Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Suite No. 2, Op.53 (1883)
Excerpts from Eugene Onegin, Op.24 (1887-1888)
Danse des Histrions from The Enchantress (1885-1887)
The Storm, Op.76 (1864)
Marche Slave, Op.31 (1876)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Alpesh Chauhan
rec. 2024, Glasgow, UK
Chandos CHSA5352 SACD [79]
I have listened to this Super Audio CD on an SACD player with stereo amplification. The recording is quite superb, vibrant and full when needed, with quiet music caught with delicacy, and the Scottish orchestra do themselves and their accomplished conductor proud. Such high quality is excellent news, because little in this programme presents Tchaikovsky at his best.
The Storm’s high opus number disguises the early date of composition. Tchaikovsky was still Nikolai Rubinstein’s student at the St.Petersburg Conservatory. Rubinstein had set his student a vacation task to write a short orchestral piece. Tchaikovsky, comfortably ensconced at the estate of an aristocratic friend, was composing in relaxed circumstances.
When Rubinstein received the piece, his reaction was not at all favourable. The score presented much that would not have been found in a score by Beethoven, for example, cor anglais and harp, so it was guaranteed to raise his conservative ire. Tchaikovsky never published the work, but retained an affection for some of it, which he reworked into the slow movement of his First Symphony two years later.
The yearning theme is delicately presented and memorable. It is an arrangement of a folk song, A Young girl went a-walking. There is a half-hearted fugue and everything is surrounded by stormy music. But even though it was composed so early, there are Tchaikovskian fingerprints in the orchestration. The work probably deserves an occasional airing, if for no other reason than to demonstrate that, at 24, the Tchaikovsky of the ballets and symphonies was in the offing.
By the time of the Second Suite for Orchestra, Tchaikovsky was 43. He had many orchestral works to his credit, not least two piano concertos, the first four symphonies, the 1812 Overture and the Serenade for Strings. The Suite has never been popular. I remember it on account of the unusual orchestration in the third movement Scherzo humoristique (burlesque), where Tchaikovsky employs four accordions. As expected, they make a very distinctive contribution, but the most memorable moment occurs when the horns sing a Russian melody which seems to be not a folksong but an original creation.
The first movement, Jeu de sons, is usually a listener’s first encounter with the work. Frankly, its opening melody lacks distinction. Tchaikovsky uses fugal writing and much counterpoint in what follows, which entirely fails to hold my attention. The second movement is a waltz; here, we hear some of the melodic colour associated with his later ballets.
In the long fourth movement Rêves d’enfant, Tchaikovsky skilfully shows his growing confidence in scoring, with great fastidiousness, the images in the child’s dream as sleep gradually takes hold. The fifth and final movement is Danse baroque (Style: Dargomyzhsky), a mere four minutes; he emulates a dance by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. It is not a very memorable tune, but Tchaikovsky works it up into a truly wild dance, ever more enticing towards the end.
Two well-known excerpts from Eugene Onegin are next: the Entracte and Waltz from Act I Scene 1, and the Polonaise from Act II Scene 1. There immediately follows the much less well-known Danse des Histrions from The Enchantress. I have never heard a recording of the opera, but if the lack of melodic inspiration in the Danse is representative of the entire work, I can understand why performances are very limited.
The programme ends with the very well-known Marche Slave, which, believe it or not, was composed in support of Serbia and Montenegro in their war against the Ottomans. In support of their fellow Slavs, Russian public opinion was ripe and ready for a nationalistic piece. Nikolay Rubinstein asked Tchaikovsky for a work to be played at a Russian Musical Society concert to raise money in aid of Russian charitable activities on behalf of Serbia and Montenegro. He complied with alacrity.
Tchaikovsky took excerpts from two or three Serbian folk songs, supplemented with chunks of the Tsarist National Anthem, played in full peroration at the end. It is a tuneful piece, and its patriotic overtones made it popular. Something of a tub-thumper, it is rarely played in the West, but it has been recorded many times, usually in the company of the 1812 Overture. As with everything else on this disc, Alpesh Chaunan directs the orchestra in a spirited rendition. He is aided by Chandos’s usual splendid sonic production.
If the mixture of rarely played Tchaikovsky presented on this SACD attracts you, then you can safely invest in it.
Jim Westhead
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