[Kreisler jr]

Mavrinksy is wrong.
Mravinsky is the common spelling in English. In German texts/covers one might also encounter (Jewgenij) Mrawinskij, not sure about French or Italian as there are many different Latin alphabet spellings of words that are spelled with the kyrillic alphabet.

 

[EvaBaron]

Would you be so kind to clarify which is the correct spelling. I would sincerely appreciate it.

It’s Mravinsky

 

[Chilham]

Have you tried the famous (stereo) Mavrinksy?

I've not. Nelsons, Bychkov, Currentzis and Petrenko are all I have.

 

[Chilham]

An excellent listen. One to rival Mullova/Ozawa/Boston SO:

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major
Johan Dalene, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Blendulf

 

[Mandryka]

Coming at you a day-and-a-half early as it’s Mrs. Chilham and my Ruby wedding anniversary this weekend and we’re off for a long-weekend of spa treatments, fine dining and good red wine to celebrate.

This week, we’re calling @haziz to the “Chilham's Journey” courtesy telephone. It’s a week of composers born 1840-1843 excluding Dvořák (he’ll be with us next week). That means it’s Tchaikovsky week!

Not many composers get four Level 1 works - Beethoven 6, Mozart 5 and JS Bach 4 - and whilst I suspect some will stick their thumbs in their braces and look down their nose, for me it demonstrates the class of the composer. I adore his Violin Concerto, am addicted to Symphonies 1 & 4, and the 1812 was my first experience of classical music. I’ve still to completely connect with “Pathetique”, although Currentzis and MusicAeterna are helping me with that, so this week is another opportunity try to get closer to it.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Teodor Currentzis, MusicAeterna

Anyway, here we go, a week of Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Chabrier et al. Enjoy!

Level 1
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
Grieg, Edvard: Piano Concerto in A minor
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: The Nutcracker Suite esp. Dance of the Reed Flutes, Russian Dane, Dance of the Mirlitons, Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy, Pas de Deux, Overture, Waltz of the Flowers, Chinese Dance
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Swan Lake esp. Dances of the Swans
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Piano Concerto No. 1 esp. I Allegro non troppo e molto maestos

Level 2
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Romeo and Juliet esp. Fantasy Overture
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Festival Overture in E-flat major "1812 Overture"
Grieg, Edvard: Peer Gynt esp. In the Hall of the Mountain King, Death of Aase, Morning Mood, Antira's Dance
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Violin Concerto in D
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Sleeping Beauty esp. Waltz

Level 3
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Eugene Onegin esp. Act 1: Tatiana's Lette Scene
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Grieg, Edvard: Holberg Suite esp. "Gavotte"

Level 4
Chabrier, Emmanuel: España
Grieg, Edvard: Lyric Pieces esp. No. 4 Notturno , Book 5
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Serenade for Strings in C Major
Sarasate, Pablo de: Zigeunerweisen
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Pique Dame "Queen of Spades"
Widor, Charles-Marie: Organ Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Manfred Symphony
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Capriccio Italien
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: String Quartet No. 1

Level 5
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 1 "Winter Daydreams"
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Francesca da Rimini, Fantasia after Dante
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Souvenir de Florence
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Piano Trio in A minor
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 2 "Little Russian"
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Slavonic March
Grieg, Edvard: Violin Sonata No. 3
Grieg, Edvard: Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Symphony No. 3 "Polish"
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: The Seasons esp. vi. June - Barcarole
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: String Quartet No. 2

Level 6
Grieg, Edvard: String Quartet No. 1
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Hamlet Fantasy Overture
Chabrier, Emmanuel: Bourrée Fantastique
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Orchestral Suite No. 3
Chabrier, Emmanuel: Dix Pièces Pittoresques
Grieg, Edvard: Violin Sonata No. 2
Grieg, Edvard: Cello Sonata
Widor, Charles-Marie: Symphony No. 6
Grieg, Edvard: Norwegian Dances
Grieg, Edvard: Haugtussa Song Cycle
Sarasate, Pablo de: Spanische Tānze
Stainer, John: The Crucifiction

Level 7
Grieg, Edvard: Two Elegiac Melodies Op. 34 i. "The Wounded Heart", ii. "The Last Spring"
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich: Piano Concerto No. 2
Chabrier, Emmanuel: Suite Pastorale
Svendsen, Johan: Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat, Op. 15
Grieg, Edvard: Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak
Grieg, Edvard: Sigurd Jorsalfar Suite Op. 56
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Iolanta

Honourable mentions:
Sullivan, Arthur: Onward Christian Soldiers, Symphony in E, The Long Day Closes, Twilight


For anyone new to the thread trying to work out what's going on, read the first three posts on page 1.

The Grieg Ballade op 24 is a very fine bit of music. There’s an outstanding early recording by Godowsky. Rubinstein recored it too.

Basically I think Grieg is a really fine composer, well worth exploring.

 

[Chilham]

The Grieg Ballade op 24 is a very fine bit of music. There’s an outstanding early recording by Godowsky. Rubinstein recored it too.

Basically I think Grieg is a really fine composer, well worth exploring.

I have Süssmann standing by.

 

[Mandryka]

By the way, you are now very close to what is, I think, the most important milestone in the history of music. Recording technology has been invented. There are recordings by Grieg I think, and certainly there is one by Brahms. So for the first time people are producing “classical music” for a mass market of ordinary people, not for performers or for proletarians or church goers or for kenner und liebhaber who paid for subscriptions to concerts. The use, the function, of this sort of music is about to change fundamentally - it has become a tool for creating a domestic ambience. And the performer has a new sort of commodity to make his living with - the recording. See whether you can hear it in the compositions.

 

[justekaia]

mravinsky is one of the greatest conductor ever, particularly for russian music. his take of Tchaikovsky's pathétique is of ferocious intensity and speed. you feel like in a bullet train but it is an enjoyable ride and the power of the music overwhelms you. the stereo sound will be acceptable for most.
I have a soft spot for mariss jansons. His father arvids conducted a lot of tchaikovsky and did it with impeccable rigour. He said to his son not to add honey to the sugar, feeling that there was enough sentimentality in the score already. Mariss' versions with the oslo philharmonic and with the bavarian radio so are top notch.
andris nelsons is one of the best conductors of our time but has not recorded the sixth with a great orchestra.
honeck delivers a compelling performance with his pittsburgh players; you get an exciting and emotionally charged version in superb sound. The end of the symphony is really captivating.
kirill petrenko's account is also worth a listen. You feel that he has worked hard at eliminating unnecessary elaborations and achieves the right emotional impact.
i have left currentzis for the end. my first listen was exhilarating but after a few times you get the impression that the
conductor has not studied the score enough or performs his own version of the music.

 

[Chilham]

By the way, you are now very close to what is, I think, the most important milestone in the history of music. Recording technology has been invented. There are recordings by Grieg I think, and certainly there is one by Brahms. So for the first time people are producing “classical music” for a mass market of ordinary people, not for performers or for proletarians or church goers or for kenner und liebhaber who paid for subscriptions to concerts. The use, the function, of this sort of music is about to change fundamentally - it has become a tool for creating a domestic ambience. And the performer has a new sort of commodity to make his living with - the recording. See whether you can hear it in the compositions.

I noticed last week that we had the first pieces of our journey that were composed in the 20th Century - Saint-Saëns Clarinet Sonata was the one I noticed, but as that was composed in 1921, I'm sure there were more. And we're still only in July!

 

[Chilham]

mravinsky is one of the greatest conductor ever, particularly for russian music. his take of Tchaikovsky's pathétique is of ferocious intensity and speed. you feel like in a bullet train but it is an enjoyable ride and the power of the music overwhelms you. the stereo sound will be acceptable for most.
I have a soft spot for mariss jansons. His father arvids conducted a lot of tchaikovsky and did it with impeccable rigour. He said to his son not to add honey to the sugar, feeling that there was enough sentimentality in the score already. Mariss' versions with the oslo philharmonic and with the bavarian radio so are top notch.
andris nelsons is one of the best conductors of our time but has not recorded the sixth with a great orchestra.
honeck delivers a compelling performance with his pittsburgh players; you get an exciting and emotionally charged version in superb sound. The end of the symphony is really captivating.
kirill petrenko's account is also worth a listen. You feel that he has worked hard at eliminating unnecessary elaborations and achieves the right emotional impact.
i have left currentzis for the end. my first listen was exhilarating but after a few times you get the impression that the
conductor has not studied the score enough or performs his own version of the music.

Honeck with the Pittsburgh SO seems to have produced some excellent recordings. I only have his Bruckner 9th, but have come perilously close to buying his Beethoven 3rd and 9th. For live performances, they seem to have excellent sound.

 

[hammeredklavier]

It's interesting that the Lyric Pieces are "cyclic", the last, the 66th, brings back the melody of the 1st, which was written 35 years earlier-

the entire playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=5TbQftYOKms&list=PLD0AADF64997933E6&index=1

One of the more famous pieces, "Wedding Day at Troldhuagen"-

I've found "Butterfly" quite quirky-

 

[justekaia]

Honeck with the Pittsburgh SO seems to have produced some excellent recordings. I only have his Bruckner 9th, but have come perilously close to buying his Beethoven 3rd and 9th. For live performances, they seem to have excellent sound.

get everything you can from honeck; he is an exceptional conductor who researches all the works he conducts in depth; his pittsburgh orchestra is fabulous

 

[Mandryka]

I saw

It's interesting that the Lyric Pieces are "cyclic", the last, the 66th, brings back the melody of the 1st, which was written 35 years earlier-

the entire playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=5TbQftYOKms&list=PLD0AADF64997933E6&index=1

One of the more famous pieces, "Wedding Day at Troldhuagen"-

I've found "Butterfly" quite quirky-

Thanks @hammeredklavier

Do you knowif there’s more structure in Lyric Pieces than that?

 

[new but obsessed]

So far loving the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1 and the Symphony 6 Pathetique -- that latter one especially, and with the Currentzis/MusicAeterna recording recommendation. I'm now also loving a lovely performance of Grieg's Piano Concerto by Alica Sara Ott & E-P Salonen. I think I'd struggled in the past with some random subpar recordings of Peer Gynt, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But a lovely concerto is always a nice refresher!

By the way, you are now very close to what is, I think, the most important milestone in the history of music. Recording technology has been invented. There are recordings by Grieg I think, and certainly there is one by Brahms. So for the first time people are producing “classical music” for a mass market of ordinary people, not for performers or for proletarians or church goers or for kenner und liebhaber who paid for subscriptions to concerts. The use, the function, of this sort of music is about to change fundamentally - it has become a tool for creating a domestic ambience. And the performer has a new sort of commodity to make his living with - the recording. See whether you can hear it in the compositions.

Thank you, Mandryka, for pointing this out. I hadn't expected to already be on the cusp of recorded music! I was thinking we'd get there when we got to Puccini and maybe Dvorak. Recorded music, electricity, industrialization, and the advent of cinema are things I will now try to look for in the music we tackle going forward. Not to mention the world wars and all the rest of the 20th century stuff.

EDIT: re-listened to some of the recommended excerpts from The Nutcracker. I'm now taking a crack at Swan Lake. I've not listened to too much Tchaikovsky, and the 1812 overture was never something I've connected with. Of course his ballets are majorly in our pop zeitgeist. And I fell in love with Eugene Onegin when I first saw it and still listen to it eagerly. And now digging into his Symphony 6 and Piano Concerto 1 and Swan Lake --- I can easily say that Tchaikovsky is up there in my top faves list. His music is so melodic and beautiful and moving!

 

[pianozach]

Capriccio Italien, Op. 45

Just freakin' brilliant.

 

[Kreisler jr]

It's the wrong season, but there is a great, if a bit cute, Nutcracker from the Dresden opera, I highly recommend, maybe the video is still around at Xmas time.

 

[Mandryka]

It's the wrong season, but there is a great, if a bit cute, Nutcracker from the Dresden opera, I highly recommend, maybe the video is still around at Xmas time.

This sort of choreography is like silent film really.

 

[BBSVK]

I confess, last time I tried to join you, guys, I couldn't handle Brahms. Probably I should not have tried a requiem on a holiday with kids 🙃

But this week is fun !!!

 

[Chilham]

I've had much more time than I'd anticipated to listen so far this week, and it's been good quality time. So far, Piotr is knocking it out of the park for me. I'm saving the two operas for later but have got down into the 4th and 5th levels.

Today's listening:

Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme
Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, Mstislav Rostropovich

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 "Winter Daydreams"
Pablo Heras-Casado, Orchestra of St. Luke's

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Vasily Petrenko, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1
Klenke Quartett

Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 & Francesca da Rimini
Neeme Järvi, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

 

[new but obsessed]

Not many composers get four Level 1 works - Beethoven 6, Mozart 5 and JS Bach 4 - and whilst I suspect some will stick their thumbs in their braces and look down their nose, for me it demonstrates the class of the composer. I adore his Violin Concerto, am addicted to Symphonies 1 & 4, and the 1812 was my first experience of classical music. I’ve still to completely connect with “Pathetique”, although Currentzis and MusicAeterna are helping me with that, so this week is another opportunity try to get closer to it.

I might have to give the 1812 another shot at some point in the future (any recommended recordings?). But man, that Violin Concerto is wild! Really enjoying the Johan Dalene recording you recommended. Truly one of the best things I've heard. And I loved Symphony 6 and the Piano Concerto 1. Revisiting some faves from Eugene Onegin now just cuz I love love love that opera to bits. Can't wait to get to Symphonies 4 & 5.

I can see how Tchaikovsky reaches up to the tier of Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. I wouldn't quite put him in that group (in my extremely limited knowledge). But of the post-Beethoven composers we've covered, he's certainly some of the best I've heard! My not-too-shortlist of Romantic-era faves now includes Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Verdi, Mendelssohn, and Rossini if he counts. (My opera/theater/ballet bias is still very clear!)

I'm also pleasantly surprised by how much I've enjoyed Grieg's work. The lovely piano concerto convinced me to pulls some excerpts from Peer Gynt and they were well worth it. Not a dud in those highlights! Looking forward to finishing the week with the Holberg Suite as a dessert to the Tchaikovsky symphonies!

I confess, last time I tried to join you, guys, I couldn't handle Brahms. Probably I should not have tried a requiem on a holiday with kids 🙃

But this week is fun !!!

Fun week indeed!