Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) – Ballet, ‘Swan Lake’ – Ernest Ansermet & Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

According to his brother Modest, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, much drawn to ballet in his youth, was fond of imitating the dancers and could do so proficiently. As late as 1875, when Camille Saint-Saëns was making his Moscow debut as composer, pianist and conductor, the two men were reportedly to be found larking about on the stage of the conservatoire performing a little ‘Galatea and Pygmalion’ ballet together with Nikolay Rubinstein at the piano. However the mature composer would have been surprised to find himself held up as a key figure in the history of classical dance. (Closer to our own time, Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev likewise preferred to think of himself as a purveyor of opera, notwithstanding Serge Diaghilev’s outspoken views and his own successes with full-length ballets in the Tchaikovsky tradition.)
It is hardly surprising that early spectators of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (1875–76), accustomed to the subservient scores of Cesare Pugni (1802-1870) and Ludwig Minkus (1826–1917), should have felt puzzled by its symphonic proportions and depth of feeling. Only two orchestral rehearsals and a poor production scarcely helped. Even The Sleeping Beauty (1888–89), one of Tchaikovsky’s great masterpieces, staged with
the resources of the Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg, enjoyed only a succès d’estime during his lifetime. His last work in the form, the two-act Nutcracker (1891–92), secured its popular reputation through the pre release of a suite showcasing its glittering themes.
Tchaikovsky’s balletic significance became much more obvious after his death, part of a process that saw the form perfected and renewed by such practitioners as the French-born choreographer Marius Petipa (1818–1910) and the Russian Mikhail Fokine (1880–1942). The Sleeping Beauty was commissioned by Ivan Vsevolozhsky (1835–1909), then Director of the Imperial Theatres, who had abolished the post of staff ballet composer with a view to engaging musicians of greater distinction. The scenario and designs were prepared by Vsevolozhsky while Petipa mapped out the sequence of dances. Without subverting traditional imperatives of clarity, harmony, symmetry and order, the bold invention and perfect alignment of music and choreography had the capacity to affect audiences in a new way. Tchaikovsky’s three mature ballets were chiefly responsible for this generic transformation, for all that he once described Swan Lake as ‘poor stuff compared with [Delibes’s] Sylvia.’
Public acclaim notwithstanding, many academic commentators have found Tchaikovsky an uncomfortable figure whose symphonic music could be stigmatized as ‘balletic’ as if that epithet in some way invalidated it. With the effortless extension of a single melodic line held to be in some way suspect – although Tchaikovsky’s tunes can run the gamut from elegance and charm to uninhibited eroticism and passion – it proved easy to overlook the incredible craftsmanship of the ballets, their mastery of form, harmony, momentum and orchestration. Tchaikovsky is rarely given credit for the discipline and professionalism of his creative life. Whatever the propensity within to violent agitation, he delivered on time and was quite prepared to submit to the exacting and precise demands of his collaborators. The expressive certainty of his invention has allowed more recent choreographers to experiment with stance and movement, often radically, confident that a firm musical narrative is permanently encoded in the notes.

CD 12

a. Introduction-N.1; Moderato assai–Scène. Allegro giusto
b. N.2; Waltz. Tempo di Valse
c. N.4; Pas de trois. Intrada (allegro); andante; sostenuto; allegro semplice; presto; moderato; allegro; Coda (allegro vivace)
d. N.7-8; Subject; Dance With The Goblets (Tempo di Polacca)
e. N.10; Scene (Moderato)
f. N.11-12; Scene (Allegro moderato; allegro vivo); Scene (Allegro)
g. N.13. Dances Of The Swans–I. Tempo di Valse
h. N.13; Dances Of The Swans–V. Pas d’action. Odette et le Pince (Andante)
i. N.13; Dances Of The Swans–IV. Danse des petits cygnes (Allegro moderato)
j. N.13; Dances Of The Swans–VI. Danse générale (Valse)
k. N.13; Dances Of The Swans–II. Odette solo (Moderato assai)
l. N.13; Dances Of The Swans–VII. Coda (Allegro vivace)
m. N.15; Scene. Allegro giusto
n. N.17; Scene. Entrance & Waltz Of The Special Guests (Allegro; tempo di valse)
o. N.18; Scene. Allegro; allegro giusto
p. N.21; Spanish Dance (Allegro non troppo. Tempo di Bolero)
q. N.22; Neapolitan Dance (Allegro moderato; andantino quasi moderato)
r. N.23; Mazurka
s. N.20; Danse hongroise (Czárdás)
t. N.5; Pas de deux. Intrada; Valse; Andante; Valse; Coda (allegro molto vivace)

CD 13

01. u. N.28; Scene (Allegro agitato; allegro vivace)
02. v. N.29; Finale. Andante; allegro agitato; alla breve; moderato e maestoso

03. Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello & Orchestra (abridged by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen), Op.33
04. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’, Op.74 – I. Adagio; allegro non troppo
05. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’, Op.74 – II. Allegro con grazia
06. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’, Op.74 – III. Allegro molto vivace
07. Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’, Op.74 – IV. Finale. Adagio lamentoso; andante

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Ernest Ansermet – Conductor

CD 12 BAIXE AQUI – DOWNLOAD HERE
CD 13 BAIXE AQUI – DOWNLOAD HERE