscating Marche Slave and an unbeatable account of The Seasons with Pletnev at the keyboard.

                                                        © David Gutman/BBC
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