NOTE • Click on the button and you can buy the disc or read the booklet details • You can also access each track which you may then sample or down load. • Further Information.

By the time of my ’teens I was already thoroughly familiar with Tchaikovsky’s last three symphonies – but for many years the first three remained unknown territory. Latterly, the once least-known of these (recorded here) has become a repertoire piece, and it’s difficult to understand why it lay for so long neglected. A youthful work (written when he was 26 and revised eight years later) it is relatively free from the angst which characterised his mature compositions, but it already indicated the melodic inventiveness and brilliance of orchestration which have given him (pace the crass observations of Pierre Boulez) a unique place in the affections of music-lovers everywhere. It also contains more than a hint of his future mastery of ballet-music which was perhaps his greatest legacy.

Delogu and his orchestra give a splendidly idiomatic performance of the work in a commendably live recording. The sound may lack the ultimate degree of vividness but it is always warm and well-balanced. The spirited finale is particularly successful, though in the marvellous passage leading into the coda – as fine as anything else Tchaikovsky ever wrote – like a breaking of dawn but with menacing overtones – Delogu doesn’t quite capture the atmosphere as well as Martyn Brabbins did in a recent (2002) live broadcast.

A pity that the filler is yet another recording of Romeo and Juliet – competently performed, but a chance missed here to introduce a lesser-known Shakespeare-inspired piece such as Hamlet or The Tempest.

A minor point: I hope that the funds of the Prague Symphony Orchestra have by now run to the purchase of a new pair of cymbals to replace the tinny instruments heard on this disc.

Adrian Smith

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION • You can sample only 30 seconds (or 15% if that is longer) of a given track. Select from the View tracks list. Each sample will normally start from the beginning but you can drag the slider to any position before pressing play. • PLEASE NOTE: If you are behind a firewall and the sound is prematurely terminated you may need to register Ludwig as a trusted source with your firewall software. •You will need Quicktime to hear sound samples. Get a free Quicktime download here • If you cannot see the "Sample All Tracks" button you need to download Flash from here.

Return to Index