Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Symphony No. 4 (1878) [40:00]
Russian Federation Large Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Serenade in C major for String Orchestra op. 48 (1880) [33:01]
Moscow Radio Large Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Fedoseyev
rec. Large Studio, Moscow Radio, 1988 (Sym); 1992 (Serenade). DDD
ALTO ALC 1104 [72:35]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Symphony No. 5 in E minor op. 64 (1888) [46:00]
Russian Federation Large Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Moscow - cantata (1882) [25.57]
N. Derbina; A Polyakov; Choir and Large Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio/Gennady
Cherkasov
rec. live Studio 5, State Radio House, Moscow, 1988 (Moscow); ADD/DDD
ALTO ALC 1105 [70:50]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Symphony No. 6 in B minor op. 74 (1893) [45:41]
Russian Federation Large Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
The Nutcracker suite op. 71a (1892) [22:00]
Moscow State Symphony Orchestra/Pavel Kogan
rec. Large Studio, Moscow Radio, 1989 (6); Moscow Film Synchro Studios, Oct
1990 (Nutcracker)
ALTO ALC 1106 [67:43]
Rozhdestvensky’s career has been prodigiously busy - not least in the
recording studio. The second half of the 1980s saw him just as active for
recording labels. These three discs - only available separately - represent
the second time from that period that he turned to the three last-numbered
Tchaikovsky symphonies. This is the first time they have been issued outside
the Russian Republic. The other cycle you will know was first issued by IMP Pickwick
and was taken down in London in 1987 with that most authentically Russian-sounding
of non-Russian orchestras, the LSO. That trio of discs remains a stunningly
good choice at any price range and can still be had on Regis RRC 3009 (review).
This Fourth is kinetically magnificent with the conductor paying special
attention to the telling use of finely judged acceleration. It benefits from
Russian wind and a towering passion that in the first and last movements has
the brass phalanx taking voluptuous rage close to tragic rupture. The Andantino
is rushed - as it was with the LSO - but the sprinting pizzicato third movement
works well even if it does test the piccolo player. This is not as visceral
as Mravinsky’s classic London-recorded 1960 stereo version; then again
neither is it as mad-eyed manic. The Fifth goes with a doe-eyed lilt,
with an indomitable gait and with fiery inspiration in the finale which I
had to replay immediately. While it knows drama it is not quite as volcanic
as Mravinsky’s Leningrad Fifth (DG, recorded in London in 1960) nor
overall is it as satisfying as the gloriously sculpted Monteux/LSO version
on Vanguard. The Sixth is outright superb with a warm and close recording
of the woodwind detailing of the first movement. This is diluted by a pulling
back on the controls for the louder sections but my this is blisteringly imaginative
Tchaikovsky! Not once does Rozhdestvensky loosen his extraordinary grip. It’s
even more effective than the Mravinsky-Leningrad.
Fedoseyev’s Serenade for Strings glows, hums and cheers
with no holds barred yet makes room for delicacy and the finest emotional
topography - as in the quasi-Elgarian Elegia (III). This is a nicely
achieved recording and in the finale even the background pizz can be
heard without undue strain through the main melodic stratum. The Moscow
Cantata was previously issued on Regis RRC 1182 five or so years
ago. It has the melodramatic crimson of Derbina who grips the music by the
throat while Polyakov is wonderfully forward and vibrant. Listen to Derbina’s
implacable concentration in the pendulum of time tolling through Am I a
warrior. The six part work (each with its own track) is to words by Apollon
Maykov. The final section is grand and the choral part blazes - the two soloists
stand and deliver like true stalwarts. The vibrantly rushing repeated string
waves echo with 1812 (tr. 6 4.55) and the brass writing growls impressively
as it also does at the end of section 4 From the Large Forest (4.34).
Back to Kogan and the first issue of the Nickrenz-Aubort sessions Nutcracker
Suite. Hushed and distant rather than shimmying up close this is an
understated Nutcracker sequence and all the better for that.
Notes by James Murray and apart from the merest hint of blast in the more
extreme choral moments in the Moscow Cantata these are vivid recordings
from a gloriously purple tradition.
I urge all true Tchaikovskians at the very least to hear the scorching Rozhdestvensky
Sixth but the others are special too.
Rob Barnett
Another Rozhdestvensky Tchaikovsky cycle emerges from the shadows - unruly
vitality yet taut control. A superb Pathetique.