Marina Frolova-Walker's five favourite Tchaikovsky recordings

[Barbirollians]

She chose

1 Romeo and Juliet- CSO/Abbado

2 PC 2 Donohoe/BSO/Barshai

3 String Quartet No 3 Borodin Quartet

4 Eugene Onegin - the Hvorotovsky recording ( I can't remember who conducted it )

5 Symphony No 5 LPO/Mravinsky

Of her choices I would agree with 3 & 4 but I prefer Hough's recording of No 2 and Szell most of all in the Symphony No 5 ( Mravinsky's second movement feels too quick for me )

I don't know the Abbado.

What, however, would your five favourite Tchaikovsky records be ?

I think :

1 Francesca da Rimini LSO/Barbirolli

2 PC1 Argerich/BPO/Abbado

3 Symphony No 6 Philharmonia/Mackerras

4 VC - Oistrakh/Philadelphia/Ormandy

5 Symphony No 5 Cleveland/Szell

[BBMmk2]

I will comment later. Will need research. But above all PC1 Argerich/Abbado(two of my utmost top artists, I think.

Mravinsky's recordings of his Tchaikovsky set are the classic of classics. Never mind if the pacing is too fast in No.5!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"Favourites"? OK

Symph #4, LSO/Szell
Symph #5. LgPO/Mravinsky
Symph #6, LAPO/Leinsdorf
Manfred CSRSO(B)/Lenard
Vln Conc, Holmes, NSO/Maga

[Rolmill]

I think I would go for:

Ballet Suites - Rostropovich, BPO
Francesca da Rimini - Stokowski
Symphony No.4 - Szell, LSO
Piano Concerto 1 - Van Cliburn, Kondrashin
Souvenir de Florence - Borodin Qt

[oddoneout]

I see the schedule has this as 'five indispensable recordings of Proms Composer Tchaikovsky' [my bold]
I'd never thought of the Proms as being composed.....

[cloughie]

Sym 4 SRO Argenta
Piano Concerto 2 Kersenbaum FNRO Martinon
Francesca NYStSO Stokowski
Manfred PO Kletzki (OK has cuts in finale but still great)
Sym 6 PO Kletzki

[Conchis]

PC1 - Argerrcih/RPO/Duitoit
Symphony 6 - Leningrad PO/Mvravinsky
Francesca Da Rimini - Symphony of the Air (?)/Stokowski
Manfred - RNO/Pletnev
Pique Dame.- Orchesterre de Paris/Rostropovich

[pastoralguy]

Alas, Mrs. PG and I didn't hear all of this as we were off to the Queen's Hall to hear Christian Blackshaw and members of Die Berliner Philharmoniker play Schubert's 'Trout Quintet'. (Fantastic performance!)

My favourite five favourite Tchaikovsky performances?

1). Violin concerto played by Igor Oistrakh with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Oistrakh. Alas, it's never been released on cd but I found an extremely efficient tape transfer concern in Wales who transferred my open reel tape onto cd. With a bit of help from my local copy shop I was able to have the artwork shrunk to cd size and so I have my very own cd copy of the one recording I would take to a desert island. And it only took 40 years to accomplish!

2). Karajan's 1970's recording of the String Serenade where the maestro pushes those fabled string players to the very edge of their capability. Incredibly exciting playing!

3). Rostropovich and Karajan playing the Rococo Variations mit Die Berliner Philharmoniker. Just the most beautiful string playing EVER in my extremely humble opinion.

4). The Fourth Symphony played by the SNO under Alexander Gibson. Obviously, there are many better played and conducted performances but this was the first symphony I ever heard played in a concert by this combination and life was never the same again. Then to go to Rae Mackintosh in South Queensferry Street the following day and find they had recorded it on CfP was a terrific moment in my young life. This was a record I played until it, literally, wore out!

5). Romeo and Juliet played, again, by Karajan und Die Berliner Philharmoniker. Some gorgeous, very 'Jewish' string playing with lovely portamenti giving lie to the suggestion that these artists were all slickness and efficiency. The coda to this work has to be one of my all time favourite moments in all of music.

[richardfinegold]

1) Nutcracker—Dorati/Concertgebouw
2) 5th Symphony. Monteux/Boston
3) 4th Symphony Bernstein/N.Y.P. (Second recording)
4) VC. Heifetz/Reiner/CSO
5) Winter Dreams. MTT/Boston

[Beef Oven!]

I'd go for Karajan Tchaick 5 EMI 1970s.

Caveat: It's a bit of a con really, because the music is not as good as he makes it sound.

[Stanfordian]

I'd go for Karajan Tchaick 5 EMI 1970s.

Caveat: It's a bit of a con really, because the music is not as good as he makes it sound.

I can't believe that someone basically said it was possible to make something sound better than what it is!

[Beef Oven!]

I can't believe that someone basically said it was possible to make something sound better than what it is!

Me neither!!

I do hope I get over it soon, though

[visualnickmos]

I can't believe that someone basically said it was possible to make something sound better than what it is!

An impossible scenario, surely?
The music is as it is; it's either performed well, or badly. The notes don't change, whoever is performing it….. (caveat; maybe sometimes the notes DO change or are changed, but that is another discussion, entirely)


Some of us seem to like caveats, on here!

[bluestateprommer]

My five, but one is a kind of cheat because 2 recordings of the same work are on the list. INPO:
1. The Nutcracker - Dorati & the Concertgebouw Orchestra
2. Piano Concerto No. 1 - Ashkenazy, LSO, Maazel
3. Manfred - Oslo PO, Jansons
4. Symphony No. 5 - Haitink & the Concertgebouw Orchestra
5. Symphony No. 5 - Szell & the Cleveland Orchestra

She chose

1 Romeo and Juliet- CSO/Abbado
2 PC 2 Donohoe/BSO/Barshai
3 String Quartet No 3 Borodin Quartet
4 Eugene Onegin - the Hvorotovsky recording ( I can't remember who conducted it ) (*)
5 Symphony No 5 LPO/Mravinskyl

(*) Bychkov, with the Orchestre de Paris

[Parry1912]

Alas, Mrs. PG and I didn't hear all of this as we were off to the Queen's Hall to hear Christian Blackshaw and members of Die Berliner Philharmoniker play Schubert's 'Trout Quintet'. (Fantastic performance!)

We heard this at Snape Maltings on Thursday. Brilliant!

(Baron Deben was also there - not with us, of course )