TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Concert Fantasy, Op. 56

1987 release with highlights from his famous ballets. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra recorded at Concert Hall of the Slovak Philahrmonic June 20-25, 1987 & Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra recorded at Concert Hall of the Czecho-Slovak Radio in Bratislava October 13-20, 1987 conducted by Michael Halasz & Ondrej Lenard. The music of Tchaikovsky, in spite of the reservations of contemporaries at home and abroad, must seem to US both essentially Russian and firmly in the West European tradition. In Vienna the critic Eduard Hanslick was able to complain of the "trivial Cossack cheer" of the finale of the Violin Concerto, but in Russia Tchaikovsky never went far enough to please the self-appointed leader of musical nationalists, Balakirev. While by no means a miniaturist, he nevertheless excelled in his mastery of the smaller forms necessary in ballet, writing music that displayed his remarkable gifts of melody and skill in orchestration.

This 1987 Naxos CD has the Nutcracker and Swan Lake suites, but omits the Sleeping Beauty. The Slovak Philharmonic, directed by Michael Halasz, excels on the rather longer Swan Lake suite, with some nice playing in the brass and a lovely duet between solo violinist Josef Bogacz and an unnamed cellist. The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given it's premi�re at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta. Swan Lake Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-76. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales[a] and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger. The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on 4 March [O.S. 20 February] 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their staging's both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on 15 January 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre's chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.

Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1890, damned with the faintest of praise by the Tsar, who remarked that it was "very nice". The composer himself expressed dissatisfaction with his music for The Nutcracker, a subject proposed by Marius Petipa and the Imperial Theatre Directorate in 1891 and first performed at the Maryinsky in December, 1892, again to a cool reception. The music itself, however, had already proved popular enough in a suite arranged by Tchaikovsky for a concert earlier in the year. The story of the ballet is drawn from E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale, Der Nussknacker und der M�userk�nig. Set in the eighteenth century, initially in the house of the President of one of the German states of the period, the ballet opens with a children's Christmas party, at which Drosselmeyer, a slightly sinister adult, brings presents, a doll for Clara, the daughter of the house, and a toy soldier for Franz, her brother. When the children are told not to open their presents, Drosselmeyer quietens them by giving the two a pair of nutcrackers, promptly broken by Franz who tries to crack the biggest nut he can find. The Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), the oldest symphonic ensemble in Slovakia, was founded in 1929. The orchestra's first conductor was Franti�ek Dyk and over the past sixty years it has worked under the direction of several prominent Czech and Slovak conductors. The orchestra has made many recordings for the Naxas label ranging from the ballet music of Tchaikovsky to more modern works by composers such as Copland, Britten and Prokofiev. For Marco Polo the orchestra has recorded works by Glazunov, Gli�re, Rubinstein and other late romantic composers and film music of Honegger, Bliss, Ibert and Khachaturian. Ondrej Lenard was born in 1942 and had his early training in Bratislava, where, at the age of 17, he entered the Academy of Music and Drama, to study under Ludovit Rajter. His graduation concert in 1964 was given with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and during his two years of military service he conducted the Army Orchestral Ensemble, later renewing an earlier connection with the Slovak National Opera, where he has continued to direct performances.

Nearly twenty years on from his first staging of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet in 1967, the great ballet star and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-93) staged this, his final choreography of, and radically re-imagined revision of, this greatest of all ballets – the Paris version – in 1985 as director of the Paris ballet, a position he had ascended to two years earlier. Mr. Nureyev’s version enjoys a particular standing in the history of this ballet in that it was the first to incorporate the psychology of E. T. A Hoffman’s fairy tale on which Tchaikovsky’s ballet is based. In this production, the characters of Drosselmeyer and his nephew the Prince are one and the same person, representing the ideal man dreamt up by the Clara, the heroine, ready to leave her childhood and become a teenager. This presentation features dancers Liudmila Konovalova and Vladimir Shishov, the Wiener Staatsballett company, one of the world’s finest and the Wiener Staatsoper, conducted by Paul Connelly. “Elegant, romantic, delightful…great soloists, endearing pupils, fantasy-inspiring costumes, a harmonious and sure-footed ensemble” - Die Presse

Booklet: English, German, French
No. of Discs: 2
Run time: 102 Minutes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Picture: NTSC, 16:9
Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

This inventive album presents Tchaikovsky's occasionally heard songs in arrangements for violin and orchestra by Peter Breiner. Although the songs may not often be performed today by singers, these irresistible melodies provide justification enough to be heard in this almost equally satisfying form: "Why?", "Not a word, O my friend", and "The fearful minute" are among the composer's most inspired creations and should be heard more often. A few, however, such as the ever-popular "None But the Lonely Heart", need the soulful evocation of the human voice to make their full effect. Ljuba Kazarnovskaya's vocal recital (also on Naxos) demonstrates what a great singer can bring to this impassioned music.

But overall Takako Nishizaki's beautiful singing tone and sweetly-wrought phrasing, partnered with Breiner's affectionate conducting, make these transcriptions pleasing and satisfying musical experiences, even without the love poems that were Tchaikovsky's main impetus. My only caveat concerns the disc's tracking order: placing so many slow and similar-key selections together unavoidably engenders feelings of monotony. But since this easily can be remedied with the CD's programmability, there's no reason for you to hesitate about obtaining this serene, relaxing disc. Naxos' atmospheric recording balances Nishizaki's violin significantly forward relative to the orchestra.

--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa (Sung in Italian) [Recorded Live 1954]

TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony • Mikhail Pletnev, cond; Russian Natl O • PENTATONE 5186387 (SACD: 59:29)


Arrival of this release in the same shipment that also brought me Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 7 and Piano Concerto No. 3 with Dmitri Kitaenko and the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra on Oehms (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) is kind of funny in a way. You see, Mikhail Pletnev and Kitaenko have played a game of leapfrog through Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, contending not only against each other, but also against Christoph Poppen and Vladimir Jurowski in a four-way competition. After they all crossed the finish line, I judged Pletnev and Kitaenko the tied winners.


The part of this that’s funny, to me at least, is that as if not to be outdone by the other, each of these two conductors has followed up their symphony cycles with what might be described as a mop-up operation. Kitaenko already had a Manfred Symphony in the catalog with his Cologne orchestra; in fact, he recorded it in March 2009, even before taking up the standard six symphonies. So, there was nothing left for him to do but turn to the cobbled-together score by Sergei Bogatyryev of an abandoned seventh symphony by Tchaikovsky and the closely related concertante piano work the composer derived from those same rejected symphony sketches, which came to be designated the Piano Concerto No. 3


Pletnev, too, had a Manfred already under his belt and with the same Russian National Orchestra as here, but it dated back to 1993 and was part of his previous Tchaikovsky symphony cycle for Deutsche Grammophon, so it was time for a remake to complement his SACD cycle for PentaTone. It remains to be seen whether Pletnev will give us a performance of Bogatyryev’s reconstructed Seventh Symphony in order to have the last word, or, in this case, the last note.


Tchaikovsky was the not the first composer inspired by Lord Byron’s Manfred , a dramatic poem with overtones of the supernatural and undertones of a Gothic English horror, a genre that has been described as “Romantic closet drama.” Robert Schumann composed his Manfred: Dramatic Poem with Music in Three Parts in 1852. But Tchaikovsky’s “inspiration,” if you can call it that, didn’t come spontaneously; he was pressed into service by Mily Balakirev, nominal leader of the “Mighty Five.”


Literary critic Vladimir Stasov had penned a program in 1868, which he thought suitable for a musical setting and sent it to Balakirev, hoping the respected Russian composer would rise to the challenge. But Balakirev declined and forwarded Stasov’s program on to Berlioz, who’d already had success with Harold in Italy , another Byron-inspired work, based on Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage . But Berlioz deferred as well, sending the program back to Balakirev with a note pleading old age—he was only 49 at the time—as his excuse.


No one, it seemed was interested in Stasov’s idea, and so for over 15 years it sat and gathered dust, until Balakirev finally prevailed on Tchaikovsky to take it up. Whether or not the project appealed to him, Tchaikovsky set to work on it in earnest, completing the score in 1885, which places it chronologically between his Fourth (1877) and Fifth (1888) symphonies. Manfred contains some of Tchaikovsky’s best music, but it has long existed in a kind of Limbo between symphony and symphonic tone poem. The composer himself recognized the hybrid nature of the work; and even though it’s structured in four movements that correspond to the layout of a typical Classical-Romantic symphony, he purposely avoided assigning it a number.


Over the years, there have been some iconic recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony and some great ones too, the two not necessarily being the same thing. Toscanini’s 1949 RCA recording with the NBC Orchestra from Carnegie Hall, for example, is an iconic one due to the name and fame of the conductor; but unless you’re willing to accept a performance with some cuts and one which, in my opinion, is sort of glossed over, it’s not a reading I’d personally characterize as one of the greats. A somewhat later recording, but still in mono, that I would call one of the greats, is the 1957 Constantin Silvestri performance with the National Orchestra of France, an emotionally charged reading which, sans cuts and less frantic tempos, runs some 10 minutes longer than the Toscanini.


Venturing into the stereo era, there are fine, if perhaps neither iconic nor great, performances by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Paul Kletzki and the Philharmonia, and Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra.


More recently, Vasily Petrenko has given us a brilliant Manfred with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on Naxos, and of course there’s the aforementioned Kitaenko Manfred with which the conductor kicked off his Tchaikovsky cycle. It received mixed reviews in 34:2 from both Arthur Lintgen and Raymond Tuttle.


Pletnev’s earlier Manfred , cited above, is not as good, either as a performance or a recording, as this new remake for PentaTone, so the most likely candidate, I think, to compare it to is the Petrenko, which received a rave review from Lynn René Bayley in 32:4, and a somewhat cooler reception from Arthur Lintgen in that same issue.


One immediate strike against this new release is that neither Pletnev nor PentaTone saw fit to include a filler. The disc is just shy of 60 minutes, which isn’t short, but Petrenko and Naxos included Tchaikovsky’s tone poem The Voyevoda , and I might add, for half the price of the PentaTone; but then the latter has the advantage of being an SACD, which does much to enhance the listening experience in a such a heavily and colorfully orchestrated score.


Right from the heavily accented marcato eighth-notes in the strings, beginning in the second bar, Pletnev introduces us to a Manfred tortured, sullen, and precognitive of the fiendish fate that awaits his arrival in the infernal bacchanal of the finale. Tchaikovsky pulled out all the stops and poured everything he had into what the insert note labels an “elemental portrait of the soul and kitschy transfiguration.”


Pletnev’s reading is as wild and wound-up as any I’ve heard, but there’s also a pall of gloom and doom hanging over it that adds to the sense of implacable Fate and tragedy, even if the protagonist of the story is a bit of an insufferably self-absorbed anti-hero. There are those who say that Tchaikovsky ruined the work by ending it with those tacky B-Major strains on organ—“the matter of taste here leads to hearty discussions,” as the booklet note puts it. But I say that Tchaikovsky knew the central character of the story well and provided him with a fittingly superficial sendoff.


It’s too soon to call Pletnev’s Manfred “iconic,” but I don’t think it’s too soon to call it one of the greats. Very strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray

Bringing together again, for the first time since their premiere, Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta and ballet The Nutcracker, was the audacious challenge that Russian stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov accepted for the Palais Garnier in Paris in March 2016 : a revolutionary production, which was to become one of the key events of the Paris Opera season. With great intelligence, Tcherniakov renews the dialogue between the two masterpieces, and reveals their common origins. He thus reminds us that both Iolanta and The Nutcracker are first and foremost initiatory journeys, in which the heroes experience love and loss, fortune and misfortune. In doing so, Dmitri Tcherniakov, with the collaboration of contemporary choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Edouard Lock and Arthur Pita, goes as far as to completely disregard the magical extravaganzas that Marius Petipa associated to The Nutcracker, and radically turns the dream into a nightmare dominated by despair and loneliness. To insure the continuity and a sense of dramatic consistency between the opera and the ballet, Tcherniakov skillfully modulates the space provided by the Palais Garnier. A solution that also enables him to question the very nature of both theater and illusion, as well as their specular relationship with the reality they try to make us forget. Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva delivers a flamboyant interpretation of the blind princess Iolanta, and shares the stage with Polish tenor Arnold Rutkowski and Ukrainian bass Alexander Tsymbalyuk. The internationally renowned French conductor Alain Altinoglu joins forces with the Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus, while the Paris Opera Ballet, among which Marion Barbeau- a radiant Marie - and the Etoiles Stéphane Bullion and Alice Renavand, revives the most popular ballet of all time.

This Tchaikovsky Gala is a showcase of virtuosity which is not to be missed, presented by Roberto Bolle resident star of La Scala and a handful of international guest artists: Polina Semionova, Nadja Saidakova and Ronald Savkovic. Some of the most exacting and demanding moments from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker are presented, showing to great effect the prowess of the corps de ballet and stars alike: Roberto Bolle and Polina Semionova, principal of the Berlin Staatsballett. And also from Berlin the principal couple Nadja Saidakova and Ronald Savkovic, in this their very first appearance on the Scala stage. David Coleman conducts some of the musical highlights from the three Tchaikovsky's ballets, all of which are held in high esteem in the hearts and minds of ballet fans: Swan Lake, in Vladimir Bourmeister's version ; Sleeping Beauty, with choreographied by Marius Petipa and The Nutcracker, another familiar title for La Scala, this time in Patrice Bart's version. Jewels of music and dance all set in the Act III décor of Swan Lake: Prince Siegfried's birthday festivities are being held in the castle hall, a veritable tourbillon of dances, from Czardas to Spanish, Neapolitan to Mazurka all of which leads into the celebrated "Black Swan" pas de deux, starring Roberto Bolle and Polina Semionova. As if by magic, another homage to Tchaikovsky appears: Aurora and her four princes in the immortal "Rose Adagio", encompassing both dreamy sweetness and technical strength, being one of the most difficult choreographic passages of Sleeping Beauty alongside the "Blue Bird" pas de deux and the Act II pas de deux from The Nutcracker performed here by Nadja Saidakova and Ronald Savkovic.

Format: Widescreen, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, HD Master Audio 5.1, PCM 2.0, Aspect Radio 1.77:1
Language: English
Running Time: 114 minutes
Region: All Region

TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake: Highlights. The Sleeping Beauty: Highlights. The Nutcracker: Highlights & • David Coleman, cond; Polina Semionova ( Odette/Odile ); Roberto Bolle ( Siegfried ); Maurizio Licitra ( Jester ); Gianni Ghisleni ( Rothbart ); Flavia Vallone ( Queen ); Marta Romagna ( Aurora ); Antonino Sutera ( Bluebird ); Daniela Cavalleri ( Florin ); Nadja Saidakova ( Marie ); Ronald Savkovic ( Nutcracker ); La Scala Ballet & O • BELAIR 37 (HD DVD: 114:00) Live: Milan 12/31/2007


& “Etoiles et petits pas”: the Scala backstage and the artists in rehearsal


Although the music comes from the three Tchaikovsky ballets, they have been intermixed and roughly form a plot of their own in this “Tchaikovsky Gala” DVD. The story line is loosely based on Swan Lake , acts I and III. Prince Siegfried (Roberto Bolle) needs to find a wife, so a number of applicants and guests arrive at his castle. In addition to Odile from Swan Lake , Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty , the Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker , and assorted folks from each of those ballets come to greet the prince. As you would expect from Swan Lake , he makes an unfortunate choice and the evening ends in despair.


Many of the big moments from these ballets are included: the “Rose Adagio” from Sleeping Beauty , the “Sugar Plum Fairy/Nutcracker Pas de deux” (act II), the “Bluebird pas de deux” from Sleeping Beauty , and the “Grand pas de deux” (Odile and Siegfried) from Swan Lake . Some of the specialty dances from the ballets add to the festivities. Tchaikovsky remained so stylistically consistent in his ballet scores that this pastiche transitions seamlessly from one musical event to the next.


Every thing works to make this New Year’s Eve gala a splendid success. The dancing is superb, the costumes and scenery are colorful and elegant, and conductor David Coleman and the La Scala orchestra brilliantly support the dancing. The high definition picture is startlingly clear, and the video director captures the event with very few of those inane close-ups of bobbing heads and bouncing torsos. Roberto Bolle gets top billing on the front cover; although he is onstage throughout the event as the Prince, his dancing is restricted to the final moments when he and Polina Semionova (from the Berlin Ballet) take center stage. It might be a case of saving the best for last, but everyone involved, all the soloists and the corps, offer top notch dancing. Nadja Saidakova and Ronald Savkovic are featured dancers with the Berlin State Opera. This is luxury casting throughout. The evening concludes with a company curtain call, a New Year’s greeting from general director, Stéphane Lissner, the soloists appearing in black formal wear sharing in a champagne toast with confetti raining from the loft.


If you’ve never seen the Tchaikovsky ballets, this New Year’s Eve gala will give you an introduction to the riches that await you. If you’re familiar with the ballets, many of the favorite characters and dance numbers have been assembled to provide a fulfilling event.


There is a 31-minute special feature titled “‘Etoiles et petits pas’: the Scala backstage and the artists in rehearsal.” In addition to rehearsal shots, there are numerous images of Milan in various seasons, especially the holidays, with the seasonal decorations given special attention. The lack of narration and/or interviews with the artists and production staff makes this visual montage interesting to look at once, but it lacks meaningful focus.


I found the way the Gala was constructed into a collection of Tchaikovsky/Petipa’s greatest ballet moments into a cohesive, unified event was ingenious; consequently, I was disappointed the special feature did not include an interview with the creative people who devised this very entertaining production. There are two sound formats (PCM stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1); the widescreen HD picture is 16/9. The compatibility note reads, “This is a region free NTSC DVD, designed for playback on all NTSC and modern PAL compatible systems worldwide.” I enjoyed watching this DVD; I hope any of you who see it do too.


FANFARE: David L. Kirk

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

“This is Leopold Stokowski's third, and last, recording of Tchaikovsky's tone poem on Dante's doomed lovers and his first complete recording of the "Serenade," both made in 1974 when he was age 92….Pentatone's remastering of the Philips tapes has resulted in conventional stereo reproduction of great sweetness as well as clarity, and those with SACD players can finally hear the vivid four-channel versions for the first time. Stokowski often was ahead of everyone else in sound reproduction--and here again is exciting proof, discovered 30 years later.” -Alan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune

“If we collect the electricity that flows from Stowkowski and the LSO in this pair of recordings, there would be no energy crisis! This is simply extraordainary playing which is matched to a very well balanced recording which has been bought back to life by Pentatone - thank you!… I cannot recommend this recording strongly enough - I sincerely hope there are more RQR releases like this to follow.” --John Broggio, SA-CD.net

“What a pleasure it is to have Leopold Stokowski's 1974 Tchaikovsky recordings on SACD!…. This is Stokowski's only complete recording of Serenade for Strings (in 1949 he recorded the Waltz with the NYP for Columbia, also reissued on Cala). Francesca and Serenade were recorded in October 1974 in London's Wembly, Brent Town Hall with producer Eric Smith and balance engineer Hans Lauterslager. There is a fine sense of space—what we hear is the original four-track recording, and there's no question the SACD process lets us hear more detail than on previous issues.” --Robert Benson, classicalcdreview.com

REVIEWS:

"A revelatory version of a Tchaikovsky symphony... A major discovery... A cracking performance... Gloriously played... Mind-blowing." - Michael Tumelty, Glasgow Herald

"There are several good reasons to buy this fascinating programme... The impeccable precision, tonal allure and stylish panache of Goldstone and Clemmow's playing is sheer pleasure, and they are handsomely recorded." - BBC Music Magazine

"Excellently performed... Lovers of the piano duet medium need not hesitate." - Gramophone

"Superlative playing... Highly recommended." - John Phillips, Musicweb

"Fabulous playing and a definite 'grabbit'" - Showcase Magazine

"A tour-de-force... Goldstone & Clemmow bring a subtle intimacy to the music that is really wonderful…pristine presentation, copious notes and stunning recording... A superb disc." - ClassicalNet

"Highly enjoyable... Well worth hearing." - David Denton, Yorkshire Post

José Serebrier's distinctive conceptions and nimble conducting imbue the familiar Marche slave, Capriccio italien, and 1812 Overture with a freshness that belies their long-held "warhorse" status. By employing lighter sonorities and crystal-clear balances (all rendered with spectacular fidelity and dynamism by BIS's remarkably vivid recording) that expose Tchaikovsky's gorgeous woodwind writing and inner harmonic detail, Serebrier brings a vibrant youthful quality even to the overplayed 1812. Listen to how the bracing opening, with its cleanly phrased, rhythmically taut string playing fosters ever-increasing tension. Later, in the grand coda, the dramatic brass-and-strings interplay genuinely excites while cannons roar away in the distance (the opposite approach to Telarc's cannon-down-your-throat technique).


Serebrier's light and balletic rendition of the rarely heard Fatum is in marked contrast to the heavier variety offered by Slatkin, yet it nonetheless doesn't shy away from the raucous percussion that makes this rather naïve piece a real kick (just what does all that booming and crashing have to do with an inexorable "fate" anyway?).


Tchaikovsky's elegant and sweetly melancholy Élégie, and Serebrier's own arrangement of the Andante cantabile from the String Quartet No. 1, come as relaxingly gentle interludes between the noisier selections on the disc, all of which receive probing and polished performances by the Bamberg Symphony. Even if you think you've heard this music one too many times, you'll likely find this disc a rewarding listening experience.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com