I’m starting with one of the great underrated records from last year: the Schubert Lieder recital by Alice Coote and Julius Drake. A unique and very individual voice, and she uses her range to maximum effect in these songs. This is raw Schubert!
I’m listening to rarely discussed first three symphonies of Tchaikovsky. This is the only set I know of (although I haven’t looked around either).
This must have been mastered on a day Karajan was away, or the engineers locked him out of the mastering booth, because this actually sounds really good. It doesn’t have that characteristic bleeding ear treble extension of later Karajan recordings.
Actually, the only recording I have of the early Tchaikovsky symphonies is the ballet Diamonds which uses most of the Third. In that context I love it.
I really likes these works, and always have. I’ve had this set on vinyl since at least the early 80s, which is about the time it came out. I will seek out the Jansons cycle.
The compositions are great and surprisingly mature for early symphonies. I enjoy 4-6, but these deserve more love, IMO.
As for 4-6, I have the excellent Analogphonic reissues of the Mravinsky/Leningrad live recordings from ‘62. Those are stellar!
One of the young Claudio Abbado’s first ventures as a conductor was to record all the Tchaikovsky Symphonies for DGG. He used different orchestras for each. I can’t remember which, other than the Vienna Philharmonic for the Fourth, which was a very famous recording in its time (and may have been one of the first times that that great orchestra had recorded Tchaikovsky).
Yevgeny Mravinsky made fantastic recordings in Leningrad of the Fourth to Sixth Symphonies, initially in mono, then stereo remakes. Some other conductor (Mariss Jansons’ father Arvid, perhaps?) stood in for him for the Fifth in the mono set). They were wonderful, very fiery recordings. I think that the stereo remakes were recorded in London on a rare concert tour in the West, beyond the Iron Curtain.
(Apologies, I’ve just seen JDP’s post, immediately above.)
The early Tchaikovsky symphonies are often overlooked and definitely deserve hearing. There are a number of good complete cycles available including Vasily Petrenko, Maris Jansons, Vladimir Jurowski, etc. I too enjoy the Karajan performances of 1-3, which have an intensity not always present in Karajan’s later recordings.
Many years ago I bought a bargain Virgin box of CDs of all the Tchaikovsky symphonies, including Manfred, plus a few other bits and bobs. It’s the Bournemouth SO conducted by Andrew Litton, so didn’t have especially high expectations, but it’s well recorded and whilst it doesn’t rival Mravinsky in 4–6, the performances are surprisingly good.
Of the early symphonies, I have a real soft spot for Winter Daydreams.
It’s the Marvinsky/Leningrad stereo recordings I have, recorded live in London and Vienna while they were on tour. I have the reissue from some years ago done by Analogphonic as a box set. It’s fantastic and a real gem of my collection.
Yesterday, the Observer published a list of short pieces of music covering 31 days. Most are new to me, but a few are favourites. These are short pieces or movements, a sample if you like, which I would usually ignore; but, the idea of a piece of music for each day of the month intrigued me.
I hope that this link works. Oh I apologise for the pieces being out of order. They are in order in my Roon playlist but not on the Qobuz one - I’m not sure why. Mia culpa forgot to make it a public playlist.
Here’s the Tchaikovsky Symphony 4-5-6 Analogphonic reissue I’ve been talking about. I gave it another listen (all three) and it is fantastic. I never grow tired hearing it. I am keeping it in my current rotation bin in anticipation of delivery for my new Lyra Atlas SL cartridge. This will be an album I want to hear after it is dialed in and broken in.
Hi, David, my very uncooperative Mac won’t open attachments like that. Is it possible to post the info some other way? Thank you.
(I will get the Mac to an Apple Store as soon as I can.)
I tried to search "Analogphonic’ just now, and the Mac decided that I was only interested in the first four letters, and I was not quite prepared to see what I saw!!! Dear me, I must go and make myself a nice cup of tea.
Hello, again, David. I tried again, managed to avoid the an*l porn, and found the vinyl discs. What a fascinating site, on which I could spend quite a lot of dosh.
I didn’t actually see the Mravinsky records, but I wasn’t trying too hard, as I know that my Visa card won’t won’t cooperate, so that’s a job for later.
I was fascinated to see that they are selling most (maybe all) of Bernstein’s ‘live’ DGG Mahler symphony cycle. It would be very interesting to see how those copies compare with DGG’s own recently reissued set - not that I intend to buy them all over again (again).
Those DGG Mahlers from Analogphonic (other than one or two symphonies) have been backordered for years. I know because I placed an order from some 2 1/2 years ago. They may or may not get a repress. They are not the same remasters as the rcent Berstein Mahler cycle from DG Classics.
The Mravinsky album from Analogphonic is long out of print. It was a limited release and I was luckly to get a copy as it is. DG Classics also did their own reissue, pressed from the same lacquers, but that has been some time ago.
All the Analogphonic reissues tend to be rather limited. But they always cut AAA from the original tape when they can. Almost always Emil Berliner Studios does that part. It’s a buy now or cry later label.
I doubt you will find a new copy of either reissue now.