Mikhail Pletnev Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Blows Dealt by Fate

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky SYMPHONY NO.6IN B MINOR, OP.74 CAPRICCIO ITALIEN, OP.45 HYBRID MUL TICHANNEL RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA Mikhail Pletnev Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Blows dealt by fate Symphony No.6 in B minor, Op.74 “Pathétique”(1893) f one is searching for an extra-musical No. 6 in only 12 days, scoring it during Iheading under which to bracket the con- the following four weeks. Tchaikovsky had 1 Adagio – Allegro non troppo 19. 09 tent of the Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6 by pointed out the programmatic core of the 2 Allegro con grazia 7. 32 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one cannot really symphony to the dedicatee of the work, his 3 Allegro molto vivace 8. 15 avoid the word “fate”. Personal fate, to be beloved nephew Vladimir Davidov, as fol- 4 Finale : Adagio lamentoso 11. 23 exact. Thus his Symphony No. 4 (1876-78) lows: “During my trip to Paris in December 5 CAPRICCIO ITALIEN OP. 45 (1880) 15.53 was a frank confession straight from the soul, 1892, I came up with the plan for a new a subtle psychological portrait printed on symphony. This time, it will be a programme paper. In a letter to his patroness, Nadezhda symphony: however, its programme is to von Meck, he talked of “fate, this disastrous remain a mystery to all [...] It is drenched Russian National Orchestra power, which prevents our urgent desire with my innermost essence: while compos- Conducted by Mikhail Pletnev for happiness from achieving its objective”. ing it in my mind, I was constantly shedding Concert-master: Alexei Bruni After this, a further 11 years passed before bitter tears [...] In form, this symphony Tchaikovsky attempted to compose another will offer much that is new, inter alia, the Executive Producers: Rick Walker & Job Maarse “purely” symphonic work – his Symphony No. Finale will not be a noisy Allegro, but quite Recording Producer: Job Maarse 5. Here again, the “concept of destiny” very the opposite, an extremely lengthy and Balance Engineer: Erdo Groot • Recording Engineer - Editor: Roger de Schot clearly determined the musical processes: expansive Adagio.” However, Tchaikovsky Recording Venue: DZZ Studio 5, Moscow, (6/2010) however, here it was rather more a poetic finally decided against a clearly defined idea, a guiding principle, rather than an programme, and transferred his mind-set Total playing-time: 62.13 established musical programme for the to the musical absolute, with a true feeling listener. for drama. On October 18, 1893, he gave Soon after completing his Symphony the première of the work; but to his great No. 5 in 1888, Tchaikovsky began work on bitterness, the symphony was only mod- his next one. In 1890, the complete with- erately successful. “Neither the orchestra Biographien auf Deutsch und Französisch drawal of Nadezhda von Meck from their nor the audience could I convince that this finden Sie auf unserer Webseite. unusual relationship signified yet another is my best work, and that I will never write Pour les versions allemande et française des biographies, blow for the composer, who was becoming anything better than this symphony.” Nine veuillez consulter notre site. increasingly lonely and isolated. In 1893, he days later, he was dead. The Pathétique had www.pentatonemusic.com completed his sketches for his Symphony become his requiem. In its despair, it por- trays the tragic finale of a massive oeuvre. ear of the listener right up until the grand until it undergoes a final intensification in and Patrick Summers, and soloists Martha Undoubtedly, the strongly intense stretto. For the first time, Tchaikovsky refrains the full glow of the orchestra, within the Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Lang Lang, effect of the symphony has been further from a triumphant final intensification in a whirl of the tarantella. Pinchas Zukerman, Sir James Galway, Joshua increased by its title – Pathétique – which finale (Adagio lamentoso): indeed, he per- Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Steven Isserlis, Dmitri was proposed by Tchaikovsky’s brother mits his swan song to fade away, following Franz Steiger Hvorostovsky, Simone Kermes and Renée Modest the day after the première, as well two huge waves of intensification of an omi- English translation: Fiona J. Stroker-Gale Fleming, among many others. Popular with as the sudden and, to this day, unexplained nously descending theme, into an abyss of radio audiences worldwide, RNO concerts death of the composer; thus, the tragic apathetic hopelessness – a disastrous leave- Russian National pathos is the subject of even greater atten- taking turned into music. During the second Orchestra tion. Thanks to its formal structure – the first performance of the work, various gripping he Russian National Orchestra movement in sonata form, the two middle scenes took place, as the audience was now Thas been in demand throughout ones in dance movement, and a finale that aware of the tragic relationship between the the music world ever since its 1990 subsides into Hades – the work is unique in artist’s life and the work. Moscow premiere. Of the orches- the history of the symphony. In its abrupt The Capriccio italien, Op 45 demon- tra’s 1996 debut at the BBC Proms in mood changes, sudden outbursts and manic strates the other side of Tchaikovsky’s London, the Evening Standard wrote, orchestral scoring, it provides a psychologi- nature, containing laughter, ease, and joy. “They played with such captivating cal profile of the composer, who was known He drafted the work during a stay in Rome beauty that the audience gave an to be plagued by self-doubt. The leaden in 1879/80, in the interim period between involuntary sigh of pleasure.” More Adagio introduction (bassoon motif) is con- his symphonies nos. 4 and 5, and completed recently, they were described as “a liv- densed in the Allegro non troppo to form it in Kamenka in May 1880. The duration of ing symbol of the best in Russian art” the main theme, after which it is apparently the work is approximately 15 minutes, and it (Miami Herald) and “as close to perfect worn down in between the ecstatic intensi- is constructed in the form of a suite, in which as one could hope for” (Trinity Mirror). fications of the central movement, until the the movements flow on into one another. The first Russian orchestra to movement finally ebbs away in silent mel- The Capriccio is introduced by fanfares, perform at the Vatican and in Israel, ancholy. The ensuing Allegro con grazia feels whose music is derived from the last post the RNO maintains an active inter- like a weightless dream in 5/4 time, however, of the Italian army, followed by a popular national tour schedule, appearing in its elegance appears to be distorted. The national melody. The woodwinds then play Europe, Asia and the Americas. Guest Allegro molto vivace that links the scherzo a catchy Neapolitan folk-song, and subse- artists performing with the RNO on to the march is unique among European quently the entire orchestra joins in. This is tour include conductors Vladimir symphonies. Intensification follows intensifi- alternated with a rousing tarantella, with the Jurowski, Nicola Luisotti, Antonio cation, the rousing theme hammers into the Capriccio gaining increasingly in momentum, Pappano, Alan Gilbert, Carlo Ponti are regularly aired by National Public Radio with Mandarin and other editions to follow. Mikhail Pletnev in the United States and by the European The orchestra’s Shostakovich cycle on ikhail Pletnev was born in Broadcasting Union. PentaTone Classics is widely acclaimed as MArchangel in 1957. After his Gramophone magazine called the first “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich studies at the Central Special Music RNO CD (1991) “an awe-inspiring experi- symphonies to be put down on disc, and School, he entered the Moscow ence; should human beings be able to play easily the best recorded.” (SACD.net) Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1974, like this?” and listed it as the best recording A regular visitor to the Schleswig- where he studied with Jakob Flier of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique in history. Since Holstein, Gstaad and Rheingau festivals, and Lev Vlasenko. Aged only 21, then, the orchestra has made more than the RNO is also the founding orchestra of Pletnev was the Gold Medal and First 60 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon Napa Valley Festival del Sole, Festival of the Prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky and PentaTone Classics, distinguishing the Arts BOCA in Florida, and the Singapore Sun International Piano Competition in RNO as the only Russian ensemble with Festival, and resident orchestra for multi- Moscow. This prize earned him early long-standing relationships with these pres- ple seasons of the Tuscan Sun Festival in international recognition. He has tigious labels, as well as additional discs with Cortona, Italy. The RNO will launch its own since appeared as soloist with the many other record companies. Conductors annual festival in 2009, which will be held at major orchestras under conductors represented in the RNO discography include Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. such as Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Founder and Music Director Mikhail Pletnev, The RNO is unique among the principal Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Principal Guest Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, Russian ensembles as a private institution Kent Nagano, Kurt Sanderling, Kent Nagano, Alexander Vedernikov and funded with the support of individuals, Christian Thielemann and Herbert Paavo Berglund. corporations and foundations in Russia Blomstedt. The RNO’s recording of Prokofiev’s and throughout the world. In recogni- In 1990, following the collapse Peter and the Wolf and Beintus’s Wolf Tracks, tion of both its artistry and path-breaking of the Soviet system, Mikhail Pletnev conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated structure, the Russian Federation recently was able to realize his dream of forming an Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail awarded the RNO the first ever grant to a orchestra independent of the government Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Gorbachev, received a 2004 Grammy Award, non-government orchestra.

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