Cheap Tchaikovsky: Symphony No6, Op74; Romeo & Juliet in Bm (Music) (Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Valery Gergiev) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No6, Op74; Romeo & Juliet in Bm

Robust without drama!
I heard Gergiev and The Kirov Orchestra perform this symphony the night before they made this recording in Finland. The concert was magnificent and I had high hopes for this recording but I must say I was deeply dissapointed. The first movement is very odd and Gergiev never seems to find the right tempo. Some parts are played way too fast and some too slow. The live performance was very gripping but the recording sounds very robust without being dramatic. The brass play very hard with a strong vibrato, but I think Gergiev lets the brass play too loud and they often cover the strings. Playing loud doesn't mean playing dramatic. The last movement is also a dissappointment. I don't understand, why Gergiev has to accelerate the tempo during the final climax.

The hall, where this recording has been made is very small and I think you can sense it while hearing this recording. The sound has no air in it. The percussion sound very odd and too hard and very close. The new recording which Gergiev has made with Vadim Repin has also been recorded at the same hall, but it sounds much better.

My favourite recording of the Pathétique is Sergiu Celibidache's recording. This performance takes an hour!! But it is truly gripping.

After hearing Gergiev's poor recording of Verdi's Requiem, I thought that Gergiev was loosing his touch. But then after hearing his new recordings of The Rite of Spring and Pictures at an Exhibition, I was relieved. They are both magnificent. Gergiev is still my favourite conductor, because he can produce a very personal sound. Some other conductors, like Salonen, Chailly, Rattle and Nagano, all sound the same. Gergiev's style suits for some pieces and for some pieces, like Sibelius and Beethoven, it doesn't. I think it should suit for Tchaikovsky, but this recording proves otherwise. But I hope he will make a new recording some day. Maybe with the Wiener Philharmoniker.

The Search Continues...
I first heard this piece in a LP conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky--the orchestra was something like the Moscow Radio Symphony. The performers were not all technically the best, but they played with an intensity I've never heard matched, and I've been on the lookout since then for a recording to match or equal that. I believe Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony to be the most emotionally wrenching work ever composed (this from a musician who worships Mahler like a God). And in my quest I borrowed a copy of Gergiev's performance with the Kirov Orchestra. It came highly recommended, and many of the reviews here praise it highly; certainly the Kirov Orchestra from St. Petersburg should be able to play Tchaikovsky like no one else. But I also had some trepidation--knowing Gergiev and the Kirov's recording of Verdi's Requiem, I found the orchestra not up to the demands of such emotionally charged music--particularly the brass, and Gergiev's interpretation somewhat quirky. Still, I tried not to prejudge. But with practically the first note, I knew there was trouble. I find Gergiev's tempi rather odd--the beginning is too fast, other spots too slow, and some places simply odd. As with the Verdi, the Kirov Orchestra's performance is more a testament to the fact that many of the former USSR's finest musicians have left the country than a display of a long and proud history. Balance problems abound, and the orchestra is simply uneven in the intensity of the performance. I can't recommend this recording, and honestly I'm curious why so many here have praised it so highly. I am definitely a very critical listener; but there are hundreds of recordings of this piece--why not be?