Tschaikovsky: Ballet Suites / Rostropovich, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Shortly after recording these three ballet suites in 1978, Mstislav Rostropovich likened conducting the Berlin Philharmonic to driving a locomotive. You get on, and you go where it takes you, he said--but in this case, the orchestra went where he wanted it to go. The playing is magnificent, but it is the characterization, the things Rostropovich gets the players to do that they wouldn't otherwise have done, that makes these accounts so memorable. As you listen, you are transported to a different world, for no conductor understands Tchaikovsky's soul better than Rostropovich. The delicacy is amazing, the power overwhelming; the analog recording captures it all in outstanding fashion. --Ted Libbey

Tschaikovsky: Ballet Suites / Rostropovich, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Music, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Mstislav Rostropovich, Berliner Philharmoniker, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral, Suite for Orchestra

Average customer rating:

Out of balance dynamics - not recommended

Unnatural dynamics may reveal sonic tampering...

Played as it should be played...

OVERRATED .GET EUGENE ORMANDY OR CHARLES DUTIOT VERSIONS THEY BLOW THIS ONE AWAY

THE ESSENCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S BELOVED BALLETS . . .

Tschaikovsky: Ballet Suites / Rostropovich, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Tchaikovsky | Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra | ( B ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
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Dvorák: Cello Concerto; Tchaikovsky / Karajan, Rostropovich,

ASIN: B000001GX7
Release Date: 1997-03-11

Tracks:

Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Scene: Moderato
Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Valse: Tempo di Valse
Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Danse des cygnes: Allegro moderato
Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Scene: Andante - Andante non troppo - Tempo I
Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Danse hongroise (Czardas): Moderato assai - Allegro moderato - Vivace
Swan Lake: Suite From The Ballet Op. 20: Scene Finale: Allegro agitato - Alla breve: Moderato e maestoso
The Sleeping Beauty: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 66: Introduction: La Fee des lilas: Allegro vivo - Andantino - Andante sosenuto
The Sleeping Beauty: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 66: Adagio: Pas d'action: Andante - Adagio maestoso - Tempo I - Molto sostenuto, quasi piu Andante - Tempo I
The Sleeping Beauty: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 66: Pas de caractere: Le Chat botte et la Chatte blanche: Allegro moderato
The Sleeping Beauty: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 66: Panorama: Andantiono
The Sleeping Beauty: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 66: Valse: Allegro (Tempo di Valse)
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Ouverture miniature: Allegro giusto
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Marche. Tempo di marcia viva
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Danse de la Fee-Dragee. Andante non troppo
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Danese russe Trepak. Tempo di Trepak, molto vivace
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Danse arabe. Allegretto
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Danese chinoise. Allegro moderato
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Danses caracteristiques: Danse des mirlitons. Moderato assai
The Nutcracker: Suite aus dem Ballett Op. 71: Valse des fleurs. Tempo di Valse

Amazon.com essential recording

Shortly after recording these three ballet suites in 1978, Mstislav Rostropovich likened conducting the Berlin Philharmonic to driving a locomotive. You get on, and you go where it takes you, he said--but in this case, the orchestra went where he wanted it to go. The playing is magnificent, but it is the characterization, the things Rostropovich gets the players to do that they wouldn't otherwise have done, that makes these accounts so memorable. As you listen, you are transported to a different world, for no conductor understands Tchaikovsky's soul better than Rostropovich. The delicacy is amazing, the power overwhelming; the analog recording captures it all in outstanding fashion. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Out of balance dynamics - not recommended.......2006-05-14

Through recommendations from several guides on classical music, I got to listen to this record, and of course the music itself is glorious, truely delightful and all of that. As long as you stay focused on the slow parts, you have no trouble appreciating this record. The problem starts when the more vigorous parts set in. Then it is revealed that the nice moderato slows are combined with much too fastly played quick tempi. The same can be said about the 3 last symphonies by the same composer, conducted by Karajan in the Double Decca version.

I didn't expect this to happen with Rostropovich here, because of the good reviews, but also because of his Russian roots. I would have thought he was well able to convey the true Russian feeling in this work. Sadly enough, it really just is a very bad-balanced piece of playing, which is not to be accounted on the BPO, but as Haitink once said: "There are no bad orchestras, just bad conductors."

I'm afraid this here is the case with this recording. Rostropovich is likely to be better off with Cello concertos (playing or conducting - for a fine example check out his first recording with Korean prodigy Han-Na Chang).

For a better choice of Tsjaikovsky's masterpieces, I'd go for Previn and the LSO (EMI) or Karajan and the VPO (in his younger years on Decca). You'd be much more satisfied.

Unnatural dynamics may reveal sonic tampering..........2006-02-21

First and foremost, let the obvious be stated: Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker", the Suite in particular, is one of the all-time greatest pieces of music of any kind ever composed anywhere, PERIOD. The sheer beauty of the melodies, the mystical magnetism of the harmony, the gorgeous colorations of the orchestration, make The Nutcracker an all-time classic of human endeavor, from the era when it wasn't embarrassing to create Art that is BEAUTIFUL. Since early childhood, this writer is in a rapturous state every time I hear it. The great Russian romantic composers really knew how to convey a rich world of emotion through the orchestra. This recording, then, like virtually any recording of this masterpiece (as well as "Swan Lake" etc.), deserves 6 stars by virtue of the compositions themselves, before we even consider the interpretations of the conductor and the musicians. That said, there is something that bothers me about this recording. Although I can't prove it, and although I'm only an "amateur" audio engineer, and although Deutsche Grammophon is historically a highly reputable and well-respected label known for excellence in recording, it sounds to me as if some studio tampering went on in the area of dynamics, the rise and fall of the volume levels in the louder and softer portions of the music. The cover notes mention some sort of "dynamic enhancement" that was done. Apparently, some sort of electronic studio compression (or perhaps, "expansion") device was employed during the recording, or more likely, the mastering, of the record, the audible result being that the dynamics are exaggerated, so that the soft passages are very, very soft, and the loud passages very, very loud. The goal at the time was surely to expand the audible dynamic range in the recording. In romantic music, however, where there are sometimes sudden dynamic "leaps" especially from soft to loud, this seems to push the dynamics too far in an unnatural way. And practically, what happens is: if you're listening to a soft passage, such as the very beginning of the Overture or the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, you'll turn up the volume until you can hear it at a reasonable level, then, when a loud passage arrives, it comes swelling up as if someone is literally turning up the volume just as the orchestra does the same, and you'll go running to turn it down. The first time I heard this CD in headphones, I nearly jumped out of my shoes! The performance is good, although my own feeling is that German orchestras tend to sound a bit too "rigid" or "disciplined" for this type of music which needs to "ebb and flow" in an emotional way; perhaps this has to do with conductor Rostropovich's interpretation. Possibly a more recent (="DDD") recording might do more justice to the dynamics inherent in Tchaikovsky's composition without resorting to any sort of studio trickery which robs the recording of its transparency. ***ADD'L NOTE, Mar. 13, 2006: Since writing this review last month, I found a CD copy of the old Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orch. recording, which is an excellent performance albeit not the newest digital sound quality, in a budget-priced ($6.98) series called "Sony Essential Classics". Highly recommended.

Played as it should be played..........2005-08-19

It's the Swanlake as you like to hear it. Great orchestra, lot's of instruments. Rich sound.

OVERRATED .GET EUGENE ORMANDY OR CHARLES DUTIOT VERSIONS THEY BLOW THIS ONE AWAY.......2005-07-10

I GIVE IT 2 STARS BECAUSE THE BERLIN PHIL PLAY DESENT BUT ROSTOPOVISH IS JUST PLAIN AWFUL IV NEVER THOUGHt HE WAS EVEN REMOTLY GOOD AS A CONDUCTOR AS A CELLIST I THINK HE IS ONE OF THE BEST,SKIP THIS ONE I CANT FIGURE OUT WHY SO MANY PEOPLE AND MUSIC CRITICS LIKE THIS RECORDING SO MUCH.THE GENIUS TCHAIKOVSKY DESERVES ALOT BETTER.ALSO GET ERNEST ANSERMETS VERSIONS

THE ESSENCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S BELOVED BALLETS . . ........2004-04-19

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No classical collection would be complete without a representation of Tchaikovsky ballet music. In an abbreviated 68 minutes, Deutsche Grammophon has probably come as close as possible to capturing the true essence of these three gorgeous ballet scores. Conductor Rostropovich and the Berlin Philharmonic perform brilliantly and the recording/sound quality is superb. For those who love the music, but insist upon hearing an entire score only at the ballet, this CD is a sure winner!

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