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Witold Rowicki Conducts Tchaikovsky
SWR

Witold Rowicki Conducts Tchaikovsky

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Details

Composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Artist
Witold Rowicki, Swr Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden Und Freiburg
Format
CD
Label
SWR
Released
Mar 11, 2022
Catalog #
SWR19112CD
UPC
747313911288

About

Witold Rowicki, one of Poland’s most important conductors of the 20th century and leading figure of his generation, is internationally known especially for the complete recording of Dvorák’s symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra as well as for his impulsive Tchaikovsky performances. In his native country he was admired as the conductor to whom Witold Lutoslawski dedicated his brilliant Concerto for orchestra and who strongly promoted the music of his compatriots. The Tchaikovsky studio recordings presented here were made in 1962 (Fifth Symphony) and 1969 (Sixth Symphony) with the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra and in 1979 (Nutcracker Suite) with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Rowicki had many other appearances with German orchestras, each of them enthusiastically greeted by the press and the public.

REVIEW:

Witold Rowicki was surely Poland’s ‘number one’ conductor in the second half of the 20th century, a fascinating musician not to be underrated, who always had plenty to tell us about whatever repertoire he tackled.

What a pity that Rowicki didn’t tackle the Nutcracker Suite in the studio. Well, happily SWR has come up with an all-Tchaikovsky double-pack featuring that very suite (with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1979) in addition to Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, both with the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

The suite’s highlights are surely the incisive, super-swift Overture and a ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ that is elegant, unhurried and precise. Both the suite and the Pathétique are offered in reasonably good stereo sound, the symphony volatile in the extreme, the initial statement of the first movement’s secondary theme free and rhapsodic, the Allegro molto vivace third movement broadening near the close before speeding up again, the finale charged with emotion.

The Fifth (1962) is heavier, the transition to the second idea very emphatic, the Andante cantabile slow movement deeply elegiac, with raging full-orchestral interjections. The finale is broader than is generally the fashion nowadays but is none of the worse for that, its peroration speeding excitedly. A fascinating set that should prove stimulating for all fans of charismatic conducting and will hopefully prompt further Rowicki releases and reissues. There must surely be plenty of broadcast recordings hidden away in various radio archives.

-- Gramophone

Tracklist 16 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 I. Andante - Allegro con anima 16:04
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Andante - Allegro con anima
    Duration
    16:04
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  3. 2 II. Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza 13:32
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
    Duration
    13:32
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  4. 3 III. Valse: Allegro moderato 06:27
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Valse: Allegro moderato
    Duration
    06:27
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  5. 4 IV. Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace 12:29
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace
    Duration
    12:29
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  6. Disc 2
  7. 1 I. Adagio - Allegro non troppo 18:01
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Adagio - Allegro non troppo
    Duration
    18:01
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  8. 2 II. Allegro con gracia 08:01
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Allegro con gracia
    Duration
    08:01
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  9. 3 III. Allegro molto vivace 09:09
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Allegro molto vivace
    Duration
    09:09
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  10. 4 IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso 09:51
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso
    Duration
    09:51
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  11. 5 I. Miniature Overture: Allegro giusto 02:57
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Miniature Overture: Allegro giusto
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  12. 6 II. Danses caractéristiques: March 02:35
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: March
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  13. 7 II. Danses caractéristiques: Dance of the Sugar-plum Fairy 01:36
    Track
    7
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: Dance of the Sugar-plum Fairy
    Duration
    01:36
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  14. 8 II. Danses caractéristiques: Russian Dance, "Trepak" 01:10
    Track
    8
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: Russian Dance, "Trepak"
    Duration
    01:10
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  15. 9 II. Danses caractéristiques: Arab Dance 03:04
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: Arab Dance
    Duration
    03:04
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  16. 10 II. Danses caractéristiques: Chinese Dance 01:11
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: Chinese Dance
    Duration
    01:11
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  17. 11 II. Danses caractéristiques: Dance of the Reeds 02:10
    Track
    11
    Title
    II. Danses caractéristiques: Dance of the Reeds
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki
  18. 12 III. Waltz of the Flowers 07:13
    Track
    12
    Title
    III. Waltz of the Flowers
    Duration
    07:13
    Composer
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
    Ensemble
    Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
    Conductor
    Witold Rowicki