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

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.15am Building a Library
Rob Cowan with a personal recommendation from recordings of Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 3 in D Op.29 “Polish”.

Available recordings:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Oleg Caetani
The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev (DVD)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Grzegorz Fitelberg
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Gilbert Levine
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
London Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch (download)
New York Philharmonic & Gewandhausorchester, Kurt Masur
Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Christoph Poppen
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich
Large Symphony Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture, Russian Federation, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Constantin Silvestri
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Talich
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit

[Roehre]

Haitink's Concertgebouw recording unavailable then?

And only Rozhdestvensky did it twice.

[Black Swan]

This is an interesting symphony. Symphony's 1,2,3 tend to get less play time than 4,5,6. Number 1 the Winter Dreams is a favorite of mine. I have the Litton recording of 3 and am quite happy with it.

John

[Roehre]

This is an interesting symphony. Symphony's 1,2,3 tend to get less play time than 4,5,6. Number 1 the Winter Dreams is a favorite of mine. I have the Litton recording of 3 and am quite happy with it.

John

1-3 at least were considered to be far less important than 4-6 until quite recently.

Looks like all recordings were made within a complete Tchaikovsky symphony cycle.

No.3 "suffers" more than 1 and 2 of T's more suite-like (even ballet -like) approach of the symphonic form: 5 mvts, the finale definitely ballet-music-like (and being a polonaise hence the nick name Polish -not T's, btw), another mvt linked with incidental music (Hamlet). Therefore this one was (these were) considered to be less purely symphonic and hence less interesting than the following 4-6 (not Manfred. This, being openly programmatic, suffered from this prejudice too, btw).

Explains also e.g. why only Rozhdestvensky seems to have recorded it twice and Mrawinsky iirc never.....

To illustrate this: As the 6 numbered symphonies were included in DGG's The Symphony Edition to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1973, DGG didn't have any full cycle by one conductor in its back catalogue, and therefore took the legendary Leningrad/Mrawvinsky 4-6 together with Tilson Thomas/Boston 1, Abbado/New Philharmonia 2 and Atzmon/Vienna Symphony for 3. (the latter seems to be currently not available too....)

[Nick Armstrong]

1-3 at least were considered to be far less important than 4-6 until quite recently.

I am basically a Tchaikophobe... but last night was listening to TTN and thought "that's a nice tuneful symphony".... thinking it was an early Dvorak I didn't know (I tend instinctively to like Dvorak much more than Tchaikovsky). But no, it was Tchaikovsky's First. I shall listen to this BAL with an open mind - I don't / didn't know 1 -3 at all...

[Pabmusic]

...Looks like all recordings were made within a complete Tchaikovsky symphony cycle.

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.

[amateur51]

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.

Fascinating stuff, Pabs

Is the label any relation to Mr Somerset played by Morgan Freeman in the creepy and wonderful film Seven, I wonder?

[Pabmusic]

Is the label any relation to Mr Somerset played by Morgan Freeman in the creepy and wonderful film Seven, I wonder?

Perhaps the writer of Seven was equally puzzled by Miller International. On reflection, Miller International might have been an overseas satellite of the Rank Organisation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

1-3 at least were considered to be far less important than 4-6 until quite recently.

I suppose this is still true, though I love them all. I suppose, if I were to rate the numbered symphonies in order, it would be:

6 - 4 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 3

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

[Rolmill]

I bought the Slatkin/St Louis SO many years ago and have enjoyed it (very good playing, IIRC) on the few occasions I have played it. I guess its OOP now. Not sure I've ever heard any other performance, though, either live or on CD, so will be interested in this BaL.

[Extended Play]

Like other members above, I'm looking forward to this BaL. It is, perhaps, the least often heard of the Tchaikovsky symphonies, but -- thanks to EA's as always invaluable list -- it looks as though the choice of recordings will make for a fascinating comparison. Maybe this is one of those works where you don't want or need more than one version. I have only the Svetlanov, and it continues to give pleasure on its (admittedly infrequent) playings.

As for the earlier Tchaikovsky symphonies, I think I became familiar with them before getting to know the later ones. IIRC, "Winter Daydreams" and the "Little Russian" used to pop up regularly; long before the advent of "Breakfast", I remember hearing Number 2 on the early morning programme before 9am -- in full, of course, no doubt partly because of its relative brevity. Those were the days!

[Hornspieler]

I have Karajan/BPO from the boxed set, Pavel Radkowa/Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Silvestri/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

No contest! But the Prague Orchestra does have some interesting Eastern European Horn Playing in the second movement

[Don Petter]

I bought the Slatkin/St Louis SO many years ago and have enjoyed it (very good playing, IIRC) on the few occasions I have played it. I guess its OOP now. Not sure I've ever heard any other performance, though, either live or on CD, so will be interested in this BaL.

I also have the Slatkin, but it doesn't seem to be available at the moment on this side of the pond.

My others are Leningrad/Rilov on Russian Legacy, Beecham on Classico d'Oro and LSO/Dorati on Mercury. I see the latter is still available from Amazon UK as a download, so should it be on our list?

[jayne lee wilson]

Haitink's Concertgebouw recording unavailable then?

And only Rozhdestvensky did it twice.

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!

The last 1993 one is sonically unsurpassable, but the end of the 1st and 3rd movements are decidedly in the Bis RED LABEL category for warnings about amps and speakers. Generally, the later Canyon Classics cycle is slower and less dramatic, but with a sound, a clarity and textural beauty, you'll never improve upon.

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.

I adore the Polish, it is perhaps closer in shape and spirit to the orchestral suites, but has a freshness which its relative neglect has helped preserve.

Sorry for length of post - trying to make up a little for lost and precious time...

[Beef Oven]

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!

The last 1993 one is sonically unsurpassable, but the end of the 1st and 3rd movements are decidedly in the BIS RED LABEL category for warnings about dynamic range, amps and speakers. Generally, the later Canyon Classics cycle is slower and less dramatic, but with a sound, a clarity and textural beauty, you'll never improve upon.

Closer to home and I imagine more readily available, Dorati with the LSO on Mercury from 1965 is another stunner - the only one I've heard which competes with Svetlanov's trio of great performances.

I adore the Polish, it is perhaps closer in shape and spirit to the orchestral Suites, but has a freshness which its relative neglect has helped preserve.

Sorry for length of post - trying to make up a little for lost and precious time...

I attended a free concert at the BBC Maida Vale studio one weekday afternoon in the early-mid 70s. I cannot remember the conductor, although he was indisputably Russian/Eastern Block.

One of the best performances of Tchaikovsky 3 I have ever heard.

Wish I knew the details of this concert, but I was only about 14 and I never bothered with trivial information in those days!