Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Romeo & Juliet; Francesca da Rimini (Evgeny Svetlanov)

Information

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1. Francesca da Rimini, symphonic fantasia after Dante, Op. 32
2. Romeo and Juliet, fantasy overture after Shakespeare
3. Festival Coronation March

Russian State Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor

Date: 1993
Label: Canyon Classics

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Review

Just listen to the conclusion of Francesca da Rimini, and you’ll be spoiled forever. This scorching conclusion surely evokes the flames of hell that Tchaikovsky had in mind. Most of the performances here, digital remakes from the early 90s that first appeared on Canyon Classics, and not the usual Melodiya versions, belong in the same league. They are extremely well recorded, and explosively exciting, especially that Francesca and Romeo and Juliet. Happily the Serenade for Strings, while certainly on the hot and heavy side, holds a measure of elegance in reserve for the second movement Waltz and the perky finale. 

The only relative disappointment here, believe it or not, comes in the 1812 Overture, a piece that you would think Svetlanov would figuratively kill. Well he does do that, but in the wrong way. Too few performances take Tchaikovsky at his very noisy word and play the piece as he actually wrote it. Svetlanov gets the bells going at the appropriate place, then leaves them ringing all the way through to the final bar. Why? What’s the point? It’s very annoying. He also takes the final march at an oddly dragging tempo. But this single caveat aside, these performances are powerful to the nth degree, and no Tchaikovsky lover will be able to resist them.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25 April/7 May 1840 – 25 October/6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the romantic period who wrote some of the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote many works that are popular with the classical music public, including his Romeo and Juliet, the 1812 Overture, three ballets, last three symphonies, the 1st Piano Concerto and the Violin Concerto. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

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Evgeny Svetlanov (6 September 1928—3 May 2002) was a Russian conductor, composer and though less well-known, a pianist. Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. He was principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (now the Russian State Symphony Orchestra) from 1965 to 2000. Svetlanov was particularly noted for his interpretations of Russian works as he covered the whole range of Russian music, from Mikhail Glinka to the present day. He was also one of the few Russian conductors to conduct the entire symphonic output of Gustav Mahler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Svetlanov

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