RCA Living Stereo: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff - Piano Concertos (1958)

RCA Living Stereo: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff - Piano Concertos (1958)
Van Cliburn & Chicago S O
classical | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 355MB

RCA | SACD | rel.: 2004

Classicstoday:
Recorded hot on the heels of his landmark Gold Medal victory in the first Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, the 23-year-old Van Cliburn's million-selling 1958 Tchaikovsky First remains one of this war-horse's most poetic, intelligently paced versions on disc. If an operatic aesthetic governs Cliburn's golden tone and big technique, the heart of the ballet lies within Kondrashin's enlivening support, especially in the Finale's syncopations. Surround-sound technology allows us to appreciate the spatial perspective of the original three-track stereo master. The results prove less dry and more three-dimensional than the standard two-track mixdowns passed down to consumers over the years.
Similar sonic improvement marks Cliburn's 1962 Rachmaninov Second under Fritz Reiner. However, that doesn't change my long-held mixed response to the performance. Cliburn's easygoing line and tendency toward expansive phrasing come alive in the outer movement's slower episodes and throughout the central movement. Yet friskier, scintillating passages lack fire and vitality, especially when compared to, say, Rubinstein's dashing interpretation with the same conductor and orchestra six years earlier. I'll bet that if you played Cliburn and Rubinstein back to back, you'd swear that Cliburn was the older pianist. But Reiner's dovetailed accompaniments carry Cliburn like a baby, and the Chicago Symphony's principal winds particularly stand out. In sum--a qualified recommendation for the Rachmaninov, while the Tchaikovsky's legendary patina has yet to fade.

Tracks
-1. "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23" - 34:41
(Tchaikovsky)
* RCA Symphony Orchestra
* Van Cliburn piano
* Kiril Kondrashin - conductor

-2. "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18" - 34:08
(Rachmaninov)
* Chicago Symphony Orchestra
* Van Cliburn - piano
* Fritz Reiner - conductor

sample & buy: Piano Concertos

RCA Living Stereo: Tchaikovsky - Symphony no.6 "Pathetique" (1955)

RCA Living Stereo: Tchaikovsky - Symphony no.6 "Pathetique" (1955)
Pierre Monteux, Boston Symphony Orchestra
classical | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 260MB

RCA | SACD | rel.: 2004

Classicstoday:
Pierre Monteux was one of those conductors who could make the most anguished music sound effortless. You might think that this isn't an advantage in the Pathétique Symphony, but it is. His innate musicality keeps the allegro sections of the first movement pressing smartly forward, while the lyrical second subject never turns sticky. Other performances may be noisier, but Monteux's cogency offers its own exciting and perfectly valid argument. Certainly no one would take issue with the idiomatic lilt he brings to the second-movement waltz, or with the rhythmic lift he provides in the ensuing march (this really is Janikovszky as his most French, isn't it?). There have been more intense accounts of the finale, but the beautiful playing of the Boston Symphony and Monteux's refusal to get hysterical remain all of a piece: it's a very satisfying reading by any standard. The 1955 Living Stereo recording still sounds excellent both in stereo and on (two-channel) SACD, without a large enough difference between them to make a significant difference. This is a very welcome reissue.

Symphony no 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique" by P I Tchaikovsky

Conductor: Pierre Monteux
Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra

sample & buy: Tchaikovsky: Pathétique Symphony

Tchaikovsky (Svetlanov) - Symphonies_live Tokyo 6cd (HDCD) (1990) (eac-wv-cover)

Tchaikovsky (Svetlanov) - Symphonies_live Tokyo 6cd (1990) (HDCD)

classical | 6cd | eac-wv-cue-log-cover | 1260MB

Canyon | HDCD | rar +5% recovery

Recording date: 21 May 1990
Recording Location: Orchard-Hall, Tokyo (live)

canyon 24bit remastering 2002

USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov (conductor)

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