Tchaikovsky: Symphony in Eb; Piano Concerto #3
Lilya Zilberstein, piano. Gurzenich-Orchestra, Cologne/Dmitrij Kitajenko
Oehms Classics 672
Total Time: 56:42
Recording: ****/****
Performance: ****/****
When exploring with students some of the biggest composers and works of the latter 19th century, one inevitably gets to Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s music received a number of performances at the turn of the century in American essentially cementing many of them into the popular orchestral repertoire. The present release provides some musical curiosities from the composer’s pen. One often wonders with recordings like this if the music would ever had seen the light of day had it been by a lesser known composer. Often one is forced to consider these pieces in light of more familiar works which casts a pall on to these essentially abandoned essays. The result is that recordings like this may have more to say about our own contemporary thirst for hearing every note by a favorite composer, even if that was never to be the case. However, this release comes as part of a survey of the complete symphonies by Kitajenko on Oehms Classics and so becomes a more reasonable addition to that set. One of five recordings of the symphony currently in the catalogue, it should give the others a run for their money for Tchaikovsky completists.
The Symphony No. 7, as it is being called here, began life as a movement for piano and orchestra that Tchaikovsky planned for a new concerto, his third. After the monumental first concerto, itself one of the supreme examples of the composer’s and period works, Tchaikovsky tried his hand at the form in a major key work as well. It was far less successful, though many find it to be a superior work to its predecessor. By comparison, currently there are some 200+ versions of the first concerto in the catalog with about 40 of the second. This “third” concerto has 25 or so current recordings. Really this is a large-scale single-movement “Allegro Brilliante” for piano and orchestra, more a showpiece, though had Tchaikovsky lived it might have been granted further development into a multi-movement piece. Tanayev actually took two other unrelated pieces by Tchaikovsky and attached them to this work, orchestrating them to create a new concerto, but really it can stand on its own as a virtuoso work. Of course, coming at the end of the disc, one gets to hear how the composer re-imagined the opening of the symphony into a work for piano and orchestra. The performance here is certainly one of the finest in the catalogue.
The primary piece here is this “seventh” symphony. Tchaikovsky began work on the piece in 1891 and in it was trying to create a more programmatic piece about the human experience to explore life from youth to death. But, after beginning the piece, he set the sketches aside and turned instead to what would become the Pathetique symphony, his sixth and final essay in the form. After having completely sketched the Eb work, the composer claimed to have completely thrown it into the fire but it somehow was found and in the 1950s was reconstructed by composer Semyon Bogatyryov. Coming at the height of Soviet oppression of modernism, it is perhaps no surprise that this piece would find its way into Soviet concert halls, though it is essentially unknown here in the states though Eugene Ormandy recorded it with the Philadelphia Orchestra back in 1962.
As the piece begins, one can hear some of the musical gestures common in Tchaikovsky’s music with a great surge of energy and excitement. It certainly is a more joyful expression that seems to blend a bit of late 19th-Century Germanic romanticism with the sort of grand gestures heard in Tchaikovsky’s symphonies. The opening is certainly a thrilling affair that zips along in breezy fashion. The second movement “Andante” focuses on wind color in its opening theme which moves into a gorgeous cello and full string statement. Equally beautiful is the full romantic swell at the movement’s climax which then slowly dies away quietly over the next 3-4 minutes with great restraint. A brilliant scherzo allows for a great deal of playfulness that is reminiscent of the composer’s ballet work and could very well be ideas as easily discarded from Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty for that matter. Celebration continues to flow into the finale, but things become far more serious as the movement progresses hinting at the end and death moving to a summation of life itself. The result it rather striking and here is where we get the greatest hints at the emotional turmoil that would explode in the sixth symphony. The final bars move into a triumphal march. Overall, it is an interesting work filled with great tunes, though none quite as memorable as others from Tchaikovsky, though perhaps that corrects itself as well with familiarity. One cannot deny its overall exciting and bright excitement though predominating in the work.
Oehms provides fabulous sound here in this Hybrid SACD release. The performances themselves are all quite committed and informed by the Gurzenich Orchestra’s understanding of the style and performance practices gained from their critically-acclaimed survey of the previous symphonies. The notes themselves are subpar for such unfamiliar works and do not make much of a case for either of them. Still, it is good to have this release as an option for those looking for another symphonic essay by Tchaikovsky. It can shed light on what thoughts were reworked for the sixth symphony. The present work perhaps owes as much to a programmatic implication on the level of the Manfred though when all is said and done but with an approach often reserved for symphonic poem essays like Fate. This is an easily recommended release for fans of late 19th-Century music. Many will be struck by this sort of “happy” voice from a composer more associated with such angst.
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