Your favourite Tchaikovsky symphony?

[71 dB]

The absolute best:

There are many good performances.

Thanks for these! Since I am to explore all the symphonies, the Jurowski looks good and "modern sound" is a plus (modern sound can be bad if the sound engineers did lousy job).

[Jo498]

I am reminded of Eduard Hanslick's criticism of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto:

    "The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is an inflated [talent], without discrimination or taste. Such is also his long and pretentious Violin Concerto. For a while it moves musically, and not without spirit. But soon vulgarity gains the upper hand. The violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, shredded. The [second movement] Adagio is on its best behavior. But it breaks off to make way for a finale that transfers us to the brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian holiday. We see plainly the savage, vulgar faces; we hear curses, we smell vodka. Friedrich Vischer once observed, speaking of obscene pictures, that they stink to the eye. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion that there can be music that stinks to the ear."

I had encountered that criticism long ago in truncated form, so for years I assumed that the "stink" was because of overly sweet perfume (in the first 2 movements), not vodka, sweat and garlic!
Tbh I found this far more plausible and I never liked the work very much but I recognize its achievement and the last movemmnt is probably my favorite!

The true core of such criticism is, I think, that it points to the extreme contrasts within the composer. There is the elegant "French Ballet" side and the bipolar Russian side between exultation and suicidal depression. In the case of the violin concerto it's rather unfair because I think he managed the fusion very well here.
But I think he needs both sides. He managed a few good works mostly without the "dark" or "elemental" side, such as the String serenade (or maybe even most of Nutcracker) but I find that other pieces without the energy and depth of that other side become competent and boring (IMO 3rd symphony, 2nd piano concerto  they are neglected, but it's understandable).

[Florestan]

The true core of such criticism is, I think, that it points to the extreme contrasts within the composer. There is the elegant "French Ballet" side and the bipolar Russian side between exultation and suicidal depression.

Except for the last movement of the Pathetique, I can't find any instance of suicidal depression in Tchaikovsky's music. Emotional turbulence aplenty, melancholy (mostly of the dark type) in spades --- but suicidal depression is an exaggeration. Did you ever feel like killing yourself after listening to Tchaikovsky?     

[DavidW]

Did you ever feel like killing yourself after listening to Tchaikovsky?     

I usually reserve Pettersson for that!

[Florestan]

I usually reserve Pettersson for that!

 

[Karl Henning]

Personally, I've always liked the Vn Cto.

[Jo498]

Except for the last movement of the Pathetique, I can't find any instance of suicidal depression in Tchaikovsky's music. Emotional turbulence aplenty, melancholy (mostly of the dark type) in spades --- but suicidal depression is an exaggeration. Did you ever feel like killing yourself after listening to Tchaikovsky?     

No, of course it is a bit of an exaggeration although I think there are very dark melancholic passage also in the 5th symphony, the 4th has that bipolar contrasts (a bipolar person does not have to be suicidal but oscillates between hyperactivity and depressive brooding), the 3rd quartet and the trio, which were also tributes to deceased friends.

[71 dB]

I listened to the first symphony on Spotify (Jurowski). This is not a particularly mind-blowing symphony, but Tchaikovski knew how to compose Adagio cantabiles.

I received several pop CDs today, so Tchaikovski has to wait, but work in progress... 

[Atriod]

4-6-5-3-1-2

I would have to think hard about where to place Manfred. This is one rare instance where a specific performance completely changed my mind on it.

Even the symphonies I didn't typically listen to these days until discovering Eschenbach, Gatti for the last three, and Pletnev in the first three. Which had caused me to go back to all the old performances I knew I liked and made me realize I was wrong to neglect these works for 10+ years.

[Jo498]

I rarely listen to the symphonies nowadays and I don't know Manfred well enough (although I have 3 of the most highly regarded recordings, Svetlanov, Silvestri, Markevitch), so its getting fuzzy in the lower half

6-5-4-1-2-3

I probably rated 1 in second place years ago when I was rather sick of 4 and 5. However, 5 was my "first love" and I think the middle movements of 4 are among the best. The first movement is good although a bit long (and I dislike the fatum fanfare) and while I tire quickly of the finale its infectious energy is undeniable. Whereas the wonderful atmosphere of the 1st's 1st movement cannot carry the whole piece and the finale is boring. #2 is more like suite with the finale presenting instrumentational changes as variation and while I want to like the 3rd, it just remains mostly boring (like the 2nd & 3rd piano concertos or most of the orchestral suites).

[DavidW]

4-6-5-3-1-2

I would have to think hard about where to place Manfred. This is one rare instance where a specific performance completely changed my mind on it.

Even the symphonies I didn't typically listen to these days until discovering Eschenbach, Gatti for the last three, and Pletnev in the first three. Which had caused me to go back to all the old performances I knew I liked and made me realize I was wrong to neglect these works for 10+ years.

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

[(poco) Sforzando]

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

Janowski's Manfred is excellent, as is all his work. My favorites among the symphonies are 6 and 5 tied, then the others more or less tied. Don't like the finale of 4. I do not like Bernstein's DG Pathetique. 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.

I do love the Violin Concerto, the first Piano, and the Nutcracker. For my liking, there is no better way to experience the Nutcracker than in George Balanchine's choreography, which is fortunately on DVD if you can't get to one of the c. 400 Xmas-season performances at the NYC Ballet.

The Gramophone reviewer singled out the young Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich as his favorite for the concerto. High praise for someone 23 years old when every violinist in history has recorded it, but I like this artist too, a violinistic counterpart to pianoworld's Yunchan Lim. I heard DL live in NYC just recently with pianist Behzod Abduraimov, in a program that included an OK Kreutzer, but also the best Franck sonata I've ever heard.

[Maestro267]

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.

[Wanderer]

I listened to the first symphony on Spotify (Jurowski).

That's not a particularly good rendition. Listen to Karajan.

[LKB]

Except for the last movement of the Pathetique, I can't find any instance of suicidal depression in Tchaikovsky's music. Emotional turbulence aplenty, melancholy (mostly of the dark type) in spades --- but suicidal depression is an exaggeration. Did you ever feel like killing yourself after listening to Tchaikovsky?   

The Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, ends  with very much the same sense of defeat as does Pathetique. Tchaikovsky evokes Chopin's " Funeral March " in the piano's rhythm, and it's easy to interpret the alternating A and E in the left hand as the final steps to an open grave, or perhaps the gallows...

[71 dB]

That's not a particularly good rendition. Listen to Karajan.

Oh, okay. I'll check out Karajan someday (maybe?)

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

[DavidW]

I listened to the first symphony on Spotify (Jurowski). This is not a particularly mind-blowing symphony, but Tchaikovski knew how to compose Adagio cantabiles.

I received several pop CDs today, so Tchaikovski has to wait, but work in progress... 

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

[Cato]

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   

[Florestan]

The Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, ends  with very much the same sense of defeat as does Pathetique. Tchaikovsky evokes Chopin's " Funeral March " in the piano's rhythm, and it's easy to interpret the alternating A and E in the left hand as the final steps to an open grave, or perhaps the gallows...

The question is, whose grave? Tchaikovsky's own, or Nikolai Rubinstein's, in whose memory the trio was written (it is even subtitled A la memoire d'un grand artiste)? I think the answer is obvious.

[Atriod]

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

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.