| biography |
Some
of the reasons why Tchaikovsky's popularity refuses to wane
by Jed Distler
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's name has become synonymous with Russian
music, and arguably all romantic music. What keeps his overtly
passionate style aflame and his popularity from waning? First
and foremost, the man wrote great tunes. Few composers of any
era possessed anything close to Tchaikovsky's inexhaustible fountain
of melodic invention. Not for nothing did Hollywood composers
of a certain generation appropriate Tchaikovsky's melodies to
heighten the emotional impact of film scores. And what other so-called
serious composer has had as many themes transformed into pop songs?
(Remember "Tonight We Love" and "Once upon a Dream"?) [read
more...]
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| recommended
recordings |
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Tchaikovsky:
Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 / Mravinsky, Leningrad PO
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Composer:
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: Eugen
Mravinsky
Ensemble: Leningrad
Philharmonic Orchestra
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #19745 / January 1, 1987
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here for more information |
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These recordings by Evgeny Mravinsky and his Leningrad Philharmonic,
taped in the autumn of 1960 while they were on tour in London,
are among the absolute classics of the catalog. They are readings
of hair-raising intensity--the finale of the Fourth is marked
allegro con fuoco, and if you want to know what con fuoco
means, all you have to do is listen for a moment. No one else
has ever had the nerve, or the ability, to play the music
this way. The treatment is very Russian: the extremes are
more...Read
more
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Tschaikowsky:
Ballett-Suiten / Rostropovich, Berlin PO |
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Composer:
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: Mstislav
Rostropovich
Performer: Eberhard
Finke, Leon
Spierer
Ensemble: Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #449726 / March 11, 1997
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here for more information
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Shortly after recording these three ballet suites in 1978,
Mstislav Rostropovich likened conducting the Berlin Philharmonic
to driving a locomotive. You get on, and you go where it takes
you, he said--but in this case, the orchestra went where he
wanted it to go. The playing is magnificent, but it is the
characterization, the things Rostropovich gets the players
to do that they wouldn't otherwise have done, that makes these
accounts so memorable. As you listen, you are transported
to a different...Read
more
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Tchaikovsky:
Eugen Onegin / Levine, Allen, Freni, Von Otter
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Composer:
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: James
Levine
Performer: Thomas
Allen, Paata
Burchuladze, et al.
Ensemble: Dresden
Staatskapelle, Leipzig
Radio Chorus
Uni/Deutsche Grammophon - #23959 / March 13, 1989
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here for more information |
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Levine has assembled a cast strong in both singing and acting,
although Mirella Freni is a bit mature for the teenage Tatiana
and there are no Russians in the leading roles. The conducting
quite properly emphasizes the psychological and emotional
extremes in a story deeply imbued with the Byronic attitudes
and poses of literary Romanticism. The orchestra, in James
Levine's (and Tchaikovsky's) hands becomes a character in
this drama as vital as any of the singers, and Pushkin's poem-novel,
the...Read
more
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Tchaikovsky:
Concerto 1, Rachmaninov: Concerto 2 / Cliburn
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Composer:
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei
Rachmaninov
Conductor: Kiril
Kondrashin, Fritz
Reiner
Performer: Van
Cliburn
Ensemble: RCA
Victor Symphony Orchestra, Chicago
Symphony Orchestra
Bmg/Rca Victor - #55912 / January 12, 1993
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here for more information |
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What a story there is behind this recording! When Van Cliburn
won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at
the height of the Cold War with his playing of this concerto,
it created an international sensation. The recording followed
immediately thereafter, and Cliburn was launched on an international
career of unprecedented celebrity for a classical musician.
Perhaps the attention was too much, too soon, given his subsequent
burn-out and retirement from public life. Fortunately, we...Read
more
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Tchaikovsky:
Piano & Violin Concertos / Gilels, Oistrakh
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Composer:
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: Zubin
Mehta, Eugene
Ormandy
Performer: Emil
Gilels, David
Oistrakh
Ensemble: New
York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia
Orchestra
Sony Classics - #46339 / April 9, 1991
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here for more information |
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David Oistrakh was one of those violinists beloved by people
who don't especially like violinists. Don't get me wrong,
plenty of violin aficionados love him too. But the fact that
he played with such warmth of tone and musicality, never indulging
in the screeching cat-music stuff that some violinists think
sounds flashy, makes him uniquely listenable to folks not
into violin playing for its own sake. Perhaps the fact that
he was also a distinguished conductor had something to do
with it, for he...Read
more
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more recommended recordings
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| works
& recordings |
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- Chamber Music
Trios, Quartets, Quintets
- Choral
Secular and sacred choral music. Oratorios, Masses, Partsongs,
Hymns, Carols
- Instrumental
Sonatas, Suites, Overtures, Minuets, Variations, Transcriptions,
Dance Music
- Orchestra
Concertos, Symphonies
- Theatrical Works
Ballet, Stage, Incidental Music, Film Scores
- Vocal and Opera
Opera, Operetta, Song, Lieder, Musical Theater
Complete
List of Works and Recordings
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