Monday has arrived and the Odyssey
isn’t going to write itself, so let’s get to it.
Disc 992 is…Tchaikovsky Box Set
Disc 5 (of 5)
Artist: Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Year of Release: 1875 through 1892
What’s up with the Cover? Not much. Pytor’s portrait oversees
the stately business of the album’s contents. He doesn’t smile but that doesn’t
mean he isn’t happy; no one smiled for photos back then.
How I Came To Know It: Back in university I decided to
get into classical music and quickly gravitated to Tchaikovsky. I bought this
box set because it was reasonably priced and the folks in the A&B Sound’s
classical department said it was a good recording.
Yes,
there was a time when music stores were so plentiful there were entire sections
dedicated to different types of music, and folks working in them that knew their
stuff.
How It Stacks Up: This is not an album so much as a “best of”
compilation of three operas. Consequently, it can’t really stack up.
Ratings: I shouldn’t rate this at all
since it is only sampling from three operas, but I’ll give it 4 stars overall since
I created the precedent on previous discs from the same box set.
At last
we reach the end of a journey begun back at Disc 9 when I reviewed the
first of this five disc box set of the incomparable Tchaikovsky. I can safely
say that over 900 reviews later I still know next to nothing about classical
music but I know what I like and I like this guy plenty.
What I
don’t like is that this album is only “excerpts” from the three ballets in
question. Sure the excerpts are fairly extensive (maybe 25 minutes of each one)
but I feel like I am missing out. So following are my thoughts on the parts of
these operas that EMI has deemed to consider important from these famous works
of art.
Swan Lake, Op. 20 (composed
1875-76)
I
listened to this opera while walking home from downtown on Saturday afternoon
and at the risk of overselling it, it felt like the music carried me all the
way to my door step. “Swan Lake” is
majestic, playful and pastoral and even a little creepy in places – but only
just the right places.
There
are parts of this tune that are instantly recognizable (doubt having been used
for movies and commercials for decades) but none of it ever felt tired or
overdone.
There
were places that I thought I was in some enchanted forest, and in others it
felt like I was in some stately throne room, sunlight streaming through stained
glass windows onto a massive marble floor. Listening to this music everything
just felt bigger and more important.
It made
me want to run out and buy the full opera, but I’m a little afraid it will
wreck my experience. I’ve never been to the ballet (I’ve been to two operas and
I’m not a big fan) but if anything was going to get me to the ballet, “Swan Lake” is it. 5 stars.
The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66
(composed 1889)
My
reaction to “Sleeping Beauty” wasn’t
quite so amazing. Given that the Tchaikovsky opera was made in the nineteenth
century and based off the Brothers Grimm version, I was excited to have some of
the creepy dark fairy tale magic of the original tale.
Instead
the opera felt whimsical and lighthearted. Frankly, it reminded me more of the 1959
Disney version. “Sleeping Beauty” is
probably the best of those early Disney animations but it is still a bit
schlocky for my tastes.
Tchaikovsky’s
brilliance as a composer comes across well, but I didn’t feel engaged
emotionally like I was with “Swan Lake”.
Maybe it was the selective editing process by the Soulless Record Execs at EMI,
but this one just didn’t grab me. 3 stars.
The Nutcracker, Op. 71
(composed 1892)
If “Swan Lake” was a revelation and “Sleeping Beauty” was a disappointment, “The Nutcracker” was somewhere in
between.
It isn’t
like there isn’t anything to get a hold of here – this thing is the top 40 hit
machine of the 1890s, with earworms a-plenty. Maybe that’s the problem, though.
“The Nutcracker” is like that song
that was too big of a hit. You’ve
heard it a thousand times and you’re just a little sick of it now. Like Michael
Jackson’s “Beat It” or anything by
Duran Duran. Yes, screw you, Duran Duran.
What “The Nutcracker” needs is to be shelved for
a decade or two, but instead it gets hauled out every Christmas for another
round. Brilliant composition? No doubt, but there is so much other stuff by
Tchaikovsky I would rather play. Some of it even features cannons; something I
wish I had handy whenever I hear the dance of the sugar plum fairy. A begrudging 3 stars.
Overall
I still love Tchaikovsky and while I don’t put him on that often, that is more
a function of my belief that classical music is best enjoyed in its entirety,
while sitting quietly in a dark room. It is complex stuff and it is worth your
full attention.
On those
rare occasions when I do choose to have a listen, it is usually something from
Discs 1-4 of this set, despite the brilliance that is “Swan Lake”.
Best
tracks: Swan
Lake
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