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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 / Currentzis, MusicAeterna


Release Date: 11/03/2017 
Label:  Sony   Catalog #: 88985404352  
Composer:  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor:  Teodor Currentzis
Orchestra/Ensemble:  MusicAeterna
Number of Discs: 1 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews



A Gramophone Recording of the Month - January 2018

Russian trained & based Currentzis and his Russian band bring a genuine authenticity to this iconic cornerstone of the Russian repertory. Teodor Currentzis feels a very strong attachment to the music of Tchaikovsky – he’s one of Teodor’s “Top 3” – along with Mahler and Mozart. Not only does he share Tchaikovsky’s Alma Mater of St Petersburg Conservatory – where the composer’s legacy is naturally still strongly felt - but the composers’ hometown of Votkinsk lies a mere 250km from Perm – the Perm Tchaikovsky State Opera House taking its moniker from its famous ‘forebear’. Naturally Read more Currentzis has gravitated to the mighty sixth symphony – undoubtedly Tchaikovsky’s greatest and most poignant symphony. The composer entitled the work "The Passionate Symphony", employing a Russian word, Pateticheskaya, meaning "passionate" or "emotional", that was then mistranslated into French as pathetique, "evoking pity", yet the mistranslation survived subsequent productions in every country but Russia. The composer led the first performance in St Petersburg in October 1893, nine days before his death.

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REVIEW:

Only the most exalted of comparisons to this performance suggest themselves: Bernstein (DG), Cantelli, Karajan (take your pick), or Mravinsky (DG): all hewn out of different performing traditions while sculpted in relief from them, though none save Mravinsky executed to the present, uncanny degree of controlled ferocity.

– Gramophone

Currentzis and his Siberian shock troops have done wonders. The recent trend has been away from overly subjective interpretations. This is thrown out of the window in this remarkably unsettling rendition. When so many other recordings of this symphony are available at the push of a few buttons, it’s only right that today’s interpreters should approach it only if they have something new to say. Currentzis definitely does.

– Times (U.K.) Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Symphony no 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique" by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor:  Teodor Currentzis
Orchestra/Ensemble:  MusicAeterna
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; Russia 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 2 Customer Reviews )
 Remarkable Performance February 16, 2018 By Robert W. (Saint Joseph, MO) See All My Reviews "This is an amazing performance. Lots to like. The recording is remarkable to in that the strings are so closely miked (if that's the right term) that I swear I can hear the bows hitting the strings before they play a note. Worth your time and you can't lose at this price." Report Abuse
 STUNNING December 19, 2017 By THEODORE G. (MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ) See All My Reviews "I have been listening to and collecting music for over 50 years. This may be one of the most amazing, one of the greatest recordings I own. It is astounding. Buy it. Turn the volume up. And get goose pimples." Report Abuse
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