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Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture

42K views 55 replies 41 participants last post by  PathfinderCS 
#1 ·
Can someone recommend a good recording of the 1812 overture? I'm new to classical music and I don't know the best labels, conductors, etc.
 
#45 ·
For those who prefer a choral introduction to 1812 and find Karajan too polished and Stokowski too Stokowski there is a version by Ferenc Fricsay which includes chorus at the start and at the end of the overture. It’s exciting as one might expect from this conductor. I first got to know it on a Heliodor Stereo Transcription L.P. but it is now available as part of his complete Orchestral Recordings on Deutsche gramophon.
Fricsay was a very good, potentially great, conductor who was under fifty when cancer took him. His earlier performances tended to be fairly fast, as his illness progressed he tended to slow down. Not everything he conducted was successful, his Beethoven was a bit his and miss and his 5th is frankly dull. His first Verdi Requiem is marvellous and fiery, his second over ten minutes slower.
Tchaikovsky as a specialty and his first Pathetique may well be seen as one of the greatest ever, particularly the outer movements. I have heard good things about his later version which supposedly exchanges emotion for spirituality. And his Bartok is seen as definitive. He is good in Mozart and his Magic Flute was abridged on a single Heliodor LP with Fischer-Dieskau and Streich amongst others. That was my introduction to Mozart the opera composer and I still enjoy it.
 
#47 ·
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Op. 49
University Of Minnesota Brass Band (brass band)
University Of Minnesota Brass Band, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Antal Dorati
Recorded: 1958-04-05
Recording Venue: Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis

And...if your speakers are well enough:

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Op. 49

(Digitally recorded cannons Fifth Virginia Regiment)
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Erich Kunzel
 
#48 ·
I obtained a copy of Dorati's 1812, planning on enjoying the overture and hearing a line from the commentary that has stayed in my head since I was a boy. The engineers are experimenting with cannon shots and eventually achieve their goal. The commentator (Was it Deems Taylor in the original as well?) tells us that after the explosion "You can hear the men laughing with glee at their expert handiwork." And indeed you can. But it doesn't happen, which led me to discover that there was a previous mono and subsequent stereo version that I had just obtained. Magnificent performance, though, and the beginning has an almost tangible, driven pulse that I've never heard elsewhere.
 
#50 ·
When I lived, or was doing temporary duty, in Washington, DC, I attended the July 4 concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra on the lawn of the Capitol. The event is called "A Capitol Fourth." Back in the day (I'm old now), Rostropovich conducted and my uncle, John Martin, was principal cellist. I really only want to listen to the 1812 Overture on the Capitol lawn, but I'll probably never be able to do that again.
A Capitol Fourth | Fireworks & the "1812 Overture" | Season 2022 | PBS
 
#56 ·

Sian Edward conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Ian Tracey on organ!


Alexander Gibson conducting the New Symphony Orchestra of London; which also supposedly has and organ along with carillon and church bells, but can't verify that.

Anyone else know of a recording where the organ participates in the big finale?
 
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