Leonard Slatkin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra – Tchaikovsky: The Six Symphonies (Live) (2015) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Leonard Slatkin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra – Tchaikovsky: The Six Symphonies (Live) (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 04:33:44 minutes | 4,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Live from Orchestra Hall

The symphonies of Tchaikovsky are richly scored and very demanding technically, as well as displaying a remarkable and highly individual amalgam of Russian characteristics and Western symphonic structure. In the case of his first three symphonies, we find many unusual features, a desire on his part for affirmation from his teachers and mentors, and an unease on their part due to what they expected him to compose and what he actually did. There is, of course, the question of an influence of native folk music in his output. About this, he once wrote: “…as far as the Russian element in my music is concerned, i.e. the relationship between the national songs and my melodies and harmonies, this is because I grew up in the backwoods, from earliest childhood saturated with the indescribable beauty of the characteristic traits of Russian folk music.”

In this regard it can be said that Tchaikovsky embodied the character and spirit of 19th-century Russia like no one else. He was one of the supreme melodists and composers of waltzes, and his music is characterized by sweeping melodies, intense and unabashed emotionalism, and, in his greatest works, an almost unequalled ability to grip and hold the listener.

Ironically, it was his great gift as a melodist which worked against him when it came to working with form, the area in which he has been most often criticized. His basic invention was melodic, not structural or symphonic, although in his later symphonies he was able to deal with structural problems in unique ways, and because of his great genius was able to make these unusual forms effective and convincing. Nevertheless, emotional inspiration and spontaneity were the foundations of his musical nature, and the classical concept of sonata form and all that it required were like a straitjacket, so he worked tirelessly on creative problems, and was able to solve most of them because he was a professional in the best sense of the term.

One of the more fascinating aspects of his symphonic output was that, for quite some time, he was famous and beloved for half of this output, a situation which has no parallels in music. Igor Stravinsky unearthed the Second and Third Symphonies in the 1930s to use in guest conducting appearances, and until then they were virtually unknown in the West. The First Symphony had in fact been performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1934, but numbers 2 and 3 had to wait for decades before being heard. The main reason for this was that the great popularity of his last three symphonies simply overshadowed the first three. That these first three symphonies gradually became known can be attributed first to recordings and then to occasional performances, and by now their inspiration and craftsmanship are beyond question.

Tracklist:

01. Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, “Winter Daydreams”: I. Allegro tranquillo (Live)
02. Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, “Winter Daydreams”: II. Adagio cantabile ma non tanto (Live)
03. Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, “Winter Daydreams”: III. Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso (Live)
04. Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, “Winter Daydreams”: IV. Finale. Andante lugubre – Allegro maestoso (Live)
05. Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian”: I. Andante sostenuto – Allegro vivo (Live)
06. Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian”: II. Andantino marziale, quasi moderato (Live)
07. Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian”: III. Scherzo – Allegro molto vivace (Live)
08. Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian”: IV. Finale. Moderato assai – Allegro vivo (Live)
09. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”: I. Introduzione e allegro – Moderato assai (Tempo di marcia funebre) (Live)
10. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”: II. Alla tedesca. Allegro moderato e semplice (Live)
11. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”: III. Andante elegiaco (Live)
12. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”: IV. Scherzo. Allegro vivo (Live)
13. Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29, “Polish”: V. Finale. Allegro con fuoco (Tempo di polacca) (Live)
14. Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36: I. Andante sostenuto (Live)
15. Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36: II. Andantino in modo di canzona (Live)
16. Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36: III. Scherzo. Pizzicato ostinato (Live)
17. Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36: IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco (Live)
18. Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64: I. Andante – Allegro con anima (Live)
19. Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64: II. Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza (Live)
20. Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64: III. Valse. Allegro moderato (Live)
21. Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64: IV. Finale. Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace (Live)
22. Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”: I. Adagio – Allegro non troppo (Live)
23. Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”: II. Allegro con grazia (Live)
24. Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”: III. Allegro molto vivace (Live)
25. Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”: IV. Finale. Adagio lamentoso (Live)