Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29 'Polish'

This is the penultimate release in the Tchaikovsky Symphonies cycle by the best Russian Orchestra conducted by its Music Director Mikhail Pletnev. The whole series has been critically acclaimed across the globe and this one will be eagerly awaited by collectors of the series.

This album complements the three previous Tchaikovsky releases in the series (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker) and features a condensed version of the dramatic ballet Onegin, created by John Cranko in Stuttgart and now performed by major companies all over the world. It uses piano music by Tchaikovsky arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. The rest of the programmes consists of three major ballets choreographed by George Balanchine created on extracts from Tchaikovsky’s Suite for Orchestra No.3 in G (Theme and Variations) and his Symphony No.3 in D ‘Polish’ (Jewels: Diamonds) plus the complete version of his Piano Concerto No.2 in G (Ballet Imperial).

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 Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern was only founded in 2007 and Christoph Poppen was Music Director until 2011. He is in great demand both as a conductor and violinist and has released the complete symphonies of Mendelssohn with this orchestra on the OehmsClassics label.

This disc is the final instalment in BIS’s Tchaikovsky symphony cycle with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi, a cycle which as a whole can be described as resolutely unsentimental, aiming to rid the score of the melodramatic excess that has become part of the performance tradition. The disc features the Third Symphony, nick-named ‘The Polish’ thanks to the marking of the final movement –Tempo di Polacca.

This disc also includes a number of shorter works, among which the dances from Eugene Onegin and extracts from two lesser-known works The Voyevoda and Introduction and from the music to the play Dmitri the Pretender and Vassily Shuisky. Equally unusual is the brief Serenade, written in 1872 in honour of Nikolai Rubinstein.

Recorded: Town Hall, Bournemouth, 25 September 1962 (Reznicek), Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, 3 July 1967 (Tchaikovsky, Elgar)

This the fourth release on BBC Legends of the Rumanian conductor Constantin Silvestri (1913- 1969) who spent his last years as Music Director of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra raising it to an international level which it enjoys today. Silvestri recorded frequently for EMI with the Philharmonia, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre National in Paris, London Philharmonic and Paris Conservatoire.

The composer Emil von Reznicek was Silvestri's uncle (on his mother's side). This early and very high spirited performance with the BSO from 1962 of Reznicek's popular Donna Diana Overture confirms Silvestri's wonderful rapport with the orchestra.

Silvestri made his name on EMI with his exciting but sometimes controversial recordings of Tchaikovsky's Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6. BBC Legends has issued his November 1966 broadcast of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.2 'Little Russian' and now we have Symphony No.3 'Polish' from a July 1967 broadcast in warm and immediate sound.

Silvestri's EMI recording of Elgar's 'In the South' Overture remains a classic to this day. BBC Legends have added the composer's Symphony No.1 (from 1968) and the 'Cockaigne' Overture (from 1966) and now we have probably the most popular Elgar work written, the 'Enigma Variations' (from July 1967) in a performance of deep understanding with a touch of non traditionalist about it.