Search - Tchaikovsky, Simon, Lso :: Hamlet Overture & Incidental Music

Tchaikovsky's Unfamiliar Gold Nuggets!

Larry Cook | Leesburg, GA USA | 11/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite composers. His music to me is always warm, jubilant, majestic and haunting. This CD with the unfamiliar works listed does not disappoint. By the way, since these were World Premiere Recordings, I had to have this 2-CD set.I was not familiar with any of these works except for the "Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem" which I had heard on NPR's "Performance Today" back in 1986. Although it was not Tchaikovsky's best composition, to me, it was a good one!Tchaikovsky's way of incorporating haunting Russian folk music in his works show up in this piece including in the closing, The Danish National Anthem. No matter if it's a symphony, overture, orchestral suite, ballet or tone poem, you will find some tune or theme related to his Russian Motherland. Beautiful sound and performance from Geoffrey Simon and the LSO.In the "Romeo and Juliet", this is the original version composed in 1869 and some three minutes shorter than the 1880 and final version that we hear today. Interesting as it may be, to me, the original version is just as dramatic as the 1880 version.
The LSO is first-class in this performance.In the "Serenade for Nikolai Rubinstein's Saint's Day", no question--it's Tchaikovsky 1000%! Short but sweet. I have a knack for identifying a composer's musical structure. It's a lovely piece."The Battle of Poltava"(Symphonic Tableau) is a real showpiece with it's heavy brass and percussion and goes right well with the "Cossack Dance"(Gopak) from "Mazeppa".Finally, the incidental music to "Hamlet" is dedicated totally to disc 2 and is really top drawer. A lot of unfamiliar music from this work is truly a blessing. The soprano, Janis Kelly, has a voice that is perfect for this work; so does Derek Hammond-Stroud the powerful baritone.To sum up everything, you can't beat this two-disc set from Chandos if you would like to explore Tchaikovsky's unfamiliar orchestral works, Oh yes, there is also an "original" version of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 "Little Russian" available with Simon/LSO on Chandos."