Your favourite Tchaikovsky symphony?

[Atriod]

I also like Pletnev in the Manfred.  Those are some seriously good recordings you're mentioning!

I haven't got to Pletnev yet in Manfred though it is in the Tchaikovsky box I have.

This is the only performance I like to date:

[Karl Henning]

Hurwitz argues that Lenny stretches out the last movement to balance in length the first. But if Tchaikovsky had wanted an 18-minute finale, he would have written 18 minutes of music, not a 10-minute movement that one conductor bloats to the point of absurdity.

Yours is a good point. I need to revisit that recording. I heard it long enough ago, I have no memory of it.

[Cato]

Personally, I've always liked the Vn Cto.

Amen!  😇 

It's probably not the fashionable answer but nothing has come even remotely close to topping Litton/Bournemouth in the Tchaikovsky symphonies for me. Especially Manfred. It has a punch to it that completely blew me away when I first heard the symphony in 2007. No other recordings have hit the spot the way that one does.

Difficult as always, but let me try...

Manfred -6-5-1-3-4-2

Also, possible:  Manfred -6-5-1-Three-Way Tie 3/4/2   

I also like Pletnev in the Manfred. 

I first heard Manfred in a truncated mono recording by Toscanini and the NBC Symphony: it will knock your socks and shoes off, and maybe even curl your toenails! 

[71 dB]

Even if you end up writing off Tchaikovsky, you can say that you finally gave a listen!

Well, I don't think I'll be writing Tchaikovsky off. I listen to some of his music (Rococo Variations, Serenade for Strings and Swan Lake to mention some works I enjoy),

[71 dB]

Jurowski's cycle of 1-6 are a bit more classical in style and at times it almost sounds like the LPO are a chamber orchestra. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing. It's just not red blooded as Hurwitz would say "panting and heaving" Tchaikovsky ala Eschenbach, Kobayashi, etc.

ok. yes, the first two symphonies sound "classical" in Jurowski's hand.

[71 dB]

Just finished the 2nd Symphony. I liked the first one a bit better.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Yours is a good point. I need to revisit that recording. I heard it long enough ago, I have no memory of it.

I envy you.

[Karl Henning]

I envy you.

(* chortle *)

[DavidW]

There is just so much music in the World. I am exploring new music all the time. A lot of it just isn't classical music. I have been struggling with classical music for years. I am so tired of the question of "the best performance." I was told here I should have listened to Karajan instead of Jurowski. Come on! Jurowski can't be that bad and it has good sonics. If I become a Tchaikovsky nut(cracker) then I can explore Karajan and what not...

Yes streaming allowed me to grow beyond that silly, childish "best of" mentality.  Now I just enjoy what I listen to, and I've stopped asking what is "the best." 

Popular music is so much simpler. 

Except when buying cds apparently!

[DavidW]

I'm sure it is enough to tell me if Tchaikovsky's symphonies are my cup of tea or not. I am aware of the fact I am not listening to the absolute best performances ever.

I don't listen to music for other people. I listen to it for myself. This is my journey with my mistakes. I have done millions of mistakes and still the journey of exploring music has been great. I am a human being, not a robot executing "perfect exploration into classical music." More of this "you are listening to the wrong performances" and I will drop this and not listen to the rest. I have so much other stuff to listen to.

Atriod was just trying to share with you what clicked with him, trust me he was not trying to lecture you on how to listen to music.  He just wanted you to start with the presentation that made him click with Tchaikovsky.  I think he might be in the camp where is a bit ambivalent to Tchaikovsky unless the performance REALLY WORKS. 

I will be honest, I'm not in that camp.  I love everything Tchaikovsky wrote, in pretty much any performance.  If you find yourself standing firmly in Atriod's mindset... that is why he is trying to help.

[DavidW]

I envy you.

Ha!  Well I have Karl beat... I never heard it!  I've heard Bernstein in symphonies 3-6 and that is it.  I do love his third.

[Wanderer]

I am listening to form an opinion for this thread. I'm listening to Jurowski doing them all. It is fair.

Kudos if you enjoy what you hear. However, first you post this, asking for recommendations...

The thought of which performance to check out... 

...and then you're being rudely dismissive, in multiple posts, when people are trying to help you and recommendations are given to you.

(How does the adage go? No good deed goes unpunished.) 

[Wanderer]

Atriod was just trying to share with you what clicked with him, trust me he was not trying to lecture you on how to listen to music.  He just wanted you to start with the presentation that made him click with Tchaikovsky.

So did I - and I believe everyone else that offered recommendations.

[LKB]

No recent mention of my favorite cycle here, so I'll plug them by simply remarking that one can do much, much worse than Haitink with the RCO.

[Florestan]

I love everything Tchaikovsky wrote, in pretty much any performance.

A-M-E-N-!!!

Actually, this is valid for all my favorite composers --- my favorite performance of any of their works is the one I'm currently listening to.

It'll be a cold day in hell long before I do any A/B/C comparison.

[71 dB]

Kudos if you enjoy what you hear. However, first you post this, asking for recommendations...

...and then you're being rudely dismissive, in multiple posts, when people are trying to help you and recommendations are given to you.

(How does the adage go? No good deed goes unpunished.) 

Jurowski is not my own idea. It was recommended to me. I can also check other performances (of the best symphonies)

[DavidW]

It'll be a cold day in hell long before I do any A/B/C comparison.

We can leave that to Todd!

[Karl Henning]

We can leave that to Todd!

(* chortle *)

[Que]

No recent mention of my favorite cycle here, so I'll plug them by simply remarking that one can do much, much worse than Haitink with the RCO.

Agreed. I particularly liked Haitink in the earlier symphonies.

[Baxcalibur]

No recent mention of my favorite cycle here, so I'll plug them by simply remarking that one can do much, much worse than Haitink with the RCO.

I would suggest that Haitink and the RCO are consistently excellent in just about anything, but maybe that is because I enjoy his conducting in general.

Anyway... I know it's not Tchaikovsky's best, but my favorite has always been No. 2. I first heard the 2nd movement, "andantino marziale" by itself on a compilation CD of marches. One day, as I was doing some homework, this symphony played on the radio. I started listening intently when the march began, and it was quite a thrill to finally hear the entire piece.

To this day, Tchaikovsky's 2nd reminds me of childhood, but it also stands out for its freshness, especially compared to Nos. 4-6. Greater works, and yet there is something missing. I suppose that is how life goes.