TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 3 & NO. 5; BALLET SUITES; MARCHE SLAV - ATZMON, ABBADO, ROWICKI, LEITNER (2 CDS)

A collection of all of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and ballet suites from the rich archives of Deutsche Grammophon.

All the performances have been justifiably critically appraised. This volume includes the CD premiere of one of Tchaikovsky’s least-known symphonies – the third. Moshe Atzmon’s airborne reading, stunningly recorded in 1973 in Vienna, makes a long-overdue appearance. Rowicki’s accounts of the two popular ballet suites – ‘Swann Lake’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ – are expansive and symphonic in their outlook.

‘by far the most refined recording of any current version of the Polish Symphony, warmly reverberant but well-enough defined in detail’ (Symphony No. 3) Gramophone, August 1974

‘[Abbado] secures clean, brilliant playing from the LSO in the first movement, finely controlled emotional climaxes in the slow movement … and a strong, urgent but unhysterical account of the finale.’ (Symphony
No. 5) Gramophone, April 1972

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
CD 1
Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29 ‘Polish’*
Wiener Symphoniker
Moshe Atzmon

Marche slave, Op. 31
Berliner Philharmoniker
Ferdinand Leitner

The Sleeping Beauty: Suite, Op. 66a
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
Witold Rowicki

CD 2
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
London Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado

Swan Lake, Op. 20: Suite
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
Witold Rowicki

* FIRST RELEASE ON CD