Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture; Romeo and Juliet; Marche Slave; The Tempest

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

 

 

The Tempest alone is enough to justify buying this disc, it's rarely recorded, and this version is I think better than Abbado's with the CSO, there is a lot more tension. The Marche Slave is excellent, a very powerful ending. Romeo and Juliet is equally well done, very tense and emotional. The 1812 is the only let down for me, it is a good recording, but not outstanding, the balance on the recording is off, the drums they use for cannon at the end are too closely miked, and I think Abbado takes the ending a little too fast. Barenboim's new CSO version of the 1812 coupled with Tchaik's 5th symphony is probably a safer bet if the 1812 Overture is what you're after. If not, then I'd highly recommend this disc, the Tempest recording is surely the best ever recorded. The Marche Slave, and Romeo and Juliet are hard to beat to.

I was interested in listening to something new, and I read a few good critics about The Tempest (which I never heard before) and this performance by Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reluctantly I bought the CD, because I was not sure about the Abbado-Berlin combination regarding Tchaikovsky's music, and I already had several versions of the other pieces present on this CD, but this CD came as a great surprise.

First of all, the recording's sound is outstanding, which is no always the case on DG CD's.

About the music, The Tempest has all the characteristics of Tchaikovsky's music, and though I have no other point of reference, I can tell this must be an excellent reading, because it made me keep my interest in the work at all times.

Marche Slave: I have recordings of this piece by Karajan, Stokowski, Slatkin, Maazel, Järvi, Gergiev, Kunzel and this by Abbado. Stokowski's goes to the top of the list with no doubt (the recording for Decca), but from all the rest of the recordings, this stands out as the best by far, second only to Stokowski's. It is a little bit on the slow side regarding tempo, except in the finale after the timpani's solo part. It has plenty of emotion and energy and, as I said before, the clear sound really helps in enjoying the music. I was surprised to find myself enjoying this reading over Karajan's, who was usually more energetic than Abbado.

Romeo and Juliet: This is the best piece in the present recording and the best performance of it that I have ever heard. It is fluent and romantic in the love theme, and extremely fierce in the parts that depicts the violence between the families. The part when the trumpet goes alternating with the bass drum, around minute 11 is simply amazing, and the explosion afterwards is even better. I have other recordings of this piece, by Jansons, Ozawa and Bernstein. Bernstein's was my favorite until I bought this CD, Abbado's reading suppresses the other's I have and some other's I've heard.

1812. This is a very standard reading, I cannot say it has anything special above others nor it is below average; again, I have several recordings of this piece (Solti, Dorati, Dutoit, Jansons, Bernstein, Maazel, Stokowski, Järvi and Gergiev). The famous Dorati's reading with the Minnesota Orchestra belongs to a category by itself. The rest of the recordings of this work are pretty much standard, and Abbado's is no exception.

This is excellent live recording of Tchaikovsky's Tone poems. R&J is very beautifully played capturing ebb and flows of stormy parts and love theme masaterfully, if not as intense as young Abbado's 1971 recording with Boston PO also on DG. 1812 starts promisingly with awesomely sung opening string part, but the bass drum substitution for real canon is real let-down, especially abbado times the explosion exactly in tempo with music rather than random real canan effect (the same mistake Karajan did!). If you are looking for authentic war-like explosive one with loud bells, listen to Solti's mind-blowing version or Ormandy's very powerful recording.

Tempest on the other hand is very impressive and highlight of this disc, slightly slower than his Sony version due to beautifully sustained slow section. Tempest is not Tchaikovsky's second best work, but one of his neglected masterpieces with inspired melodies and some very ingenious orchestration.

First of all, there is nothing bad about this set. Nor is there anything exceptional. It is a pretty full CD at about 70 minutes, which is nice considering some earlier CD issues of this repertoire (Barenboim's Chicago account on DG, for example) included only the 1812 the Marche slave and perhaps one other piece. Whereas most issues might have included the Capriccio italien, this set features Tchaikovsky's other "fantasy after Shakespeare" (the more popular one being Romeo and Juliet, also featured on this disc), The Tempest, Op. 18. There is a decent nine paragraph essay by Bernd Wiechert. The two Shakespeare inspired pieces here come from live performances (audience noise removed, thankfully). The sound is acceptable, and the performances respectable. But it didn't leave me walking away with any real outstanding impressions... The track times are as follows: 1.) The Tempest, Op. 18 [23:10]; 2.) Marche slave, Op. 31 [10:30]; 3.) Romeo and Juliet [20:04]; 4.) 1812, Op. 49 [14:40].

Abbado would have been more successful in these incidental pieces if he conducted with more flair. The Berlin Phil. sounds gorgeous, as does DG's engineering. But Abbado had already done a good enough job with each piece for Sony, where these works were more fittingly paired with the symmphonies rather than standing alone. The Tempest is one of his least inspired tone poem-like works, and Abbado shows only moderate interest in either the Marche Slave or Romeo and Juliet.

Oddly, he gets most fired up over the most bedraggled warhorse here, the 1812 Over., which receives the full birtuoso treatment, all guns blazing (actually, no guns, only percussion). I supose the marketing people at DG wanted to update some of Karajan's pop material, but I don't see these just good-enough performances reaching a wide audience.