Stokowski/NBC - Tchaikovsky Symphony #4, mvt. 4

[quornholio]

Excellent! Overall, I prefer Munch/Boston Symphony for line and drama, and Ormandy/Phila. (Columbia release) for sonority, and not too shabby in the drama department, either. I have the Monteux/Boston on reel-to-reel and it really shakes the rafters!



[2ndviolinist]

@quornholio Excellent for 4th place?

[SatchmoSings]

At 2:13 I like the effect he gets with the strings while the low brass are carrying the melody; I've never heard anyone do that before! That boiling intensity yet its all totally controlled! The whole thing is! [I've only listened to this movement.]

I still prefer Kublik and The CSO from the early 1950s; what can I say; that's the recording I grew up.

Also Stokowski for all his expertise never captures the "toweringness" of the work.

[SatchmoSings]

I did a search and here I am!

[valdengo1]

...even more hair raising is the Mravinsky performances...he made Tchaikovsky sound like nobody else can...his Ruslan and Ludmilla go about 900 mph

[2ndviolinist]

@valdengo1 Can't compare the Tchaikovsky 4 (not on YT).  The Russlan is indeed fast but not nearly as good as the Stock/Chicago version on YT. Check it out - very fast, very, very clean and musical. If you want to hear great versions of Tchaikovsky 4, 5, and 6, check out Mengelberg's and Stokowski/Philadelphia's.

[SatchmoSings]

@2ndviolinist Amongst record collectors, the favored version of #6 is Pierre Monteux and the Boston.

[2ndviolinist]

@SatchmoSings Mengelberg, hands down on YT. BTW, I wasn't thinking of Toscanini with Philly, just Stokowski with his orchestra. I find Toscanini a bit straight, surprising with his opera background.

[SatchmoSings]

@2ndviolinist 01. I recently purchased a Japanese edition of Toscanini doing "Pictures At An Exhibition;" this has always been a favorite of mine and, in my opinion, it's the best rendition I've heard of this work.

What was interesting was its coupling of "The Pathétique" which was still recorded on disc a bit after WWII.

This "Pathétique" by Toscanini and the NBC is just better than mediocre however what amazes me about it is that FINALLY some IDIOTS at a Very Big Record Company . . .

[SatchmoSings]

@2ndviolinist 02. . . . FINALLY did a re-issue of 78 rpm discs that was FANTASTIC!!!

Silky smooth dubs using the correct diameter stylus and equalization; no spindle "thump." There is no "wow;" the discs were centered by the GROOVES, not by the spindle.

In short, this is the kind of work that Ward Marston and Peter Ubert Thorn do, working away in a basement somewhere without the resources of of a Very Big Record Company.

Fantastic!

[SatchmoSings]

@2ndviolinist 03. PS, As I was typing this, I had on the Mengelberg version of The Pathétique running and it is most excellent.

While Mengelberg largely eschews the "toweringness" of Tchaikovsky, it does come out where other elements of the work don't do such a good job of "carrying" it.

He also injects a huge and very logical musicality and an overall DRAMA to the work that I've never been aware of; I can clearly understand why you would like this version and now that I've heard it, I do, too

[i9506853]

Amazing!!!! Really impressive!!

[klavierspieler72]

And it is a strange performance, with all its little ritenutos and accelerandos. LOVE this!

[2ndviolinist]

@klavierspieler72 It's edge of your seat, controlled insanity. Wonderful!