Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Claudio Abbado, Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Tchaikovsky:1812 Overture/Marche Slave/Romeo and Juliet/The Tempest

Magnificent performances recorded in widest dynamic range

Scriabinmahler | UK | 04/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
First, I was very reluctant to buy this cd as I saw many used cds accumulating here, and only impressive recording I knew on this disc was Romeo & Juliet which was originally released as filler for Abbado's Tchaikovsky 4th and clearly better than the symphony itself.



When I played the cd, I was not very impressed by the rather understated, chamber-music-like treatment of the opening of 1812 Overture, and tuned the volume of my amplifier to 12 o'clock. When the battle scene came, and the artillery and church bells joined, it nearly broke my speakers! The dynamic range is huge, and church bells (recorded at the Church of Advent, Boston) and cannons (fired by Black Rose Artillery, Massachusetts) are real. Bernstein, Solti and Ormandy's RCA recording of 1812 are renowned for the spectacular ending, but this one can well match them, and the sound is more overwhelming with the artillery, church bells and the Chicago SO's magnificent brass trying to outdo each other. As with his accounts of Tchaikovsky Symphonies, it takes a while to warm up. Abbado's intention is to biuld the music up gradually to the climax, and this may not please those who are used to the more straightforward Russian renditions.



R&J Overture is also powerfully moving and exciting, if not driven in the fast sections like Karajan or Bernstein's account. The Tempest, one of Tchaikovsky's most inspired works, is the highlight of this disc and it really displays the glorious Chicago sound to the full. Like Francesca da Rimini, the music consists of contrasts between the turbulent scenes and the beautiful lyrical theme, but in much larger scale. It is rich with ideas and inspired melodies, in fact it sounds like a fist movement of a symphony under Abbado's baton. Sony had a good idea to put together all the fillers of his symphony recordings on one disc with the amazingly wide and vivid sound."