Post by DirgePyotr TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 (1880)
:: Amoyal/Camerata de Lausanne [Warner ’12]
This is a decidedly pared-down production, employing only 13 string all
told, including Amoyal on violin … and it sounds like it, as there’s no
attempt by the engineers to make them sound like more than they are. This is
not going to please listeners who take Tchaikovsky’s stated preference for a
highly populated string orchestra as gospel: “The larger number of players
in the string orchestra, the more this shall be in accordance with the
author’s wishes.” If you can accept the pared-down premise, however, the
performance is worth a listen, as it’s quite different and interesting apart
from its distilled chamber music-like scale and scope. The strings are
bright in tone, and the playing is alert, energetic and, in the non-Élégie
movements, ostensibly cheerful, but there’s a slight disturbance in the
Force, a just-perceptible feeling of anxiety in the air, that’s not normally
associated with the usually suave and confident Serenade. The almost
painfully intimate account of the Élégie is especially fascinating, unlike
any other I’ve heard. This, then, is not a “library choice” by any stretch,
but it’s a pretty interesting one-off for adventurous listeners.
---------------------------------
Interesting.
Are there other recordings with small groups comparable to this one?
I'm thinking of Zhislin, but that is with 18 musicians, a lot more. Do you
know his recording?
I don't know of any other accounts with as few as 13 strings. I don't know
Zhislin either, but Bashmet/Moscow Soloists [RCA ’89] uses around 18
musicians if I remember correctly; it still manages to sound like a chamber
orchestra, a very small chamber orchestra, rather than a chamber music
ensemble, however. The performance is very Romantic in character, with
extreme dynamics/dynamic contrasts and bold expressive gestures. It’s
well-played in that context, but it’s all a bit too much for me to fully
embrace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Curiously, the Gramophone review can be read without subscription:
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/tchaikovsky-souvenir-de-florence
(Here Zinman's recording of Souvenir is mentiond - a recording I really
would like to see on CD any time.)
The booklet of the recording of Bashmet does not mention the number of
musicians involved. I remember it as sounding like a rather large ensemble.
Larger than Marriner's Academy (Decca), in the Serenade.
I've listened to snippets of Amoyal's recording (but on computer speakers
only); I think the sound is close to those by Marriner and Zhislin.
I should listen to Zhislin again - but I remember his performance as very
vivid and attractive. It went straight to "the top" for me at first
listening. Recommended.
Unfortunately the Amoyal recording is not availabe at the (Dutch) sites I
usually visit for ordering.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Another review:
https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2013/08/tchaikovsky-serenade-for-strings-cd.html