P. I. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
Label: ORFEO Catalog: C860111 Format: CD City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris NelsonsP. I. Tchaikovsky A recent recipient of ECHO Klassik's award as "Conductor of the Year", Andris Nelsons is now continuing his series of highly acclaimed recordings with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. More especially, he is continuing his exploration of Tchaikovsky's symphonies. The Fourth Symphony and Francesca da Rimini were deliberately chosen in that they both mark a new stage in their composer's development and reflect his attempt to process and sublimate his deep personal crisis of 1876-7. The figure of Francesca da Rimini was inspired by Dante's Inferno, where she embodies a type of forbidden love unable to find redemption. In turn she inspired Tchaikovsky to write a symphonic fantasy both gloomily oppressive and lyrically expansive. Andris Nelsons and his orchestra succeed in squaring this circle of Hell by ensuring that the musical contrasts are organically interrelated, while losing none of their tension and excitement, and this remains true from the threatening chromaticisms of the introduction, which demonstrates that there is no way out of this particular Inferno, to the magnificent climax of the lament evoking Francesca's torments in love. Andris Nelsons' performance of the Fourth Symphony follows a similar trajectory, albeit on a much bigger scale, producing an exquisite aural experience. At the beginning, the fate Price: $27.98 |