BORIS TCHAIKOVSKY (1925-1996): Symphony No. 2, Works for Solo Piano: 5 Pieces, 5 Preludes, 2 Etudes.
Catalogue Number: 08M011
Label: Profil
Reference: PH10038
Format: CD
Price: $16.98
Description: This is the actual premiere performance of the Second Symphony on Oct. 17, 1967 and taken from the composer's own sound archive. A three-movement work of 49 minutes, it uses the largest orchestra Tchaikovsky had yet employed, enabling him to both manufacture new processes of sound layering and organization dependent on timbre and to provide a new depth and dimension of sound. The idiom is that of Tchaikovsky's mature period, more dissonant than earlier works but quite tonal and with still an echo of Shostakovich here and there (a bit of the Alarm!type of finale); the nocturnal Largo is particularly atmospheric. Also from the composer's own archives are 1985-86 recordings of himself playing very youthful piano pieces - from 1935, 1936 and 1938 (!) - a two-minute Prelude from 1945 and a late (1972) Etude of less than a minute. Boris Tchaikovsky (piano), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin.