Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky Gala

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The playing and especially the recorded sound are slapdash. Perlamn, Norman, and Yo-Yo Ma dutifully play their cameo roles, but the usually wonderful Temirkanov is off form, and with the shrill, unplesantly piercing sonics, his orchestra is no pleasure to hear, either. I don't know who this collection is aimed at, since anyone who wants the rarely heard Tchaikovsky songs done by Jessye Norman would be way past wanting another 1812 Overture.

The centerpiece of this album -- the 1812 -- is shamelessly amateurish. Obviously recorded outdoors, it is played for effect rather than for musicality. The recording is third-rate, as is much of the playing: the trumpets are especially sloppy, with lots of intonation problems; the timpanist is a head-banger, trying to out-do the cannons; the conducting is a mystery. A lot of the tempi are to the extreme... for what effect... to be different? Different is clearly not always better. Don't be fooled by the marquee of players. The "goods" are gone missing.

One of my favorite albums. I have never heard a better performance of the two songs, and the aria from Jeanne D'Arc is absolutely flawless, makes one wonder why the opera itself is not more popular. This electric performance of the Rococo Variations is the best I've heard by Yo-Yo Ma or any other performer for that matter. Itzhak Perlman shines with glorious legato in the Serenade Melancolique. Tchaikovsky would have been proud of this tribute. The disc implies that is a soundtrack for a film of the concert yet I have been unable to find more information about it. Highly recommended!