This extensive release features all of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera recordings live from the Bolshoi Theater. Made between 1936 and 1963, these recordings showcase not only one of the finest venues in the world, but one of the world’s finest composers. Tchaikovsky wrote his first opera, The Voyevoda, in 1867. After a disastrous premiere, the self-critical composer burnt the entire manuscript of the work. Luckily, most of the score has been reconstructed from the individual parts. It is included in the first portion of this release for modern listeners to make up their own minds about the music. Luckily, his feelings about his first opera didn’t stop him from pursuing more within the genre. As a composer of opera, Tchaikovsky could seek inspiration in centuries of operatic tradition in Western Europe, but the history of the opera in Russia had only just begun a few years before he was born. While Tchaikovsky welcomed the ideas of Western Europe, he faced rivalry from “The Mighty Handful” of nationalist Russian composers. Despite a rocky first few operas, Tchaikovsky went on to find later success as he walked a middle-road between operatic tradition and Russian nationalism. While his operas never found the success that his ballets did, this release proves that they are the works of a brilliant mind.

Tchaikovsky’s contemporaries tell us that he was good enough to become a concert pianist, if he had chosen to follow that path. But he preferred to focus on composition, and rarely performed in public concerts. His interest in the piano is mainly to be found in his many pieces for the instrument, and since most of these were suitable for amateurs with solid skills, they sold well and played an important role in building up his fame. Despite this, some view Tchaikovsky’s solo piano works are not performed as regularly as his orchestral works. Peter Donohoe disagrees with this take on Tchaikovsky’s solo piano works, insisting that all music requires performers to find the right approach, so he does not see Tchaikovsky as any kind of exception. He writes: “It is inexplicable to me that Tchaikovsky’s solo piano music should remain so infrequently performed, containing as it does all of the composer’s characteristic harmony, his wonderful melodic gift, his capacity for majestic gesture, magically beautiful moments, immense sadness, and passages of extreme excitement. His piano writing is often orchestral in texture, but also demonstrates the direct but very diverse pianistic influences of Liszt and Schumann, and incorporates in an almost naive way folk-style dance rhythms and melodies from Russia. This treasure trove is immensely rewarding to play, whether it be a small-scale salon piece such as the Humoresque Op. 10 No 2, or large in scale, such as is the gigantic Grand Sonata in G Major.”

REVIEW:

My instant reaction on pushing ‘play’ and hearing the first bars was ‘Ah – this is going to be good’. And so it proves, perhaps the most consistently enjoyable and satisfying recording of Tchaikovsky piano solos of recent years. There’s a lightness of touch, a crisp transparency and clarity of texture that sends the opening ‘Scherzo à la russe’ spinning off into the realms of sheer delight. A very fine issue indeed.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, February 2020)

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The Seasons, whose entire cycle is rarely recorded, provides striking testimony to Tchaikovsky's genius. In 1876, Nuvellist, a monthly magazine published in Saint Petersburg, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a piece for each issue. The result was twelve pieces, one for each month of the year, whose titles and epigraphs were drawn from the Russian poetry suggested by the editor. Each piece was inspired by nature and scenes of Russian life of the times. They come together in an extraordinary fresco, an allegory of the cycle of human life. Two Nocturnes, that are included here, add a further dimension of poetry and beauty.

This CD is recommended for children as from the age of 6. It presents an adaptation of TCHAIKOVSKI’s famous ballets “Casse Noisette” and “Le Lac des cygnes”: the story of Clara and Prince Casse Noisette in the land of candy, the legend of Prince Siegfried and Odette - told by five actors. They are backed by a selection of the music from the ballets, recorded by the Symphonic Orchester of Montreal’s young people.

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Ukranian-born pianist Natalya Shkoda resides in Chico, California. As a recording artist she has introduced piano music of Ukranian composer Viktor Kosenko worldwide. She brings committed, impassioned performances to the Tchaikovsky works on this album. Natalya Shkoda is considered to be one of today’s most dynamic and exciting young artists, master teachers and competition adjudicators. Dr. Shkoda holds degrees and diplomas from Arizona State University, Kharkiv State National Kotlyarevsky University of the Arts, and Kharkiv Special Music School for Gifted Children in Ukraine. Since presenting her first solo recital and winning the National Young Composers Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, at the age 13, Natalya Shkoda performed numerous solo, accompanying and chamber music recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, France and throughout the U.S.A. She has also appeared as a soloist with the orchestras nationwide including the MasterWorks Symphony, the Southwest Symphony, the Paradise Symphony and the North State Symphony. She is an Associate Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Chico.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

The works on this disc represent some of Boris Tchaikovsky's finest orchestral music, and the release marks the start of a mini-series of Boris Tchaikovsky's historical recordings which will feature some major Russian artists. These recordings from the 1980s, two of which are premieres, are here released for the first time.

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Recorded in: Oslo Philharmonic Hall 11-13 August 1986 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Dag Kristofferson [Assistant]

Recorded in: Orchestra Hall, Detroit 15-16 January 1994 Producer(s) Charles Greenwell Leslie B. Dunner Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Dan Dene Robert Shafer

December 14, 2013: A recording session with the Wiener Symphoniker’s new chief conductor Philippe Jordan in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Society of the Friends of Music marks the dawn of a new era for the orchestra. Its history, beginning with a 1903 performance led by the legendary Russian conductor Vasily Safonov and the previous ensemble, the Wiener Concertverein, is filled with an astounding 282 performances of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony in b, op. 74, the “Pathétique”. Philippe Jordan’s successful career as a conductor began in 1994/95 at the Stadttheater Ulm. From 2001 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the Graz Opera House and the Graz Philharmonic. During this time he made his debut at many of the world’s major international opera houses and festivals. From 2006 to 2010 Principal Guest Conductor Philippe Jordan was at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden. As a concert conductor, Mr. Jordan has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Staatskapelle and many other orchestras worldwide. He recently made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival (Parsifal).

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