Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev – Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 ‘Little Russian’ (2012) {SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz}

Following the long & rocky road to the 1st Symphony, on which, due to his teaching duties at the Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky had been forced to work at night, the 2nd Symphony was composed mainly in the summer of 1872, hot on the heels of his 2nd opera, The Oprichnik. At this time, Tchaikovsky was once again taking a holiday on the country estate of his sister Aleksandra, located near the Ukrainian town of Kamianka, in the Kiev Governerate. Numerous anecdotes report Tchaikovsky’s touching assertion that he was not the true creator of the work, but rather, that it actually had been composed by a Pyotr Gerasimovich, 1 of the older servants in the household of his sister & her husband, Lev Davydov, for it was Pyotr Gerasimovich who had sung the folksong, The Crane, to him, which provided the basis for the work’s finale. Regardless of the story’s veracity, there is no other work in Tchaikovsky’s symphonic oeuvre that contains such a wealth of authentic folksong themes beside freely composed folksong-like creations. The work’s unofficial title, Little Russian Symphony, is indeed attributable to the fact that so many Ukrainian folksongs are employed in it, ‘Little Russia’ having been the standard term for the central & northern portions of today’s Ukraine in Tsarist times.

Tracklist

Symphony No. 2 in C Minor Op. 17 (1872, revised 1879/80) “Little Russian”
1. I. Andante sostenuto-Allegro vivo 10.56
2. II. Andantino marziale, quasi moderato 6.20
3. III. Scherzo – Allegro molto vivace 5.12
4. IV Finale – Moderato assai-Allegro vivo 9.19

Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Original First Movement) 1872
5. Andante sostenuto-Allegro commodo 16.04

Musicians
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev – conductor
Alexei Bruni

Polyhymnia DSD recording

Produced by Job Maarse

SACD ISO

mqs.link_TchaikvskySymphny2PletnevRN.part1.rar
mqs.link_TchaikvskySymphny2PletnevRN.part2.rar
mqs.link_TchaikvskySymphny2PletnevRN.part3.rar

FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz

mqs.link_TchaikvskySymphny2PletnevRN2ch.rar