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Tchaikovsky Fatum, The Storm, The Voyevode & The Tempest

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Tchaikovsky - Fatum, The Storm, The Voyevode & The Tempest

(Lesser Known Tchaikovsky, Part I)

"Fatum," Op. 77 (Symphonic Poem) - "The Storm," Op. 76 (Overture to Ostrovsky's Drama) - "The Voyevode," Op. 78 (Symphonic Ballad) - "The Tempest," Op. 18 (Symphonic Fantasy after Shakespeare) - Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra / Eliahu Inbal

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This is the first part of another series of uploads. Where it ends or exactly what's in between is still not settled. But even works-in-progress need beginnings, so here it goes...
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Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is without a doubt one of the most beloved and downright "popular" composers of all times (if not THE most beloved and popular). And who knows? Perhaps this has been at the expense of a few others upon which the recognition might have been better spent (on the other hand, I've personally never found much sense in the practice of blaming someone for not being - or not having been - someone else).

For example, Busoni's opera "Doktor Faust" (left unfinshed at the composer's death) inhabits a musical, intellectual and philosophical terrain having little common with Tchaikovsky's entire operatic output. But should we be prepared to do without "Pique Dame" for all of this? And how well-known is Tchaikovsky's last opera "Iolanta?" To this listener's mind, the latter work contains not only some of Tchaikovsky's most compelling music - but some of the most compelling music (i.e., art) REGARDLESS of who might have composed it (whether vocal music, instrumental music or both combined within a dramatic framework isn't the real issue here).

So it's probably still accurate to say that a notable portion of Tchaikovsky's best work (or work deserving more attention than the record exhibits) remains more or less unknown (or, to be slightly more positive "lesser known"). Should this be considered ironic? It depends on one's perspective, I suppose. However, for this listener (who has also done time in the Wonderful World of Art), the phenomenon doesn't exactly cause much surprise at this point.

In 1975 an LP appeared which was devoted to the "lesser known" orchestral music of Tchaikovsky. Furthermore - as the jacket notes promised - this was also some of Tchaikovsky's "finest" orchestral music (a claim which happily proved to be the opposite of mere advertising hype). The four tracks of this LP have long since appeared in a reissue anthology and these selections are offered here - along with the jacket notes and cover from the original LP.

Just over an hour of great music; great conducting from Eliahu Inbal; great performing from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony - and all in more than decent sound.

From the notes for this issue:

"To any prospective buyer it may seem extravagant to claim, among four works as little known as these that one ('The Tempest') is perhaps the finest of all Tchaikovsky's programmatic works and two others ('Fatum' and 'The Voyevode') are as worth of popularity as his 'Capriccio italien' or '1812.'

The proof must lie in the listening, but it may be some comfort to know that in Tchaikovsky's lifetime 'The Tempest' was one of his most popular works....

The remaining work, 'The Storm,' exhibits all the traits of Tchaikovsky's mature style although it was written in 1864 while he was still studying under Anton Rubinstein at St. Petersburg, and incurred his teacher's acute displeasure."


Digital reissue of material originally issued 1975 (Philips).

Includes original LP cover and notes.

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