Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien. Francesca da Rimini, Romeo and Juliet & Nutcracker Suite

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The LSO under Collins provides balletic grace and drama. Van Beinum conducts the smoother-sounding LPO and Concertgebouw in engaging accounts of Romeo and Nutcracker. — BBC Music Magazine, March 2012, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 21st Nov 2011
Catalogue No: ELQ4804849
Label: Eloquence
Length: 78 minutes

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio italien, Op. 45

Work length13:47

$1.10

$1.50

London Symphony Orchestra
Anthony Collins
Recorded: 1956-01-18
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32

Work length22:59

$1.10

$1.50

London Symphony Orchestra
Anthony Collins
Recorded: 1956-01-18
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture

Work length18:48

$1.10

$1.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Eduard van Beinum
Recorded: 1950-01-12
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

Work length22:31

$8.80

$12.00

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Eduard van Beinum
Recorded: 1958-05-01
Recording Venue: Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, Amsterdam

I. Miniature Overture

Track length2:58

$1.10

$1.50

IIa. March

Track length2:22

$1.10

$1.50

IIb. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

Track length1:46

$1.10

$1.50

IIc. Russian Dance (Trepak)

Track length1:08

$1.10

$1.50

IId. Arabian Dance (Coffee)

Track length4:01

$1.10

$1.50

IIe. Chinese Dance (Tea)

Track length1:06

$1.10

$1.50

IIf. Dance of the Reed-Pipes

Track length2:07

$1.10

$1.50

III. Waltz of the Flowers

Track length7:03

$1.10

$1.50

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Four of Tchaikovsky’s most popular orchestral works make their appearances here in historic Decca and Philips recordings appearing internationally on CD for the first time. Most travellers to Italy content themselves with writing postcards. Tchaikovsky, on the other hand, wrote a popular symphonic work. His Capriccio italien was inspired by impressions made upon the composer during a three-month stay in Rome during the winter of 1879–80. This colourful and exciting work was first heard at the end of 1880, and right from the start, it was a popular success. Tchaikovsky prepared a suite of excerpts for concert performance even before The Nutcracker was completed. The Russian musicologist Boris Asafyev perceptively called this suite a ‘symphony about childhood’. Indeed, among Tchaikovsky’s major works, it is notable for its lack of fatalism and hysteria. These two joyous pieces encase two of Tchaikovsky’s greatest tone poems about star-crossed lovers. Its opening depicts the terrifying panorama of the second circle of Hell, Francesca da Rimini tells the story of Paolo and Francesca, condemned to damnation for a kiss. Shakespeare also found a home on Tchaikovsky’s proverbial bedside table. Many composers have found inspiration in the Bard’s famous ‘star-cross’d’ lovers. Tchaikovsky counted his contribution to this genre, the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, among his very best works.

The Sussex-born conductor Anthony Collins left a treasured legacy for Decca, including the symphonies and selected tone poems by Sibelius. The Dutchman Eduard van Beinum was revered by orchestras for his generosity of spirit and for a time conducted both ‘his’ Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as the London Philharmonic simultaneously.

Reviews

March 2012

The LSO under Collins provides balletic grace and drama. Van Beinum conducts the smoother-sounding LPO and Concertgebouw in engaging accounts of Romeo and Nutcracker.

Decca's new Capriccio Italien opens with wonderfully resonant trumpet-calls (surely far more impressive than the Italian Royal Cuirassiers ever could have made them sound in their barracks for Tchaikovsky's benefit !) ; and indeed it continues throughout with recording of a very high standard […] Francesca da Rimini [is notable for the] warm quality of recording … seldom can a gong have sounded more menacing than at the beginning here … this Francesca quite certainly must have [an] unhesitating recommendation

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien. Francesca da Rimini, Romeo and Juliet & Nutcracker Suite

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