Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4-6

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Kurt Sanderling (Conductor), Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Kurt Sanderling
• Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (October 20, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Denon Records
• ASIN: B00000DCQV
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,871 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: Andante - Allegro con anima

2. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza

3. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: Valse, Allegro moderato

4. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: Finale, Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace

5. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: Andante sostenuto - Moderato con anima

Disc: 2

1. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: Andantino in modo di canzona

2. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: Scherzo, Pizzacato ostinato - Allegro

3. Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: Finale, Allegro con fuoco

4. Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 74: Adagio - Allegro non troppo

5. Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 74: Allegro con grazia

6. Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 74: Allegro molto vivace

7. Symphony No. 6 in B minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 74: Finale, Adagio lamentoso

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Experienced but not inspired readings from an uninspired Sanderling, July 29, 2006

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4-6 (Audio CD)

Kurt Sanderling was born in 1912 and announced his retirement form conducting in 2002. If the date on these Denon recordings is correct, he made this Tchaikovsky cycle in the late Seventies, at the age of 66. They are full of energy and commitment, and since he was an old-fashioned German maestro, we hear lots of rubato and tempo changes. Unfortunately, there are also occasional lapses of attention, but you'd never guess the conductor's age hearing the fire-breathing opening of the Fourth Sym., for example. Sanderling was a dedicated Communist, so his career in East Germany failed to win much sympathy in the West. These recordings are with the Berlin Symphony, a reasonably good East German orchestra that I don't think exists anymore since unification. Denon's sonics are quite good, as usual, but the orchestral execution is ordinary.

In the decades since these recordings were released, there have been a flood of excellent Russian interpretations of Tchaikovsky, so compared to Gergiev, Pletnev, and Temirkanov, the kind of Teutonic style heard here sounds a bit too retrograde. Still, listeners can take pleasure in the vigorous art of the aging Sanderling.