World Premiere Recording.
This is the six-eye label record.
For many of us, hearing a Tchaikovsky symphony for the first time is like falling in love for the first time - an experience unforgettable and somehow not to be duplicated.
It is therefore very exciting to be able to present a "new" symphony by this major romantic composer.
Tchaikovsky's Seventh Symphony has all the elements for which he is known and loved: beautiful melody, rhythmic excitement, thunderous climaxes, brilliantly exploding orchestral fireworks.
The first movement contains two themes that, once heard, are not to be dispelled from the memory: the expressive second theme and the galloping third theme, surely one of the most infectious tunes that Tchaikovsky ever wrote (it bears a marked similarity to the second theme of the finale of his Violin Concerto).
The serene and prayer-like second movement is a song without words and contrasts vividly with the scherzo (third movement), whose impish, gnome-like character clearly suggests the ballet.
In the finale a festive march makes its appearance, a kind of Russian counterpart to Rule, Britannia which also suggests the 1812 Overture.
At first delicately scored for lower woodwinds accompanied by tambourine and triangle, this march'at length attains full majesty at the climax of the movement when scored for full orchestra and heavy percussion battery.
This brilliant newcomer to the orchestral scene is fortunate in having such champions as Eugene Organdy and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
With loving care, Mr. Or randy has created a performance which captures all the drama and warmth that have lain dormant in the symphony for seventy years, awaiting a discovery that has been too long delayed.
-THOMAS FROST
It is only fair to state at the outset, that what we are hearing today is actually a "reconstruction" from Tchaikovsky's original sketches and other sources by the contemporary Russian composer, Ser yon Bogatyryev.
Bogatyryev, when he decided upon "salvaging" the Seventh Symphony, some ten years ago, had access to numerous primary sources, which were placed at his disposal for a reconstruction of each portion of the symphony.
When he tackled the first movement, he relied on Tchaikovsky's initial rough sketches, the composers manuscript of the complete score of the first half of the movement, the printed score of the Piano Concerto No. 3, orchestrated by Tchaikovsky, as well as his manuscript of the concerto.
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A word is in order for Ser yon Bogatyryev, who is solely responsible for this provocative musical adventure.
Born in 1913, he is not only a professor of the Moscow Conservatory, but also director of the Belorussian Conservatory at Minsk.
He is the composer of two patriotic operas, two symphonies and several nationalistic cantatas.
His reconstruction of the Tchaikovsky Seventh began some ten years ago and was completed in 1956.
Bogatyryev had the satisfaction of seeing his labors brought to fruition with the premiere accorded the composition on February 7, 1957, in Moscow by the Moscow Region Philharmonic Orchestra under M. Teriann.
The State Music Publishers in Moscow published the full score in 1961.
-MAX DE SCHAUENSEE
(from The Philadelphia Orchestra program notes)