Tchaik 6 recording

[mjt0229]

I'm playing Tchaikovsky 6 next month and would like to find a good recording. Most of the reviews on Amazon point to Bernstein and Karajan, although I'd be curious to know if some other conductor has a good interpretation, as I'm generally not a fan of either maestro.

Bonus points if they also have a good recording of the 5th, since I'm playing that with a different orchestra soon as well.

Thoughts?

[Eric Swanson]

Originally Posted by mjt0229

I'm playing Tchaikovsky 6 next month and would like to find a good recording. Most of the reviews on Amazon point to Bernstein and Karajan, although I'd be curious to know if some other conductor has a good interpretation, as I'm generally not a fan of either maestro.

Bonus points if they also have a good recording of the 5th, since I'm playing that with a different orchestra soon as well.

Thoughts?

My favorite is with Terry Plumeri conducting the Moscow Philharmonic. I really prefer Plumeri's versions for their musical clarity.
You have two options with him conducting the 6th, both available at Amazon:

- the 6th, which also has Plumeri's amazingly beautiful bassoon concerto as well (Kenneth Pasmanick, bassoonist)

- the 4th, 5th, and 6th (all Tschaikovsky)

I own both. I think the bassoon concerto alone is worth the price of that disc.

All of these pieces really need good conducting direction, vision, and skill. As a well-regarded composer, Plumeri imbues these pieces with clarity...every phrase is well considered and played.


Here's a link. Don't let the first name variations throw you; this is Terry Plumeri, the jazz bass virtuoso, orchestral conductor, and composer.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...meri&x=15&y=21


More about Terry here:

www.terryplumeri.com

Have fun!

[mjt0229]

Hey, thanks for the recommendation! The reviews on Amazon are quite positive, and they sound like just what I was hoping to find - a faithful but sensitive recording. I ordered the Symphonies 4,5,6 recording, but I might go back and order the bassoon concerto as well.

It's been really fun rehearsing #6 and I think we're going to sound pretty nice, for an amateur (or as I like to say, "unprofessional") orchestra.

[Cory Palmer]

Furtwangler's recording is supposed to be very good. I haven't heard it though. Furtwangler's recordings are usually live performances and have an energy that a lot of recordings don't have.

[Eric Swanson]

Originally Posted by mjt0229

Hey, thanks for the recommendation! The reviews on Amazon are quite positive, and they sound like just what I was hoping to find - a faithful but sensitive recording. I ordered the Symphonies 4,5,6 recording, but I might go back and order the bassoon concerto as well.

It's been really fun rehearsing #6 and I think we're going to sound pretty nice, for an amateur (or as I like to say, "unprofessional") orchestra.

I dig that bassoon concerto. He also did a lovely oboe concerto on another disc, along with a piece called "The Pride of Baltimore."

Just lovely, powerful, orchestral writing...

Glad to be helpful! Nothing better than sharing great music!

[bassat88]

I think one of my favorites is Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

[kontrabass]

Originally Posted by bassat88

I think one of my favorites is Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

No doubt. I'd recommend nearly anything with Abbado. He's unbelievable.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by mjt0229

I'm playing Tchaikovsky 6 next month and would like to find a good recording. Most of the reviews on Amazon point to Bernstein and Karajan, although I'd be curious to know if some other conductor has a good interpretation, as I'm generally not a fan of either maestro.

Bonus points if they also have a good recording of the 5th, since I'm playing that with a different orchestra soon as well.

Thoughts?

Especially as you say you want the 5 as well - there is a great set of 4,5 and 6th symphony by Mravinsky and Leningrad Phil :



http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Sy...4732416&sr=8-1

I think for a Russian composer you really want to hear a Russian conductor - it's so different!!

Here's the Amazon review :

Amazon.com essential recording
These recordings by Evgeny Mravinsky and his Leningrad Philharmonic, taped in the autumn of 1960 while they were on tour in London, are among the absolute classics of the catalog. They are readings of hair-raising intensity--the finale of the Fourth is marked allegro con fuoco, and if you want to know what con fuoco means, all you have to do is listen for a moment. No one else has ever had the nerve, or the ability, to play the music this way. The treatment is very Russian: the extremes are more extreme, the passions more feverish, the melancholy darker, the climaxes louder. In that department, the development section of the first movement of the Pathètique has to be heard to be believed. The sound is remarkably good for the time, a little edgy in the loudest pages but wonderfully present, just like the performances themselves. --Ted Libbey


I like the Bernstein - but it is incredibly slow and I don't think anybody else could pull it off that slow, so it's not a good recommendation for how to play it!!

[Illfavor]

Mvarinksy's 6th is the only 6th, or so I've been told by numerous people.