Eloquence Classics

Tchaikovsky poured his emotions into his symphonies, particularly the last three, and posterity has rewarded him by making them inescapable parts of the standard orchestral repertoire. The orchestral suites, however, have not attained the popularity of the symphonies, perhaps because they trade tragedy for wistfulness and exaltation for charm. All four are the work of a mature composer who already had completed popular masterpieces such as his Fourth Symphony, his Violin Concerto, his First Piano Concerto and his opera ‘Eugene Onegin’. They are some of the most lush (No. 3) and charming (No. 4) pieces he wrote. Both have wonderful Theme and Variation finales and while the Third has distinct echoes of the nostalgic music of ‘Eugene Onegin’, the Fourth, subtitled ‘Mozartiana’ consists of orchestrations of four of Mozart’s piano pieces. Everyone will recognize the ‘Ave verum corpus’, of course, which Tchaikovsky adapted from a piano arrangement of the piece by Liszt.

Lorin Maazel’s recording of the Third Suite has been on the ‘request for reissue’ lists of many and the most sensible coupling is, of course, the ‘Mozartiana’. The Third represents some of the finest playing from the Vienna Philharmonic and the recording is warm to boot.