Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphonies Nos. 4-6 (Evgeny Mravinsky)

Information

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

CD1:

1. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: 1. Andante sostenuto - Moderato con anima - Moderato assai, quasi Andante - Allegro vivo
2. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: 2. Andantino in modo di canzone
3. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: 3. Scherzo. Pizzicato ostinato - Allegro
4. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: 4. Finale (Allegro con fuoco)
5. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 1. Andante - Allegro con anima
6. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza - Moderato con anima

CD2:

1. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 3. Valse (Allegro moderato)
2. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 4. Finale (Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace)
3. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 - "Pathétique": 1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo
4. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 - "Pathétique": 2. Allegro con grazia
5. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 - "Pathétique": 3. Allegro molto vivace
6. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 - "Pathétique": 4. Finale (Adagio lamentoso - Andante)

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Evgeny Mravinsky, conductor

Date: 1960
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4775911

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Review

As a symphonist, Tchaikovsky enriched the repertoire and exerted a vital influence on later composers as diverse as Sibelius, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Of his first three symphonies, the second (known as the Little Russian) has had the greatest success, mainly because of its rip-roaring finale and memorable melodic material. But it was only when he set to work on his Symphony No. 4 in F minor (1877) that Tchaikovsky discovered — in the expression of heated emotion — the key to melodic inspiration and mastery of form, and as a consequence found his voice as a symphonic composer.

His final two symphonies, with interior programs known only to the composer, are notably dark. The funereal opening, wide swings of mood and feverish — though, in the end, implausibly festive — climax of the Fifth Symphony (1888) convey a psychological drama that could hardly be put into words. With the Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathetique), Tchaikovsky went much deeper, fashioning a symphony of the most profound personal confession, as original in its method and formal concept as it was in tone and emotional content. The English musicologist David Brown has rightly characterized it as "the most truly original symphony to have been composed in the 70 years since Beethoven's Ninth."

Mravinsky's Hair-Raising Recordings

The recordings by Evgeny Mravinsky and his Leningrad Philharmonic, taped in the autumn of 1960 in London while on tour, are among the absolute classics of the catalog. They are readings of the utmost intensity; no one else has had the nerve, or ability, to play the music this way. The treatment is very Russian: the passions more feverish, the melancholy darker, the climaxes louder.

It has been said that the string musicians played as if their lives depended on it. Equally distinctive are the wind and brass timbres; those who heard the Leningrad Philharmonic in performance under Mravinsky say that no other ensemble sounded remotely like it in pianissimo or fortissimo. The sonics are remarkably strong for the time, though a little edgy in the loudest pages. These accounts leap out of the speakers as if they were being played in the here and now.

-- Ted Libbey, NPR Music Review

More reviews:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/tchaikovsky-symphonies-nos-4-6-1
http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Symphonies-Path%C3%A9tique-Pyotr-Ilyich/dp/B000E0W24S
http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Symphonies-4-5-6/dp/B000001G8B

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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 Mravinsky (4 June [O.S. 22 May] 1903 – 19 January 1988) was a Soviet-Russian conductor. He had made his debut as a conductor in 1931 with the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1938, Mravinsky became principal of the same orchestra and hold the post until his death in 1988. He gave world premieres of six symphonies by Shostakovich: numbers 5, 6, 8 (which Shostakovich dedicated to Mravinsky), 9, 10 and finally 12 in 1961. He also gave the premier of Prokofiev's 6th. He was mainly known for his interpretation of Russian symphonic music, but in fact his repertoire is quite large.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Mravinsky

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