Symphony no. 5 - Slavonic March op. 31 by Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Yutaka Sado

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Yutaka Sado

Symphony no. 5 - Slavonic March op. 31

Price: € 12.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917235623
Catnr: CC 72356
Release date: 29 January 2010
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917235623

Catalogue number
CC 72356

Release date
29 January 2010

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

The world premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place in St. Petersburg on November under Tchaikovsky’s baton. It was a triumph, and the composer received frenetic applause from an enthralled audience. However, the reaction from the press was cool and harshly critical of the work. One critic even wrote that the piece contained no fewer than three waltzes and did nothing but repeat itself. Thus the insecure composer was assailed by acute feelings of self-doubt: “After having performed the symphony twice in St Petersburg and once in Prague, I am convinced it is a failure. There is something repellent in it, something insincere and artificial. Am I worn out, as you say? Yesterday evening I looked through the Fourth Symphony. How much nobler, how much better it is!” This self-criticism was often cited as a proof of the supposed weakness of the work, but it should not be overestimated. For Tchaikovsky was a notorious doubter and extremely vulnerable when facing criticism.

This overwhelming rendering of the Fifth Symphony by Sado proves the people of the time more than wrong!

Yutaka Sado’s interpretation is based on this understanding of the work. The Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin plays precisely and judiciously, and the darkly shimmering rendering resonates in an even balance of drama and finesse.

Overweldigende uitvoering van de Vijfde Symfonie van Tchaikovsky
Dit album bevat een uitvoering van de Vijfde Symfonie en de Slavische Mars van Tchaikovsky, uitgevoerd door het Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin onder leiding van Yutaka Sado.

De première van de Vijfde Symfonie vond in november 1888 plaats in St. Petersburg, onder leiding van de componist zelf. De uitvoering was een succes en het publiek werd geboeid door de symfonie. De pers had echter felle kritiek op het werk. Door de kritiek begon Tchaikovsky aan zichzelf te twijfelen. Hij was er van overtuigd dat zijn Vijfde Symfonie een mislukking was, en dat zijn vierde veel beter was. Tchaikovsky’s zelfkritiek wordt vaak genoemd als bewijs van de zwakheid van de Vijfde Symfonie, maar moet vooral niet overschat worden. Tchaikovsky stond er om bekend dat hij slecht met kritiek kon omgaan. Deze overweldigende uitvoering van de Vijfde Symfonie door Sado bewijst dat de critici uit Tchaikovsky’s tijd het mis hadden!

Yutaka Sado studeerde in 1987 met Leonard Bernstein en Seiji Ozawa op het Tanglewood Music Festival en was Bernsteins assistent tijdens zijn concerttoer met het Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. Hij won onder andere de Premier Grand Prix van de International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon in 1989. Van 1993 tot 2011 was Sado chef-dirigent van het Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux. Sinds 2005 is hij artistiek leider van het Hyogo Performing Arts Centre. Daarnaast treedt Sado regelmatig over de hele wereld op als gastdirigent.

Falsch verstandene Theatralik und Sentimentalität ist in Yutaka Sados Interpretation von Tschaikowskys 5. Sinfonie nicht zu finden. Er legt Wert auf die leisen Töne und betont die Grundstimmung der weltabgewandten Melancholie. Das Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin folgt präzise und geerdet Sados Werkverständnis. Sado gibt damit dem Werk die ursprüngliche Formästhetik und die tief empfundene Natürlichkeit zurück. Der 1961 in Kyoto geborene Dirigent war Schüler von Leonard Bernstein und assistierte ihm bei seiner späten Deutschland- und UdSSR-Tournee und ist heute regelmäßiger Gast bei den wichtigsten renommierten Orchestern.

Artist(s)

Yutaka Sado

Yutaka Sado was born in Kyoto (Japan) and attended the Kyoto City University of the Arts. In 1987 he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival and became Bernstein’s assistant during his concert tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. He won the Premier Grand Prix of the 39th International Competition for Young Conductors Besançon in 1989 and later the first prize in the Leonard Bernstein International Competition (1995). Sado assisted Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas in founding the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (Japan), where he appeared as permanent conductor and guest conductor. In 1993 Sado was appointed chief conductor of the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux; he was soon able to tie in the orchestra’s reputation with the legendary era of Igor Markevitch. In 1999 he was appointed First Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “Giuseppe Verdi”. Sado is a regular guest with leading orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In his home country he has been the artistic director of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center since 2005.

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Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Present and Future: Tugan Sokhiev A new chapter opened for the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin) on 7 September 2012: Tugan Sokhiev conducted the DSO as Music Director for the first time during the Musikfest Berlin, 65 years to the day after the orchestra’s first public concert. After two years as the Designated Music Director he thus officially succeeded Ferenc Fricsay, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kent Nagano and Ingo Metzmacher. The response speaks for itself: »At his inaugural concert, Sokhiev – a springy, intelligent conductor who reacts to the music as quick as a flash – enthralled his orchestra, controlling with a light touch right from the start Stravinsky’s ›Pulcinella‹ Suite and, on the second half, Sergei Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony, which is rarely performed in Germany,« the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
Founding by RIAS In 2013, the DSO looks back on a 67-year tradition as a Berlin radio and concert orchestra. Founded in 1946 as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester by Radio in the American Sector (RIAS), its first Principal Conductor Ferenc Fricsay set standards in repertoire, sound ideal and media presence starting in 1948. Music of the 20th century immediately became a programming staple, in addition to interpretations of the classical repertoire characterised by transparency, structural conciseness and plasticity.
From RSO to DSO Starting in 1956 the radio station Sender Freies Berlin (now Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, rbb) participated in sponsoring the orchestra; this is why it changed its name to Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (RSO Berlin). The RSO acquired an excellent reputation in Berlin and on numerous tours, with radio and television productions, through its concert programs, as well as significant conductors who committed to them. After Ferenc Fricsay’s early death, the young Lorin Maazel 1964 took over artistic responsibility for the orchestra, followed by Riccardo Chailly in 1982 and Vladimir Ashkenazy in 1989. In 1993 the RSO changed its name to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
As of 1 January 1994 the existing RSO GmbH was extended to become Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH (roc berlin). Its shareholders are Deutschlandradio (40%), the Federal Republic of Germany (35%), the state of Berlin (20%) and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (5%).
The DSO in the new millennium Kent Nagano was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director in the 2000|2001 season. He led the orchestra to engagements at the Salzburg Festival, the Baden-Baden Festival House and the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet. Kent Nagano bade the orchestra farewell in 2006; since then he has been associated with them as its honorary conductor. Ingo Metzmacher held the position of the DSO’s Music Director from 2007 to 2010. His annual programs were characterised by overarching themes. By launching the Casual Concerts concert format he emphasised the orchestra’s openness and its desire to address new groups of listeners.
The DSO in the media The DSO’s symphony concerts in the Berliner Philharmonic Hall are recorded by Deutschlandradio Kultur and by the rbb Kulturradio, and are regularly broadcast in Germany and throughout Europe and beyond via the European Broadcasting Union. Selected concerts outside of Germany are recorded by Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcaster for radio and television.
The DSO is also globally present with numerous prize-winning CD recordings. In 2011 it received the ›Grammy Award‹ for the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s opera ›L’amour de loin‹, conducted by Kent Nagano. Among other CD publications of recent years, recordings with Ingo Metzmacher on ›Phoenix Edition‹, Christoph Eschenbach on ›Capriccio‹ and with Yutaka Sado on ›Challenge Classics‹ stand out. Recordings of contemporary music have been released on ›Neos‹ and ›Kairos‹. Furthermore, the orchestra has released several live opera recordings from the Baden-Baden Festival House as DVDs on ›Arthaus Musik‹. The DVD series ›Monuments of Classical Music‹ produced by Deutsche Welle has received several awards.
The DSO on tour Over and above its concerts in Berlin, the DSO is active in international music life with numerous guest appearances. Concert tours have led the orchestra to Russia, Asia, North and South America and Lebanon. In recent years it has given guest performances in Brazil and Argentina, in Japan, China, Malaysia and Abu-Dhabi, and a number of tour concerts in Eastern Europe in an ongoing collaboration with Deutsche Welle and the German Federal Foreign Office.
Besides performances at national and international festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms and the Beethovenfest Bonn, the DSO can regularly be experienced in the major concert halls of Europe such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

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Composer(s)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky is considered as one of the most talented Russian composers of the 19th century. Unlike many other Russian composers of his time, he studied at a conservatory and made the western music theory his own. So, he was not as distrustful of western music as the group of nationalistic composers surrounding Balakirev. Yet, Tchaikovsky sought to express the typical Russian mentality just as much and used many Russian folk songs in his music. He had a good relationship with Balakirev, who helped him with constructive feedback on his first masterpiece, the overture of Romeo and Juliet. At times, Tchaikovsky was emotionally unstable, which has often been attributed to struggles with his homosexuality. His decision to marry proved to be disastrous and plunged him into a deep crisis. Yet, the passionate letters of his fiance, even though they barely knew each other, did inspire him to compose his succesful opera Evgenij Onegin. Tchaikovsky had the wonderful gift of composing the most beautiful, lyric melodies. He had a feeling for creating a certain atmosphere in his music and mastered the art of orchestration. Moreover, he excelled in dance music, which made him the ideal composer for ballet. With his ballets The Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker he brought the genre to a higher level. During his life, he was already a celebrity. He often did tours to conduct his music and in the USA he was welcomed as a star. He died unexpectedly, nine days after the premiere of his incredibly gloomy Sixth Symphony, probably of cholera. Some other highlights of his body of works are his First Piano Concerto, his Violin Concerto and the Rococo-variations.

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