Tchaikovsky 4 & 5 LPO/Jurowski

[Petrushka]

I had this 2 disc set in Santa's sack and have only now got round to playing them. All I can say is WOW!!

Anybody expecting rum-te-tum boring workaday performances of these two warhorses is in for a real surprise. They blaze, they sing, they thrill and the LPO play out of their collective skins for their chief. On this evidence alone Jurowski reveals himself as a conductor of genius and I would not be surprised if the BPO management are at this very moment on the phone to his agent.

You don't need another Tchaik 4 & 5? Believe me, you do. Buy these and hear why!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovsky-Symphonies-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Vladimir/dp/B008P76Y78/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1358287673&sr=1-1

(Disclaimer: I have no connection etc, etc).

[Nick Armstrong]

Blimey, Pet, that's quite a review from a seasoned campaigner! Sounds very special...

[Petrushka]

Nearly 40 years since I bought the Leningrad PO/Mravinsky discs so I've heard a bit of Peter Illyich in my time but these accounts of 4 & 5 are simply tremendous. One has heard stories (HS will be along with one any moment) of bored orchestral musicians singing rude rhymes to this over-familiar music but the LPO play here as if encountering it for the first time.

If VJ and the LPO complete the cycle they may even make me like No 3.

[Nick Armstrong]

The Mravinsky is the only recording I own of these pieces

[Petrushka]

The Mravinsky is the only recording I own of these pieces

Definitely worth getting then. Mravinsky is without peer but at over 50 years old the recordings show their age. You need an upgrade and these will do nicely.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I reviewed these performances in the November issue of IRR (opening paragraph replicated below):

It is to Vladimir Jurowski’s great credit that his concert programmes with the London Philharmonic are usually the most adventurous of the capital’s symphony orchestras, even if audiences don’t always turn out in force to support them. When returning to more familiar repertoire, such as these Tchaikovsky warhorses, it’s wonderful to report that it’s without any sense of jaded retreading over familiar terrain. This is the third release in what must surely become a complete cycle, recorded live, and earns as strong a recommendation as earlier issues.

A very fine performances of the Fourth, although I wished the woodwinds hadn't been so recessed, but the Fifth is astonishingly good, superbly paced and some electrifying brass playing. I assume that Nos. 2 & 3 will be forthcoming to complete the cycle.

[Thropplenoggin]

And there I was thinking I didn't like Tchaikovsky.

I heeded Petrushka's advice and found this disc on Qobuz. The 4th held my attention from start to finish. Just like with Beethoven and Mozart before, I find myself discovering a composer via those who came after. In this instance, Shostakovich. This crisp punchy performance really highlights some similarities of dynamics and repeated use of thematic material. (A cyclical symphony?)

I shall put the 5th on later.

[Hornspieler]

Nearly 40 years since I bought the Leningrad PO/Mravinsky discs so I've heard a bit of Peter Illyich in my time but these accounts of 4 & 5 are simply tremendous. One has heard stories (HS will be along with one any moment) of bored orchestral musicians singing rude rhymes to this over-familiar music but the LPO play here as if encountering it for the first time.

If VJ and the LPO complete the cycle they may even make me like No 3.

Aw! Hush mah mouth, Pet!

HS

[salymap]

I can only remember'rudish' rhymes to the Dvorak New World. I'veheard some to the Britten YPG though.

[richardfinegold]

When I discovered Classical Music, in my teens now about 4 decades ago, these two works were central to my listening. My intro to the 4th was Bernstein/NYP and the 5th was Monteux/BSO and I played both lps until the grooves wore out. I heard the Mravinsky a few years later and always thought that it sounded glib
and that the entire brass section sounded like the saxophone section of my high school marching band.
I have heard many other recordings since but those the Monteux5 and Lennie4 have never been equaled for me, at least. In SACD I do like Pletnev (His Winter Dreams is really outstanding, finally displacing Karajan in my collection).

[salymap]

I really must catch up with the Tchaikovsky symphonies. I heard them a lot live but never bothered with recordings until a recent birthday, when family gave me 1-3 with the Berlin Phil/HvK and 4-6 with Pappano and St Cecilia orchestra. I still haven't heard them and have no idea how they are 'rated'.

[Mahler's3rd]

Thanks for the recommendation Petruska, I had 1 & 6 with the LPO/Jurowski, just ordered the new one on your recommendation

[BBMmk2]

Thank you Petrushka! A set well worth having!

[soileduk]

£7.99 at the grocer's shop

https://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Pyotr-Il-yich-Tchaikovsky/Symphonies-Nos-4-5-Jurowski-LPO/product.html?product=E11170970

[Alison]

An earlier thread on this set from last September

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?6344-Jurowski-Tchaikovsky-4