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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:  ( 4 Customer Reviews )
 Excellent October 13, 2019 By Robert C. (Tucson, AZ) See All My Reviews "My curiosity was roused by numerous things I had read about Currentzis and I ordered a package of things from Arkiv. All have proven to be of the highest value. Although this work has become a cliche is some ways, it is one of the first pieces of major symphonic music I came to love. I am loving it, again, with the delights I first experienced. A friend offered a good perspective. He said he objected in the beginning, saying to himself, "You can't do that". And then, he said, he was immediately convinced that you could do it that way and that it was being done spectacularly well. I concur. This is deeply committed music making of the highest caliber." Report Abuse
 Stupendous Performance of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Sym September 17, 2018 By C. Mankiewicz (Los Angeles,, CA) See All My Reviews "If you haven't yet heard this performance of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, hold on to your hats! - Currentzis and his MusicAeterna here give the performance of a lifetime, unique and unforgettable, and the engineers provide a sonic masterpiece of a recording that will banish SACDs from your mind. I URGE YOU TO GET THIS - IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!" Report Abuse
 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
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