Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Etc

Orchestral Recording of the Month BBC Music Magazine (March 2007)

“Fischer always knows when to lighten the mood, or how best to judge the tension and release of a musical paragraph, and in this she is supported to the hilt by a personable but never too overbearing Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg... In the Concerto's vivacious finale and the headlong Valse-Scherzo, Fischer makes light of the technical difficulties with spot-on pitching throughout; there isn't an aspect of any of these works in which this world-class virtuoso fails to excel.” BBC Music Magazine *****

"Fischer has the greater fun and fantasy and shows what a distinctive artists she is. Julia Fischer brings fearsome concentration to a concerto that is so often an excuse for self-indulgence. She also brings absolute control of colour and tone. 

Fischer realises that you don't have to wallow in romanticism for the piece to work its magic. Kreizberg and the fabulous Russian National Orchestra provide superb support." --Gramophone Editor's Choice April 2007

MP3 320 · 154 MB

Tchaikovsky: Symphonic Poems, Manfred Symphony

". . he keeps it on a tight rein with maximum intensity and real sense of electricity crackling below the surface . . . the playing of the Russian National Orchestra is thrilling." --Gramophone

"Whatever other versions you may have this issue is a must. Pletnev has quite a special feeling for Tchaikovsky's music...and essential purchase." --Rosette Recording Penguin Stereo Guide

DG have gathered together all of the symphonic poems of Tchaikovsky that Mikhail Pletnev recorded with the RNO, previously offered only in single high-price CDs of the symphonies. All the major works are there, in some stunning performances.

In addition, one of Pletnev's best recordings of Tchaikovsky, that of the Manfred Symphonic Fantasy, makes up the larger part of CD3, together offering a massive 237 minutes of music.

3 CD · MP3 320 · 512 MB

Tschaikowsky: Ballett-Suiten

"Rostropovich's triptych of Tchaikovsky ballet suites is very special. His account of The Nutcracker is enchanting... The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake selections are hardly less distinguished..." -- The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & DVDs [2003/4 edition]

MP3 320 · 146 MB

Tchaikovsky: 1812, Marche Slave · Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin: Orchestral Works

"Järvi's 1812 is exciting - and not just for the added Gothenburg brass and artillery or for the fervour of the orchestra at the opening. He clearly knows the histrionics, and so do we.” " --Gramophone

Tchaikovsky didn't much care for the 1812, preferring the Serenade for strings which he was composing at the same time. In fact, as Jarvi shows, the Overture is a very professionally structured piece which effectively combines national patriotic and folk melodies from which the composer generates a really thrilling ending.

Jarvi's is a very musical reading, broadening nicely for the folksy lyricism, yet keeping up the flow of adrenalin. Besides the very impressive cannon of the Gothenburg Artillery and carillon, the Gothenburg Symphony Chorus make a very considerable contribution at the opening, singing the Russian hymn sonorously and affectingly and then producing a burst of fervour before the orchestra takes over. It rejoins the fray at the very end, but is rather too backwardly balanced here. This is a comment rather than a serious criticism: it must be almost impossible electronically to intertwine orchestra, bells, pre-recorded cannon and chorus, and please all ears. Generally, the engineers do a very good job. The overall effect is both exciting and genial.

Then comes a strong account of the Marche slave, with just the right touch of solemn melancholy in the opening paragraphs to balance the exultant ending. Borodin's In Central Asia is one of the most memorably poetic of all Russian orchestral evocations. It has two marvellous tunes, one used to create atmosphere and at the same time suggest movement, and the second ravishingly sinuous, able to combine with the first quite perfectly as the oriental caravan draws near.

The Polovtsian Dances alas, omit the opening percussion-led ''Dance of the Polovtsi maidens'' and begin at the ''Flowing dance''. Otherwise we are given a first-rate performance, with the chorus splendidly balanced and providing some lovely lyrical singing and a climax of considerable fervour (if not quite as unbuttoned as some versions, notably Beecham on EMI). But this is very enjoyable and in the ''General dance'' (the one with the bass drum) there is a surprise. What appears to be a brief solo from the Khan is sung by a member of the chorus, rather effectively reminding us that we are in the opera house rather than the concert hall.

Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture is an episodic, loosely structured piece that can too easily fall apart. It doesn't here and most important, Jarvi propels everything forward without pushing too hard. The performance of the Capriccio espagnol has great zest and brilliance. The opening is faster than the recent Mackerras Telarc/Conifer version, and when the ''Alborada'' returns with great dash, after the colourful variations, one wonders if it isn't a trifle too fast. But the closing ''Fandango asturiano'' and the exciting lead up to it—with splendid bite and attack from strings and brass alike—create much exhilaration. All in all this concert can receive the strongest recommendation. The overall playing time is very generous indeed.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [3/1991]

MP3 320 · 163 MB

Tchaikovsky, Scriabin: Piano Concertos

BEST OF THE YEAR, BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
BEST CONCERTO RECORDING OF THE YEAR, CLASSIC CD

'A major achievement' --Classic CD

“Demidenko offers a blazing yet superbly-controlled account of the Tchaikovsky No. 1. And this is the best available version of Sciabin's youthful, Chopinesque Concerto.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“The chief attraction here is the unusual coupling which pairs two sharply opposed examples of Russian Romanticism, and although the reasons for the neglect of Scriabin's Piano Concerto aren't hard to fathom (its lyrical and decorative flights are essentially inward-looking), its haunting, bittersweet beauty, particularly in the central Andante, is hard to resist. Demidenko's own comments, quoted in the accompanying booklet, are scarcely less intense and individual than his performance: 'in the ambience, phrasing and cadence of his music we meet with a world almost without skin, a world of nerve-ends where the slightest contact can bring pain.' His playing soars quickly to meet the music's early passion head on, and in the first più mosso scherzando he accelerates to produce a brilliant lightening of mood.

His flashing fortes in the Andante's second variation are as volatile as his pianissimos are starry and refined in the finale's period reminiscence, and although he might seem more tight-lipped, less expansive than Ashkenazy on Decca, he's arguably more dramatic and characterful. Demidenko's Tchaikovsky, too, finds him ferreting out and sifting through every texture, forever aiming at optimum clarity. While this is hardly among the greatest Tchaikovsky Firsts on record, it's often gripping and mesmeric. The recorded balance isn't always ideal and the piano sound is sometimes uncomfortably taut.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

'It is something of an achievement when one manages to hear afresh such an over-familiar work' --BBC Music Magazine

'Demidenko's inspirational account of the (Scriabin) Concerto is in a class of its own' --Classic CD

MP3 320 · 141 MB