BaL 30.06.12 - Tchaikovsky's 3rd Symphony in D "Polish"

[jayne lee wilson]

STOP PRESS... turns out there's a 4th Svetlanov, live with the USSR SO on 24/08/1968 in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Yes, 4 days after THAT prom with Rostropovich doing the Dvorak... it's on BBC Legends 41452.

Impressions from the mp3 excerpts at Classicalshop suggest a close-set, dry and boxy sound, decent stereo, fairly clear though with some congestion in climaxes. Musically urgent and intense. Might do the lossless download, but it's a little late and I've just noticed the washing-up still in the sink.

[BBMmk2]

I have Litton and jansons recordings. I do hope Jansons will make another cycle at somepoiint.

[Don Petter]

Svetlanov recorded the Tchaikovsky 3rd THREE times:

1967, USSR SO in Moscow. (Melodiya, best heard on Aulos remaster).
June 1990, USSR SO live at Suntory Hall Tokyo. (Originally Pony Canyon HDCD, later adulterated CD-only version on Warners)
June 1993, USSR SO, Large Hall of Moscow Radio, (Pony Canyon HDCD).

The best is probably the live 1990 one, "probably" because whilst the rest of the HDCD cycle recorded live at Suntory or Orchard Hall, Tokyo, across 3 weeks in 1990 is beyond wonderful, I never heard No.3... why? Because by the time I caught up with it the 2nd hand price was around £150+. Go on, buy the last one and post about it. I'll never speak to you again.
But if you find any performances from these two cyles, grab 'em!

Closer to home and I imagine more readily available, Dorati with the LSO on Mercury is another stunner - the only one I've heard which competes with Svetlanov's trio of great performances.

Is this not the 1990 set, for less than £20? (See the reviews for more information.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovski-Symphonies-Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky/dp/B001DETD8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1340441716&sr=1-1

If so, you would presumably recommend it.

The Dorati does seem to be available as a download from Amazon (as I posted elsewhere in this thread).

[BBMmk2]

Talking of which, I tried to download from amazon, but my pc saysit could be harmful? Anyone else please comment?

[verismissimo]

Vladimir Fedoseyev conducting the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio (1998) is in the big Brilliant box. Is it the same as the DVD performance in Eine's list?

I shall much enjoy getting to know this symphony better in the coming week. I also have the earliest of the Svetlanovs on LP.

[verismissimo]

If 5th movement "tempo di polacca" led to "Polish", why not 2nd movement "alla tedesca" as "German"?

Just being picky.

[Thomas Roth]

Temirkanov with RPO.

[PJPJ]

Not quite. Boult's was a one-off for him at the time (1956, for Decca), though he recorded 5 and 6 later (1959, for Miller International).

I've no idea who Miller International were.*


* I have now. It was the US Somerset label.

Those interested in Boult's Somerset/Miller 5th and 6th can buy transfers from Classical Recordings Quarterly

http://crq.org.uk/crqeditions.php

as well as other Sir Adrian recordings....but not Tchaikovsky's Third which is on Beulah.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I suppose, if I were to rate the numbered symphonies in order, it would be:
6 - 4 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 3

Hmm; FWiW, my rating (today!) would probably be 6/Manfred - 1 - 5 - 4 - 2 - 3.

Despite no. 3 coming last, I very much look forward to this review.

(Isn't the Markevich with the LSO?)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(Isn't the Markevich with the LSO?)

I don't know, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I have amended the list.

[jayne lee wilson]

[QUOTE=Don Petter;176695]Is this not the 1990 set, for less than £20? (See the reviews for more information.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovski-Symphonies-Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky/dp/B001DETD8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1340441716&sr=1-1

If so, you would presumably recommend it.

Well, I would - and I wouldn't. The problem lies in the CD-only presentation. I bought some of the Warners Svetlanov edition early on, of the Rachmaninov symphonies. They sounded rather coarse and overblown, so I sourced out the HDCDs of the same performances from Japan and compared them. The difference wasn't small. I sent the Warners CDs back to Amazon. Working from memory here, I think I established that this Warners set is the 1990 Tokyo one, but for sonic and other reasons try to buy it from a seller on SOR. Musically it speaks for itself! (And if you have a CD player that does HDCD, AND manage to get hold of the Canyon Classics releases, you'll need 2 minutes to be convinced - if that).

The Dorati/LSO Polish Mercury CD is still around on various Amazon sites, albeit rather expensively 2ndhand, trouble with Amazon downloads is the rather low mp3 bitrate. If you can afford the Mercury Dorati CD set of Symphonies 1-3, don't hesitate! They're some of the most brilliant and beautiful Tchaikovsky ever committed to disc! Lovely cover art too.

Finally, the Markevitch Tchaikovsky Symphonies are indeed with the LSO. Confusion has arisen because they were coupled on Philips Duos with the symphonic poems which Markevitch set down with the Philharmonia.

[Pabmusic]

Those interested in Boult's Somerset/Miller 5th and 6th can buy transfers from Classical Recordings Quarterly

http://crq.org.uk/crqeditions.php

as well as other Sir Adrian recordings....but not Tchaikovsky's Third which is on Beulah.

This is good. Thank you.

This: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovsky-...495185&sr=8-32 is a more recent transfer than the Beulah.

[Don Petter]

jayne,

Thanks for your #26 and the info therein.

I do have the Mercury Dorati set on CD myself, so no problems there!

[PJPJ]

This is good. Thank you.

This: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovsky-...495185&sr=8-32 is a more recent transfer than the Beulah.

Yes, but.......

Strangely, Brilliant issued the mono recording of the symphony (the other works recorded pre-stereo). Whether the stereo tapes are lost, or whether they decided to go for an all-mono CD, I don't know. However, Beulah's CD is proper early stereo.

[Parry1912]

Perhaps the writer of Seven was equally puzzled by Miller International

I just hope Rob Cowan doesn't have Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box!