Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

Barbirolli’s concert programmes with the New York Philharmonic (or Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, as it was known then), were enterprising and forward-looking. In addition to the standard symphonic repertoire, he included a surprisingly large number of performances of contemporary music, including many pieces by American composers, as well as works by British composers. Schumann and Tchaikovsky were among the many composers whose music appeared in Barbirolli’s concert programmes and commercial recordings. He had recorded the Schumann's Cello Concerto with Gregor Piatigorsky (1934) and the Violin Concerto with Menhuin (1938) both with the New York Philharmonic. This 'live' recording of Schumann’s Fourth Symphony is from New York’s Carnegie Hall on 7 November 1937, early in his first full season with the orchestra.

Tchaikovsky had long been in his blood. At the age of twenty, he played solo cello in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey. He recorded many works by Tchaikovsky, including Francesca da Rimini and the Suite No. 3 in G with the New York Philharmonic and Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6 with the Hallé Orchestra. Later in life, Barbirolli once commented that he would sometimes smile at some of the things that he did in his conducting in his youth. He may have smiled and enjoyed the exuberance of his performance of the Tchaikovsky Fifth. The accelerando of the finale raises not just a smile but also the hairs on the back of the neck. This recording of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is an ‘off-air’ recording of a concert broadcast from Utica in New York State during the last week of November 1939. Between 20 November and 3 December 1939, Barbirolli was on tour with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and they played at fourteen different centres in as many days – Scranton, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Kalamazoo, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Utica, Dayton (Canada), Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto. The tour was the highlight of the 1939-40 season and was much enjoyed by both the orchestra and conductor. Barbirolli and the orchestra read ecstatic eulogies of themselves in every town they visited.

The Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado studied under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa and amongst other awards won first prize at the Leonard Bernstein International Competition in 1995. Sado was also involved with Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas in founding the Pacific Music Festival. On this new hybrid SACD recording of Tchaikovsky’s ever popular Fifth Symphony and the same composer’s Marche Slave, Yutaka Sado directs the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Yutaka Sado was born in Kyoto, Japan. In 1987 he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival and became Bernstein’s assistant during his concert tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. He won the Premier Grand Prix of the 39th International Competition for Young Conductors Besançon in 1989 and later the first prize in the Leonard Bernstein International Competition (1995). Sado assisted Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas in founding the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (Japan), where he appeared as permanent conductor and guest conductor. In 1993 Sado was appointed chief conductor of the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux; and in 1999 he was appointed First Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “Giuseppe Verdi”.

The world premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place in St. Petersburg on November 1888 under Tchaikovsky’s baton, and it was an immediate success. Since then it has become one of the most frequently performed and popular pieces in the repertoire. Like the Symphony No. 4, the Fifth is a cyclical symphony due to the recurrence of the "motto" theme in more than one movement. Unlike the Fourth, however, the theme is heard in all four movements, a feature Tchaikovsky had first used in the Manfred Symphony, which was completed less than two years before the Fifth.

Sir Roger Norrington is 75 this year and as part of the celebrations Haenssler is pleased to present this CD with Sir Roger and his Stuttgart orchestra playing two of the most popular pieces of music in the repertoire.

This important new historical CD is a vital release in the Guild series of great performances of the past in that it includes three works by Tchaikovsky conducted by the legendary Leopold Stokowski with the New York NBC Symphony Orchestra from concerts in 1942. Although Stokowski recorded Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony on several occasions, the number of live recordings conducted by him is extremely rare. But what makes this album an absolute must is that the performances of the two other orchestral works by Tchaikovsky were the only occasions in Stokowski's life that he ever conducted them. This therefore makes this very well filled CD an issue of the greatest importance for admirers of Stokowski's art and for collectors of recordings by great conductors. The sound has been refurbished with the latest techniques to provide a CD of major significance.