Tchaikovsky: The Snow Maiden, Op. 12: orchestral excerpts

The Gürzenich-Orchester Köln continue their Tchaikovsky series with the lesser-known Symphony No.1 together with excerpts from the Snow Maiden. This symphony has a wealth of melodies but has been overshadowed by Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6.

On the second installment in our series of Tchaikovsky Symphonies with the Gothenburg SO and Neeme Järvi, we go directly from the composer’s symphonic testament, Symphony No.6 ’Pathétique’, to his first attempt at the form. Symphony No. 1 in G minor (‘Winter Daydreams’) is the work of a 26-year old composer, and one that Tchaikovsky cherished all his life, referring to it as ‘a sin of my sweet youth’. It is not hard to find characteristics of his later music in this work, such as its melodic richness and its often extremely skilful orchestration. Two other fairly early works in the composer’s catalogue complete the programme.

The first of Tchaikovsky’s ”Shakesperean” overtures, Romeo and Juliet, was also one of his first great successes, and has remained one of his most popular works. In it the composer makes ample use of all the dramatic opportunities in the play: love, fighting and, finally, death.

In comparison, Snegurochka, or ’The Snow Maiden’, by the Russian poet Alexander Ostrovsky, is rather more like a fairy tale, telling the story of how the Snow Maiden, through love of a mortal being, herself becomes vulnerable and melts away with the first rays of the sun. The subject would seem to have appealed to the composer, whose incidental music received more praise than the play itself on its première in 1873. For this disc, Neeme Järvi has chosen to record four of his favourite episodes from the ca 80 minute long score. (The Dance of the Buffoons, which ends this ”suite” is often chosen by the conductor as an encore.)

BIS are delighted to present a boxed set of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies and other works. The recording have been well received. Symphony No.2 ‘Little Russian’ was hailed by Gramophone as ‘an outstanding performance…beautifully played and paced and immaculately recorded’ and No.3 ‘Polish’ of which, to quote International Record Review, Järvi presented ‘a free-flowing account that places choreographic elegance before symphonic muscle.’ Besides the six numbered symphonies, this ample selection (more than 7 hours of playing time) includes favourites such as Francesca da Rimini, Capriccio italien and Serenade for Strings as well as rarities, including rarely recorded extracts from the opera The Voyevoda and the incidental music to Dmitri the Pretender and Vassily Shuisky. The recordings remain available on the original discs as Hybrid SACDs with a Surround Sound option.