Bernstein Century - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Capriccio Italien

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Conductor), New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
• Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00003WGO5
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,356 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 42-Year Old Gem!, January 29, 2000

By 

Douglas Beckerman (Sherman Oaks, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bernstein Century - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Capriccio Italien (Audio CD)

This was the first of the 3 recordings that Bernstein did of this warhorse...all with the New York orchestra. The one in 1975 was uninspired and uninspiring. The reading was akin to browsing yesterday's newspaper...all the notes were in place, but that's about it. His final recording, about 10 years later is an unmitigated disaster. It shows all the peculiarities of the maestro's conducting in the last years of his life. Tempos taken at a lugubrious pace to the point of bringing the music to an essential halt, phrasing which defied explanation and some real rag-tag execution by his charges. The 1958 recording stands as a hallmark of genius in the interpretation of this symphony. The playing, the re-mastered recording, the interpretation...all PERFECT! When one takes into account that this was the first year of the stereo era and only Lenny's 3rd or 4th outing within the new technology, it is really marvelous that the results are nothing less than stunning. The engineering is even so good [some 4 decades ago] that you can hear a violinist cough rather loudly during a quiet passage in the first movement. One cannot say enough about each of the orchestral sections. It is sufficient to simply state that the musicians and conductor's hearts beat as one during these recording sessions. The "Capriccio Italien" filler is a great one. Done in 1963, the piece is played at a hell-bent for leather pace, but not at the sacrifice of the lyrical sections. All in all, the #1 choice for these two works. At mid-price, BUY THIS NOW if you love great music-making!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look here for the most exciting and uncompromising Tchaik 4, March 29, 2004

By 

Bennett Astrove (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bernstein Century - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Capriccio Italien (Audio CD)

Listen... Right from the first echo of brass to the pounding sfzortzando chord that bursts through it, to the devastatingly lyric reading of the second movement, to the capricious (and the absolutely accurate) reading of the third, to the final unhalting pace taken in the fourth, this recording by the great Leonard Bernstein shines forth as one of the best of this work, not to mention of all of Bernsteins own recordings.

The first movement puts forth everything perfectly in place for the rest of this cyclial symphony. Most passionate is the orchestra after the recapitulation and in the coda, where at the last second the luftpause in the entire orchestra will make your heart drop, only to be picked right back up an eternal second later for a most convincing resolution.

Not much can be said of the second but that it is absolutely beautifully lush and the phrasing is dead on perfect for the recurring melody (especially in the hands of the celli).

The third in the hands of Bernstein here makes such a stark contrast in itself and from the other movements as it is read with an almost youthful bravura. Delightfully playful especially when strings and winds play off of each other in the closing section.

The tempo in the finale, to me, is at first the slightest bit slow (even slower in the repeat of the exposition). But it is worth while as it results in one of the greatest eight minute build ups ever recorded. The second occurence of the second theme here is almost devastatingly bold at first, but a brillianly exaggerated ritardando gushing into a repeat of the opening theme of the symphony releases boundless tension at the moment to fade into the close/

Bernsteins closing passage here deserves a paragraph all its own. I have heard recordings that dont even dare accelerate this passage at all, but those recordings simply deflate at its end. Here, Bernstein shocks you; the dramatic increase in tempo can even be anticipated in the timpani roll that begins the brilliant build up to the now lightning fast descending runs that are to follow, and it rages to the closing bars without any comprimise.
Absolutely envigorating and almost painfully exciting to the end.
An absolute joy that any Bernstein or Tchaikovsky fan must own.

Also the capriccio is good, but I am not a fan of the piece so a review from me would be quite biased.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable and inspiring 4th...but mastering/editing error in the Capriccio, May 11, 2009

By 

Bradley P. Lehman (Dayton, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bernstein Century - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Capriccio Italien (Audio CD)

This is a must-hear recording of the 4th: intense performance, and excellent sound for 1958.

The 1960 performance of the Capriccio Italien is good, too, but ruined by an editing error in this reissue: at 2'45" to 2'50", one of the quietest passages, the music is superimposed on itself. I checked back to one of the LP issues of the performance, and the problem wasn't there; it's only in this 1999 CD issue. And, sure enough, the timing is 5 seconds shorter on this CD than on the LP....

I'd buy this for the 4th, anyway. I did. The dessert just has that one weird bite of salt in it.