TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture

^{'Tchaikovsky is most evidently (and gloriously) Tchaikovsky in the Moscow Cantata.'} _Gramophone

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Valery Gergiev conductor
Mariinsky Orchestra, Soloists & Chorus

Lyubov Sokolova mezzo-soprano
Alexey Markov baritone
Total duration 64m17s

Catalogue number MAR0503
UPC 822231850328

James Mallinson producer
Dirk Sobotka & John Newton engineering
Mark Donahue engineering, mixing & mastering

Recorded February 2009 at the Mariinsky Concert Hall, St Petersburg

Includes multi-channel 5.1 and stereo mixes
Notes in English / en Francais / auf Deutsch / на русском языке
'Tchaikovsky is most evidently (and gloriously) Tchaikovsky in the Moscow Cantata. A vintage melody turns the first page of Russian history, illuminating it in that inimitable Tchaikovsky way. The baritone monologue in praise of Moscow culminates in a marvellously stirring idea and in the second mezzo-soprano arioso honouring the women of Russian we find a heroine worthy of any Tchaikovsky opera. No doubt about it, Tchaikovsky had a gift for personalising even his most official duties, The dutiful was not really in his vocabulary' Gramophone

£5.99 £9.99

Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Orchestra

Unlike the majority of his Russian predecessors, Tchaikovsky's fame meant he received regular commissions for new work – he was the first 'professional' Russian composer. A new generation followed in his footsteps including Stravinsky and Prokofiev; for them, commissions were the norm.

Many of the works for which Tchaikovsky was commissioned were required to celebrate great state and political events. The Danish Overture was written to mark the marriage of the future Tsar Alexander III to the Danish Princess Dagmar. He was later commissioned to to produce the rarely-heard Moscow Cantata and Coronation March as part of the celebrations to mark Alexander's coronation.