Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 'Winter Daydreams' (Rêves d’hiver, Winterträume)

Tchaikovsky’s early trio of symphonies have long lived in the shadow of the three that followed. Following his acclaimed Mariinsky DVD of the final three symphonies, which received Choc de l’annee in France, Valery Gergiev conducts outstanding performances of the earlier works with the LSO.

Tchaikovsky’s early symphonies are full of the rich expressive melodies, for which he had a natural talent, with influences of Russian nationalism and folk tunes, particularly in the ‘Little Russian’, No. 2. The choreographer George Balanchine exploited the dance-like nature of the Third Symphony by using it as the basis for the final part of his ballet masterpiece, 'Jewels'.

Throughout the Autumn Valery Gergiev will conduct the complete Brahms and Szymanowski cycles with the LSO in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Luxembourg. They also tour to the USA and Germany. Gergiev’s recent recordings on LSO Live include an acclaimed recording of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. His award-winning Mahler cycle will be released as a 10-SACD box set in October.

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.

This CD continues PentaTone’s very successful Tchaikovsky cycle, which has received critical acclaim. Symphony No.5 (PTC5186385) was CD Choice of the Month in the BBC Music Magazine. Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 will follow later in the year, completing the series.

The great Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov (1928-2002) was born in Moscow. He became Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi Ballet (1963-1965) and the USSR Symphony Orchestra (1965-2000) and in later years held positions with the Swedish Radio Symphony

Orchestra and Het Residentie in the Netherlands. He was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the LSO in 1979. He was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1975.

These live recordings are issued for the first time on CD.

The performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.1 in April 2002 with the BBCSO was the last concert he gave in London before his death two months later. Svetlanov’s studio-made Tchaikovsky recordings with the USSR Symphony Orchestra for Melodiya in the 1960s were the cornerstones of the catalogue at the time and he brings an unqualified authority to the Barbican concert recorded here.

Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet (1945) was a comparative rarity for Svetlanov but given his earlier position with the Bolshoi, he had a unique understanding of ballet conducting. It is a superbly detailed and imaginative account with the Philharmonia on tremendous form.

The digital sound recorded in the Barbican for both performances is totally natural and warm.

The tour starts in Uzbekistan, of which there are later glimpses. There is a visit to the historic Russian town of Suzdal and scenes from St Petersburg as well as from Ukraine. It would be impossible to avoid the Russian winter, which appears in various guises, providing entertainment for some and for others a seemingly enchanted snow-bound landscape. The final release in the Naxos Seattle Collection pairs two youthful masterpieces. Extremely well received recordings when first issued on Delos.

The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie’s Tchaikovsky cycle, conducted by Christoph Poppen, has its own special character, which emphasises finely differentiated chamber-music interplay. On the second CD of the series, Poppen contrasts two poetically motivated works.

First release in what will be a complete Tchaikovsky symphony cycle.

Jurowski came to international attention and recognition on disc in 2005 with 2 Tchaikovsky releases: Suite No.3 on PentaTone and on the LPO label his debut recording Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, both widely and critically acclaimed releases. As Hugh Canning in The Sunday Times noted 'Jurowski is proving himself one of the rising podium stars, especially in his native Russian music', so the Tchaikovsky symphony cycle is a perfect artistic collaboration with the LPO and the cycle of numbered symphonies begins here with the release of the 'bookends' - Symphonies 1 and 6.

Winter Daydreams is seductively atmospheric here, and under Jurowski's direction, a lightness and pace to match with the crisp orchestrations giving the impression of a winter landscape. Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, Pathétique, captures the doom of his tormented world, with the tragic finale gaining significance with his sudden death just days after conducting the first performance in St. Petersburg.

‘Tchaikovsky always led with his heart – but Jurowski's fastidious and loving attention to detail in the First Symphony displayed its classical credentials in ways one rarely hears. This performance was on the money from start to finish… If anyone can "reveal" the real Tchaikovsky, this man can.’ Independent, October 2008

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.)