Many delights inform the five-movement Suite No.2 (of four) from the prayer-like opening to the wild Cossack dance Finale via a troupe of accordionists joining in the knockabout fun of the pivotal ‘Scherzo burlesque’. Alpesh Chauhan and the BBC Scottish SO do an impressive job on behalf of inventive and contrasting music previously delivered by Dorati and MTT in particuar. The Onegin selections, while enjoyable, lack the last degree of swagger, ably supplied by Lovro von Matačić, for example, and in The Storm (not to be confused with the composer’s Shakespeare-inspired Tempest) Chauhan is alive to the claustrophobic atmosphere but tends to push through at times, as if fielding an umbrella, whereas Haitink, Inbal (both Philips/Decca) and, indeed, Matačić have no need for such an accessory, taking on the elements in T-shirt and shorts. (Did anyone else get to know this dramatic if rare piece from Yuri Krasnapolsky’s 1974 HMV recording?) Also embracing an attractive operatic dance, the release completes with a scintillating Marche slave, further demonstrating Ralph Couzens’s prowess as a recording engineer, to complement Brian Pidgeon’s production, found on Chandos CHSA 5352 [SACD], available May 30.
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHSA%205352
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHSA%205331
The Storm from this LP (ASD 3013) can be found on Spotify.
As Colin quite rightly says, there are many delights in Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Orchestral Suite which make it all the more astonishing that unless I’ve missed them, we never hear the complete work, nor any of the various movements, either on the radio or in the concert hall. What is even more incredible is that the Suite has only ever had two Proms performances and hasn’t been heard there again for nearly 100 years! … Sir Henry Wood conducted its UK Premiere at the Proms in 1899 and revived it for a single repeat performance in 1930. Yet as Colin says, it contains some delightful music, including a Waltz, a Danse Baroque and a Scherzo Burlesque requiring four accordions. If any of the Proms directors read Colin’s Column, I hope they’ll schedule a long overdue performance of the 2nd Suite in an early upcoming Proms season!
The other Suites have fared a little better at the Proms though not, as far as I know, in the various London orchestras’ recent annual schedules. The Suite No. 1, again including more delights, such as a Divertimento, a Marche Miniature and a Gavotte, had 16 Proms performances, the last one dating from 1935. This again could do with a Proms revival. Suite No. 3 has fared better with more recent Proms outings, the last one dating from 2010. Incidentally, Sir Adrian Boult thought so highly of the 3rd Suite that he recorded it twice, for Decca in 1955 and again for EMI in 1974. In fact, it was his EMI recording that was the ‘top choice’ of the work in a ‘Building a Library’ survey for Record Review many years ago. The final Suite “Mozartiana” has also done quite well at the Proms with 15 performances over the years, the last one in 2019.
Reverting to Suite No 2, I stand to be corrected of course but I don’t think it’s been heard at the Royal Festival Hall since 3 June 1979, when Michael Tilson Thomas brought the house down with a Philharmonia Orchestra performance, prior to recording it for CBS with “Mozartiana” as the LP coupling. He naturally included the four ‘ad lib’ accordions and very splendid they sound!
Anyway, lets hope the Chandos release gets some radio coverage so that listeners can, perhaps for the first time, hear some of its many delights!
PS: Here’s the MTT / Philharmonia “Scherzo Burlesque” with accordions well to the fore! …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1jnDStZMA