I’ve been listening to all 6 Tchaikovsky symphonies the past few weeks. Pick your favorite and perhaps name your favorite recording.
Don’t forget the un-numbered, albeit lesser, “Manfred” Symphony in B minor, op. 58 (1885), composed in between the Fourth and Fifth symphonies.
My favorite is unquestionably the Sixth.
I went with #4, but it was very close as I also really love the first symphony. My favorite recording of the 4th is the Cleveland Orchestra with Lorin Maazel, one of the early Telarc digital recordings.
#6. A pathetic choice, I know.
Overall, it’s #6. But there are a few individual movements from earlier symphonies that are just as great.
And my favorite recording is the Oslo Philharmonic with Jansons.
I just got back from a gig where we played our flute and guitar arrangement of the Andantino from #4, so that’s the one I’ve got to go with. But my usual favorite is #6, the Pierre Monteux recording of which was (along with Ormandy’s recording of Pictures at an Exhibition) one of the first two classical albums I ever owned.
Pathetique. I wrote my college thesis on this symphony (the “yes, you are going to die” paper) and I listened to it during my last LSD trip, which gave me an all new appreciation for it (watch out for trolls about 9 minutes into movement 1).
Not that it isn’t an amazing piece, but I’ve never really been that attracted to Tchaikovsky’s first 5 symphonies. The Little Winter one has its moments, but the other 4 are pretty much forgettable for me.
I voted for Pathetique, although Leonard Bernstein’s recording of #4 is fantastic.
Manfred is actually my favourite of the seven. For the poll I picked the 6th. Overall not a huge Tchaikovsky fan though.
4, 5, 6 are all amazing. Went with 5 for the underdog choice.
I have the Fifth on a raggedy old audiotape and listen to it over and over again. For most symphonies I like this part or that, but not the whole thing. For the Fifth, though, I swear I love every note.
How about Tchikovsky’s orchestral suites? He made 4 of them, and they are all a delight. No 3 is my favourite, love the theme and variations part. Did anyone know them already?
There’s a special place in my heart for the 2nd Movement of the 4th. I played violin as a kid, and we played this movement in the school orchestra. The teacher auditioned the first violins, and I got to be concertmaster for the first time. Not a technically challenging piece, but I had great intonation.
Yes, I also like the orchestral suites. Actually they remind me more of his ballets than his symphonies.
I love George Szell’s recording of number 4. Especially the final movement.
Szell’s recording of just about anything is great.
Amen. His Handel Water Music and Music for Royal Fireworks is big, bombastic, and absolutely historically inaccurate. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 