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Symphony 4 / Serenade for Strings
Tchaikovsky, Svetlanov
Symphony 4 / Serenade for Strings
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #1

There's a limit to how much noise a string orchestra can make, which is a mercy because you're going to need a break after this incendiary performance of the Fourth Symphony. Now Tchaikovsky isn't known for being emotion...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Tchaikovsky, Svetlanov
Title: Symphony 4 / Serenade for Strings
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Melodiya
Release Date: 9/17/1996
Genre: Classical
Styles: Forms & Genres, Serenades & Divertimentos, Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Romantic (c.1820-1910), Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 743213787824

Synopsis

Amazon.com
There's a limit to how much noise a string orchestra can make, which is a mercy because you're going to need a break after this incendiary performance of the Fourth Symphony. Now Tchaikovsky isn't known for being emotionally reticent, and the Fourth Symphony, composed in the wake of his disastrous marriage and subsequent suicide attempt, packs a major wallop. It opens with a "fate" theme, and as Evgeny Svetlanov's "Red Army" style brass plays it here, it'll have you running for cover! The finale too, rather than being the popular celebration Tchaikovsky envisaged, is rather more like a nightmare visit to some Czarist disco. They just don't play it like this anymore. A blast, literally. --David Hurwitz

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CD Reviews

Other recordings want to be this one when they grow up!
06/14/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tchaikovsky wrote a great many pieces and in almost every style. This recording can show that all by itself!This Russian recording from the 60's shows strong technique, ensemble, and musicianship, but that's not the point. Lots of recordings are available that do that just fine. The difference between this recording and others is that this one burns with passion. The strings aren't just hot-they're on fire. The woodwinds dance with a dizzying agility, and the brass aren't only big and loud, they make a move for global domination. Instead of jumping when you hear the percussion, you'll launch. It isn't grossly done, it's simply done without the pretense of artifical limits on the contrasts Tchaikovsky writes. Playing in this extreme style is like fast driving-small mistakes can become big disasters quickly. But the conductor drives with utmost skill, and things stay together and in tempo. This also indicates a great deal of skill in the orchestra, a group I'd not heard much about before.After blowing your sox off with the Symphony, they show you the Serenade for Strings. You wonder if they included it just to prove they could also play softer, slower, and still in control. Whatever the reason, they can, and they do.Many recordings aim to sound like this and fall short. Sometimes they lack the skills, sometimes they lack the conviction to play with this passion. This is the Fourth Symphony they want to be when they grow up!Now, look at the price. Well?"
Passionate, fierce, thrilling
S. G. Oles | Venice, CA United States | 01/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here's a really RUSSIAN performance of great Russian music. The big climaxes of the fourth symphony erupt and flow like molten lava. It's enough to make the genteel editors of the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs wet their pants. lol



Then you get to cool down with the highly civilized charms of the Serenade. A great program, a great disk. One to play for anyone who thinks classical music is dry or boring."