Please Suggest a CD Set of Tchaikovsky 4, 5, 6

[hornteacher]

I'm looking at:

Pappano/Santa Cecilia Orchestra
Gatti/Royal Philharmonic
Gergiev/Vienna Philharmonic

Any opinions on these or others I should consider?

[not edward]

I'd think Mravinsky is the obvious choice.

[hornteacher]

Have that set and love it.  I was looking for a more recent set though.  Sorry, I should have said.

[Brian]

Based on the few samples I've heard, Gatti would be my choice, though it's a very fleet, fast style. But I would also tack Jansons onto the list (though he's not so recent). 

[Mr. Darcy]

Just thought I'd add Abbado on DG 2-fer with the VPO and LSO. I know it's not the classic choice, but it's stood the test of time in my collection.

[uffeviking]

If you want a contemporary conductor why not give Mikhail Pletnev a try? He has recorded all of the symphonies on DG and they are my favorites. 

[head-case]

I'd think Mravinsky is the obvious choice.

There is nothing that compares with it.

[M forever]

Have that set and love it.  I was looking for a more recent set though.  Sorry, I should have said.

Since you already have Mravinsky and most of the other sets are simply less than what he did there, you should go for a complete contrast and treat yourself to this:



Bernstein's late recordings with the NYP.
Totally indulgent, totally over the top emotional, totally LB. In other words, this is so wrong on so many levels (especially the 6th), but there is so much musical personality and conviction behind it that it is a trip that is really worth taking.

[Harry]

You might also consider the Karajan recordings...., and the Muti on EMI is also a strong and powerful proposition.

[Marcel]

First recommendation is of course Mravinsky, mentioned here. Gergiev is great in 5th. I have his 6th with Kirov Orchestra. It is better than with Wiener Philharmoniker according reviews.

Based on the few samples I've heard, Gatti would be my choice, though it's a very fleet, fast style.

True about Gatti, though I don't like Gatti much, because of his no-contrast approach. I feel Tchaikovsky's music demands it. Anyway I would still looked for him.

Jansons is good choice, but why is he softening dynamics in some passages in symphonies and going to crescendo? I don't like it.

[MISHUGINA]

weird, haven't seen Iago burst in here and recommend a Monteux/Boston Symphony set.

Ferenc Fricsay also recorded Tchaik 4,5 and 6. Loved his 5th, but the rest seems very difficult to find...

[dirkronk]

weird, haven't seen Iago burst in here and recommend a Monteux/Boston Symphony set.

Well, in his absence, I'll put in a good word for it. I have the 4 and 5 by Monteux on vinyl (don't recall if I have the 6th and can say nothing about that), and find them an interesting, beautiful and very different take than the Mravinsky interps.

If you want REAL different, find Mengelberg's ancient ones--in fact, Mengie did the 4th and 5th both in the late 1920s AND the late 1930s, and comparing them to each other is rather fascinating. I don't recall him doing more than one recording of the 6th, however.

Of course, NONE of my comments and few of the ones above speak to your original "maybe" list, hornteacher. Sorry.

Cheers,

Dirk

[marvinbrown]

You might also consider the Karajan recordings...., and the Muti on EMI is also a strong and powerful proposition.

  Yes I will second Harry's recommendation of the Karajan recordings.  There are so many on the market, you could just buy 4,5, and 6 as a set or buy a boxset  of the complete cycle 1-6.  The choice is, and as always, yours hornteacher  .

  marvin

[M forever]

The question here is, which Karajan recordings?

[Drasko]

I quite like Karajan's mid 70s DG 4-6, though admittedly haven't done comparative listening of his 7 official Pathetiques. I'd probably be interested in sampling his digital Wiena recordings at some point but my short time Tchaikovsky plans include getting to know better Pique Dame and going on a Winter Dreams binge.

[BorisG]

You want scintillating?
Karajan/BPO 1971, newly remastered for EMI Gemini, or the 1973 DVD with the same forces.

[M forever]

I actually prefer Karajan's late recordings of 4-6 with the WP. Like many of the recordings he made in his last years, these have a spontaneity and even a certain degree of roughness - or maybe not roughness, but simply less focus on polishing the sound and filing off corners -, elements which were often present in his concerts, but not in many of the studio recordings made in the 60s and especially 70s. Plus the sound of the recordings DG made in Vienna then is much better than the contemporary ones they made in Berlin and most of what they did there in the 70s.

[Bonehelm]

I actually prefer Karajan's late recordings of 4-6 with the WP. Like many of the recordings he made in his last years, these have a spontaneity and even a certain degree of roughness - or maybe not roughness, but simply less focus on polishing the sound and filing off corners -, elements which were often present in his concerts, but not in many of the studio recordings made in the 60s and especially 70s. Plus the sound of the recordings DG made in Vienna then is much better than the contemporary ones they made in Berlin and most of what they did there in the 70s.

M, any comments on the release of the final flourish? It's from the 1973 DVD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWa7_MWr7V0

So clean, precise, "together"...to me that final chord alone makes the whole DVD set worth buying, since I have never heard anything similar in any performance that even comes close to this one, except for some other recordings made by the same team. (1988 Tch PC #1 with Kissin, anyone?)

[uffeviking]

M, any comments on the release of the final flourish? It's from the 1973 DVD.

This DVD is out of print! I checked three sources, DG does not even list it, only the ones from the Berliners, nothing from Vienna! 

[M forever]

Brian linked to a location recently where those films from the 70s can be downloaded.