Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66

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The Bergen Philharmonic proves an ideal instrument for one of Tchaikovsky's most magical scores. Neeme Jarvi's every demand is met with immaculate playing, recorded in a warm but not too resonant... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2013, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Dec 2012
Catalogue No: CHSA5113(2)
Label: Chandos
Length: 2 hours 34 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

10th December 2012

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Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66

Work length2:34:30

$67.00

$87.10

$117.25

James Ehnes (violin), Robert deMaine (cello)
Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester
Neeme Järvi
Recorded: 18-23 June 2012
Recording Venue: Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway

Introduction (Allegro vivo - Andantino)

Track length2:35

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Prologue The Christening: March (Moderato)

Track length4:09

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Prologue The Christening: Scene Dansante (Moderato con moto)

Track length3:56

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: I. Introduction

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: II. Adagio

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: III. Variation I, The Fairy of the Crystal Fountain (Allegro moderato)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: IV. Variation II, The Fairy of the Enchanted Garden (Allegro)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: V. Variation III, The Fairy of the Woodland Glades (Allegro moderato)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: VI. Variation IV, The Fairy of the Songbirds (Moderato)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: VII. Variation V, The Fairy of the Golden Vine (Allegro molto vivace)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: VIII. Variation VI: The Lilac Fairy (Tempo di valse)

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: IX. Coda (Allegro giusto)

Track length1:22

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Prologue The Christening: Pas de six: Finale

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Act I The Spell: Scene (Allegro vivo - Moderato)

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Act I The Spell: Valse (Allegro: Tempo di valse)

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Act I The Spell: Scene (Andante)

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Act I The Spell: Pas d'action: I. Adagio a la rose (Andante - Adagio maestoso)

Track length6:45

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Act I The Spell: Pas d'action: II. Dance of the Maids of Honour and the Pages

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Act I The Spell: Pas d'action: III. Variation d'Aurore

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Act I The Spell: Pas d'action: IV. Coda (Allegro giusto)

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Act I The Spell: Finale

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Act II The Vision: Entr'acte et Scene (Allegro con spirito - Un poco piu tranquillo)

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Act II The Vision: Colin-maillard (Allegro vivo)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Moderato): I. Scene

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Moderato): II. Danse des Duchesses (Minuet) (Moderato con moto)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Moderato): III. Danse des Baronnes (Gavotte)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Moderato): IV. Danse des Comtesses (Allegro non troppo)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Moderato): V. Danse des Marquises (Allegro non troppo)

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Act II The Vision: Farandole: I. Scene (Poco piu vivo)

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Act II The Vision: Farandole: I. Danse (Allegro non troppo)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Prince Florimund and the Lilac Fairy)

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Act II The Vision: Pas d'action: Pas d'action (Aurore et Florimund (Andante cantabile)

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Act II The Vision: Pas d'action: Variation d'Aurore (Allegro con moto)

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Act II The Vision: Pas d'action: Coda (Presto)

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Act II The Vision: Scene (Allegro agitato)

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Act II The Vision: Panorama (Andantino: The Awakening)

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Act II The Vision: Entr'acte

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Act II The Vision: Entr'acte symphonique et Scene

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Act II The Vision: Finale (The Awakening)

Track length2:18

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Act III The Wedding: Marche (Allegro non troppo)

Track length3:09

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Act III The Wedding: Polacca (Procession of Fairy-Tale Characters) (Allegro moderato e brillante)

Track length4:22

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: I. Pas de quatre (Allegro non tanto)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: II. Variation I, The Golden Fairy (Allegro: Tempo di valse)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: III. Variation II, The Silver Fairy (Allegro giusto)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: IV. Variation III, The Sapphire Fairy (Vivacissimo)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: V. Variation IV, The Diamond Fairy (Vivace)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre: VI. Coda (L'istesso tempo)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de caractere (Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat) (Allegro moderato)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre (Adagio): I. Pas de quatre

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre (Adagio): II. Variation I, Cinderella and Prince Charming (Allegro: Tempo di valse)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre (Adagio): III. Variation II, The Bluebird and Princess Florine (Andantino)

Track length0:45

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de quatre (Adagio): IV. Coda (Presto)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de caractere: I. Chaperon Rouge et le Loup (Allegro moderato)

Track length1:10

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de caractere: II. Cendrillon et le Prince Fortune (Allegro: Tempo di valse)

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Act III The Wedding: Pas Berrichon: (a) Le Petit Poucet, ses freres et l'Ogre

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Act III The Wedding: Pas Berrichon: (b) Coda

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux: Aurore et Desire

Track length0:10

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux (Aurora and Florimund): II. Entree (Allegretto - Allegro moderato)

Track length1:33

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux (Aurora and Florimund): III. Adagio (Andante non troppo)

Track length4:46

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux (Aurora and Florimund): IV. Variation I, Florimund (Vivace - Prestissimo)

Track length1:03

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux (Aurora and Florimund): V. Variation II, Aurora (Andantino)

Track length1:59

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Act III The Wedding: Pas de deux (Aurora and Florimund): VI. Coda (Allegro vivace)

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Act III: Sarabande

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Act III: Finale

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Act III: Apotheose

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Recording of the Week, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty from Neeme Järvi

10th December 2012

A new trilogy of complete Tchaikovsky ballet scores from the veteran Estonian conductor and the Bergen Philharmonic gets off to a glittering start, with outstanding solo contributions from violinist James Ehnes and cellist Robert deMaine.

This two-disc set marks the beginning of a new project devoted to Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores. We start the survey with the complete score of The Sleeping Beauty, recorded on SACD. Swan Lake and The Nutcracker will follow in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Tchaikovsky was approached by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, in 1888 about a possible ballet adaptation of Charles Perrault’s La Belle au bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty). The vision was to stage the production in the style of Louis XIV, allowing the musical fantasy to run high and melodies to be written in the spirit of Lully, Bach, and Rameau. This proposal for a fairy-tale ballet rooted firmly in both the rococo and baroque periods appealed to Tchaikovsky, and The Sleeping Beauty was premiered in 1890, with choreography by Petipa, the principal choreographer of his day.

Elaborately constructed, the ballet places its focus undeniably on the two main conflicting forces of good (the Lilac Fairy) and evil (Carabosse). Each has a representative leitmotif, which runs through the entire ballet, serving as an important thread to the underlying plot. Tchaikovsky’s use of what, at the time, were considered new and unorthodox instrumental combinations went on to inspire a new generation of composers, among them Stravinsky, who declared The Sleeping Beauty to be Tchaikovsky’s chef d’œuvre.

The Sleeping Beauty is here performed by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Neeme Järvi, who is celebrating two major milestones this year: a thirty-year recording career with Chandos Records, and his own seventy-fifth birthday. Orchestra and conductor are joined by the pre-eminent violinist James Ehnes, one of the most dynamic and exciting performers in classical music today.

Reviews

February 2013

The Bergen Philharmonic proves an ideal instrument for one of Tchaikovsky's most magical scores. Neeme Jarvi's every demand is met with immaculate playing, recorded in a warm but not too resonant acoustic...That said, Jarvi chooses some quirky tempos...there is plenty here to delight lovers of this ballet.

5th January 2013

[Järvi] turns a second-tier orchestra into a world beater, holding the Bergen Philharmonic in the palm of his hand. Despite speeds that are noticeably faster than you would expect in the theatre, Järvi makes every phrase dance and smile.

January 2013

This is a good, practical interpretation of The Sleeping Beauty. The playing by the Bergen Philharmonic is strong and spirited: Jarvi's conducting is rational, adopting as it does the natural pacings and colouristic inflections from which it is possible to appreciate the character of the dances in one's mind's eye...in general Järvi does a sound job in sustaining the dramatic flow.

December 2012

Järvi seems never to put a foot wrong and the Bergen orchestra impresses as much, conducted by him, as it does under its principal conductor Andrew Litton... the producers have pulled out all the stops and engaged no less a violinist than James Ehnes to play the important violin solos, a strikingly indulgent decision which pays dividends because Ehnes' outstanding technique makes these sections truly memorable.

10th December 2012

Järvi's tempos generally verge on the fast side...and while I’m not convinced that every bar could be danced to at these speeds, this is after all a recording rather than a backing track for a ballet performance, and it unquestionably works in delivering thrilling climaxes and genuine excitement. The orchestral playing is ravishing, and the sound – ranging from shimmering cymbals to rasping brass – is superbly captured by Ralph Couzens and his team.

23rd December 2012

From the outset...it is clear that Jarvi has no intention of lingering. His brisk allegros would probably rush the most virtuosic ballerinas off their feet in the theatre. On record, without the distraction of spectacle and dancing, the dramatic momentum hardly lets up, although he and the excellent Bergen players luxuriate in the rapt steps of Aurora’s famous Rose Adagio.

10th January 2013

You might find yourselves in two minds about it. Järvi's extreme speeds result in a performance to which you can't imagine anyone dancing...The playing is ravishing, though, and a couple of glamorous guest instrumentalists, James Ehnes and Robert deMaine, add real lustre to the concertante violin and cello solos respectively.

Offer,Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66

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Recording of the Week, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty from Neeme Järvi

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