Saturday, March 6, 2010

Tchaikovsky's WarHorse Cometh: 1st Piano Concerto with Hough, Vänskä & The Marvelous Minnesotans: Oct 3, 2009





Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.1

Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä, conductor

Stephen Hough, soloist


October 3, 2009


Program:


[Wagner Siegfried Idyll- available but not in this post]


Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

including Siloti's de-arrangement of the slow movement as an encore


[Bartok The Miraculous Mandarin- unrecorded]


Hyperion Records (UK) http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67711/2&vw=dc

will offer this recording (mixed in, I imagine, with a few other nights' efforts) officially as a CD in March, but this is a sneak peek in decidedly inferior sound. Huge fun.


Yes, I still love the warhorses. So what. I can enjoy the weirdo, off beaten pathway modern composers deeply, but you've got to get silly and wave your arms around to a tried-and-true stonker every so often as well. Here is the Tchaikovsky First, and if it is your first version of it, you are in for it.


There's a small leap in the sound continuity right in the beginning, but none of it can detract from the happening captured here.


I admit to being an impatient listener to yet another new Tchaikovsky First, usually going straight to the Third Movement's hustle and sprint to see what the pairing of orchestra and soloist is up to by then. No disappointments at all there, and the whole affair holds more delights, even upon repeated listening- what more to ask?


The take is a rip-snort, plunge-taking, ace-at-the-controls barnstorm that brings to mind the epic 1940 Carnegie Hall battle between the young Horowitz and Barbirolli, abetted by a whipsmart New York Philharmonic in that instance.

Though more controlled and cooperative here, the give and take of the Minnesotans and Hough is something I can't wait to hear in high quality sound on official release!



enjoy, best heard at unconscionable volume and with a generous nature towards lo-fi...





5 comments:

Guillermo said...

dl: 86.82 MB of mp3s in one .zip file,
hosted on Mediafire

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmwzcdomjt

allen said...

Mmm, sounds like Hyperion is doing for Tchaikovsky in Minnesota what they did with Stephen Hough in Dallas for Rachmaninov.

If we are into tasters here, I have the Proms performance Stephen gave of the Tchaikovsky Concert Fantasy already "processed" into flac files. I think I have the third concerto and maybe the second in the in tray, too. Tempting?

Guillermo said...

About that 3rd: are you referring to this one or another?
Stephen Hough, piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra, with Jirí Belohlávek, conductor
BBC Promenade Concerts, 2009 Concert No. 1
Friday 17 July 2009, Royal Albert Hall, London

if its this Proms one, I have it, and love it!
If it's another third, however... you know my email!

Ailish Tynan, soprano, Alice Coote, mezzo soprano
Stephen Hough, piano
Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jirí Belohlávek, conductor
BBC Promenade Concerts, 2009 Concert No. 1
Friday 17 July 2009, Royal Albert Hall, London

Easy piano sheet for beginners said...

Thanks for the info! My 2 cents: in this website you will find easy piano sheets specially designed for beginners:
http://www.easypianosheet.com

Enjoy,
Lewis

La Danse de Puck said...

The other day BBC rebroadcast the Tchaik 2nd Concerto and I was desperately looking for it. I didn't record it. I got the Hyperion instead. Not the same as a live broadcast. But Stephen Hough really does justice to a concerto that is not well known and in its structure is not THE work for the concerto platform. He was magnificent. Someone led me to your blog to at least get the 1st in the live version.

Thank you and keep up this wonderful work of LIVE performances which, as you say, es lo más GRANDE QUE HAY!
Beso
Puck