Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Major, Op. 64 (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes) London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Malcolm Sargent

• Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski (1840 - 1893): Symphony No. 5 in E Major, Op. 64:
• 1I. Andante - Allegro con anima14:44
• 2II. Andante cantabile, con alguna licenza12:51
• 3III. Valse. Allegro moderato06:34
• 4IV. Finale. Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace10:53
• Total Runtime45:02

Info for Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Major, Op. 64 (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)

Undoubtedly, you have heard the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony on records many times. Listening to it on this Everest Records you will be startled by the absolute clarity, fidelity and freedom from distortion. This wonderfully melodic and dramatic score will suddenly take on new appeal and new meaning because of the naturalness with which it reaches your ears.

Many a great work of music has gotten off to a bad start because it has been belittled or rejected by a press or public who have failed to understand or appreciate it. In the case of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, however, it was the composer himself who underestimated its musical and artistic value.

Tchaikovsky had completed his Fourth Symphony in 1877. It was a work of which he was always very proud – „our“ symphony was the way he often referred to it when corresponding with his benefactress, Nadejda von Meck. But aside from Manfred (Everest LPBR 6035/SDBR 3035), which dates from 1885, no new symphonies came from his pen for the next eleven years. In May, 1888, we find him writing to his brother Modeste: „To speak frankly, I feel as yet no impulse for creative work. What does this mean? Have I written myself out? No ideas, no inclination! Still I am hoping to collect, little by little, material for a symphony.“ The following month he wrote to Mme. von Meck: „Have I told you that that I intend to write a symphony? The beginning was difficult; but now inspiration seems to have come. However, we shall see.“ By August, however, he had completed the symphony, a fact he reported to Mme. von Meck without any sign of jubilation.

It required until November for Tchaikovsky to polish up the new Fifth Symphony. He conducted it for the first time in St. Petersburg on November 17th. In December, after two subsequent performances of the work, he wrote to Mme. von Meck: „After two performances of my new symphony in St. Petersburg and one in Prague, I have come to the conclusion that it is a failure. There is something repellent, something superfluous, patchy, and insecure, which the public instinctively recognizes. It was obvious to me that the ovations I received were prompted more by my earlier work, and that the symphony itself did not really please the audience. The consciousness of this brings me a sharp twinge of self-dissatisfaction. Am I really played out, as they say? Can I merely repeat and ring the changes on my earlier idiom? Last night I looked through our symphony (No. 4). What a difference! How immeasurably superior it is! It is very, very sad!“ Later, Modeste attributed the apparent failure of the symphony – which actually was not nearly as marked as the composer had feared – to Tchaikovsky’s poor conducting.

Within the next few months, the fate of the symphony and Tchaikovsky’s attitude toward it underwent a change for the better. It was warmly received at performances in Moscow and Hamburg, neither of which the composer conducted. After these successes, he wrote to his publisher: „I like it far better now, after having held a bad opinion of it for some time.“ ….

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

Booklet for Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Major, Op. 64 (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)