Tchaikovsky: Capriccio italien, Op. 45

A selection of symphonic works from Tchaikovsky including Francesca de Rimini, Italian Capriccio and Serenade for strings.

By 1958, Decca has been recording in stereo for four years, regularly sending out two production teams, one to make the stereo master, the other the mono master. Each team of producer and engineer worked independently of the other to produce the optimum sound for their system. In 1958, to launch their new stereo series (with an SXL prefix for the catalogue number) it was decided that a new and spectacular recording was required for the very first record (SXL 2001). Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, a popular orchestral showpiece that could show off the stereo imagery, was a natural choice. The cannon shots made a particularly strong impression at the time; the well-kept secret at the time is that they were, in fact, over-dubbed, speeded-down gun shots! As the Gramophone reviewer in October 1958 pointed out, ‘In every respect, in fact, this is a first-class record’.

Kenneth Alwyn was a principal conductor of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden where he shared the rostrum with such luminaries working with the company at that time as Malcolm Sargent, Ernest Ansermet, Arthur Bliss, William Walton, Hans Werner Henze and Benjamin Britten the latter nominated him as conductor of the original production of The Prince of the Pagodas. In the notes for this CD – to which his 1959 recording of a suite from Swan Lake has been added to the items on the original record – he recounts his experience at the recording sessions for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which, issued in 1958, was to become the first stereo recording of this work and Decca’s first official stereo recording.

Four of Tchaikovsky’s most popular orchestral works make their appearances here in historic Decca and Philips recordings appearing internationally on CD for the first time. Most travellers to Italy content themselves with writing postcards. Tchaikovsky, on the other hand, wrote a popular symphonic work. His Capriccio italien was inspired by impressions made upon the composer during a three-month stay in Rome during the winter of 1879–80. This colourful and exciting work was first heard at the end of 1880, and right from the start, it was a popular success. Tchaikovsky prepared a suite of excerpts for concert performance even before The Nutcracker was completed. The Russian musicologist Boris Asafyev perceptively called this suite a ‘symphony about childhood’. Indeed, among Tchaikovsky’s major works, it is notable for its lack of fatalism and hysteria. These two joyous pieces encase two of Tchaikovsky’s greatest tone poems about star-crossed lovers. Its opening depicts the terrifying panorama of the second circle of Hell, Francesca da Rimini tells the story of Paolo and Francesca, condemned to damnation for a kiss. Shakespeare also found a home on Tchaikovsky’s proverbial bedside table. Many composers have found inspiration in the Bard’s famous ‘star-cross’d’ lovers. Tchaikovsky counted his contribution to this genre, the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, among his very best works.

The Sussex-born conductor Anthony Collins left a treasured legacy for Decca, including the symphonies and selected tone poems by Sibelius. The Dutchman Eduard van Beinum was revered by orchestras for his generosity of spirit and for a time conducted both ‘his’ Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as the London Philharmonic simultaneously.

This is the third release in the new complete Tchaikovsky Symphony cycle.

The first release (Symphony No.4 PTC5186384) got rave reviews;

“…passionate and powerful performances…compelling direct accounts that are full-blooded, subtle and finely detailed.” International Record Review. Many of the 24 PentaTone releases with this superb orchestra have won awards.

Cannon and musket fire directed by Gerard C. Stowe