Your Favorite Tchaikovsky Pieces

[kishnevi]

I suppose I should say which ones I think are great.
The last three symphonies*, the violin concerto, Souvenir de Florence, the Mozartiana suite, Romeo and Juliet, Francesca da Rimini.

*in non sugary performances. My overall favorite recording is Solti's Fourth.

[USMC1960s]

Good choices, from what little I know (so far).

[Daverz]

Piano Trio
Serenade for Strings
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6
Manfred
Orchestral Suites

[Jo498]

the Mozartiana suite,

[referring to the symphonies] *in non sugary performances. My overall favorite recording is Solti's Fourth.

I seriously doubt that non-sugary performances of the Mozartiana are possible...
I think there are great things in the 4th and 5th symphonies (and also the violin concerto) but they also have passages or whole movements I can hardly take anymore. A few years ago I thought I had overcome the repulsion some of Tchaikovsky's music had acquired for me but I found that I still could not stand to listen to e.g. the 4th or 5th symphony twice in an afternoon for comparison purposes. The inner movements of the 5th can be sickly sweet at times, the finale spoils the effect by turning to the major mode right in the beginning which makes the "wild hunt" of the remaining movement rather moot.
In the 4th I quite like the first 3 movements (despite the annoyingly pretentious "fatum" fanfare), the pizzicato scherzo is really brilliant fun, but the finale is a shallow noisy mess in my ears.

So if I had to pick favorites, I'd probably go with

6th symphony
Souvenir de Florence
String serenade
b flat minor piano concerto
1st symphony
Francesca da Rimini (probably my favorite of the shorter orchestral pieces but I am not sure I ever heard "the Voyvoda" or "Hamlet")

(Would have to re-listen to the ballets to pick a favorite, so I leave them out.)

[Drasko]

Still looking at those DVDs and CDs of Nutcracker and the other 2 ballets---quite a few performances.

If you missed it here is a thread on Tchaikovsky ballets that you can check out, there are even few posts on DVDs though this is not very dance oriented forum. Here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3457.msg645844.html#msg645844

[amw]

Serenade for Strings
Suite No. 3
Quartet No. 1 (also possibly No. 2)
The Seasons

Piano Concerto No. 2 isn't on the same level, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I used to like the 6th Symphony but am not sure I still do.

[USMC1960s]

Drasko, thanks. This site is so massive that even though I've been on it 7 years, its resources are virtually unlimited. Will check out that thread, thanks again.

[Sergeant Rock]

A Top 10, with favorite versions

Symphony No.1 "Winter Dreams" (Jurowski/LPO)
Symphony No.4 (Szell/LSO)
Symphony No.5 (Szell/Cleveland)
Symphony No.6 (Bernstein/New York DG)
Violin Concerto (Belkin/Ashkenazy/New Phil)
Piano Concerto No.2 (Cherkassky/Kraus/Berlin Phil*)
Swan Lake (Svetlanov/State Symphony)
The Nutcracker (Dorati/Concertgebouw)
Marche Slave (Ormandy/Philadelphia)
The Tempest (Abbado/Chicago)


*This is, unfortunately, the Siloti (truncated) edition but the passion of the playing, and the orchestral clarity of this 60-year-old recording, makes it my favorite despite the loss of music in the slow movement.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Souvenir de Florence

Thanks for mentioning this ahead of me 

[Karl Henning]

. . . Anyway...what were we talking about again?

Tchaikovsky

[Karl Henning]

String Sextet - Souvenir de Florence

And of course: Ray in reply #1 !!!  0:)

[mc ukrneal]

In terms of which version of the ballets on cd, I'd go with:
Nutcracker: Mackerras or Ashkenazy
Swan Lake: Dutoit
Sleeping Beuaty: Gergiev or Rozhdestvensky

[USMC1960s]

Thank you---my revised favorites list:

Piano Trio, Op. 50
Serenade for Strings
the 3 ballets
Souvenir de Florence

[Brahmsian]

And of course: Ray in reply #1 !!!  0:)

Bien sur, Karl! 

[Brahmsian]

I wanted to mention another lovely Tchaikovsky work.

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 41

[springrite]

Anyway...what were we talking about again?

We were just chatting among ourselves while waiting for you to chime in. 

[Karl Henning]

I don't really like listening to Tchaikovsky, here is a list of the composers I prefer . . . .

0:)

[Mirror Image]

I don't really like listening to Tchaikovsky, here is a list of the composers I prefer . . . .

0:)

Hey! Jeffrey started it! Oh, and I did mention my favorite Tchaikovsky work: Symphony No. 6.

[Karl Henning]

You did say "the greatest Russian composer".  😈

I think PITch. wrote a large number of excellent works, a couple of great symphonies and concertos, and is overall very listenable.  But I rarely " connect" with his music in the way I do with later Russians, like Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and above all Shostakovich.

PITch. also has the handicap of me having heard his symphonies only in performances that could induce diabetic comas, so sugary were they.  Dudamel's Fifth was the first performance of that work that made me want to hear it again.

Ah-HAH!

[Mirror Image]

We were just chatting among ourselves while waiting for you to chime in.