Sunday Classics preview: Easing our way back to Tchaikovsky

Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra perform the second half of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2004 Nation's Favourite Prom. Don't worry, we've got better performances coming up.

by Ken

In case you haven't guessed, Sunday we're headed for "A Very Tchaikovsky Christmas." There won't be much all that Christmas-y about it; mostly it'll just be our 2nd Annual Tchaikovsky Christmas Post.

I suppose there are people who snicker at what is surely Tchaikovsky's most-performed work, the 1812 Overture. Tchaikovsky didn't think much of it either, but in his case it's understandable -- it didn't exactly tap into his deeper creative powers. The nature of the piece, a musical reenactment of the Battle of Borodino, in which the beleaguered Russian army in 1812 routed Napoleon's seemingly unstoppable invading force (which had actually been stopped by the unimagined harshness of the Russian winter), pretty well dictated that for thematic material the composer would borrow familiar Russian and French tunes. It's understandable, then, that the composer regarded the piece as a commissioned trifle. But that anyone else would deprive him/herself of the piece's matchless pleasures seems to me an exercise in snobbery that's beyond me.

In the score Tchaikovsky himself provided indications for cannon firings and pealing bells, and nowadays "effects"-oriented performances thrive on adding not only those but choruses, fireworks, light shows, and anything else they can think of. The regrettable result is often to detract attention from the unadorned wonders of the piece. I thought we might start by hearing it "plain" -- meaning just for orchestra, since there's nothing "plain" about this classic performance. (Sorry, Bil, I would have loved to offer a shiny new recording, but I couldn't find one played or recorded half as well as this one.)

TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 Overture, Op. 49


Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Jan. 7, 1956

In 1954, Mercury Records, eager to show off its advanced-for-the-time recording technology got the idea of producing a version of the 1812 that added the cannons and bells indicated in the score. The assignment fell to one of its regular recording teams, Antal Dorati and the Minneapolis Symphony (since 1968 the Minnesota Orchestra), and the result was, for a classical record, a monster hit. So it was only natural when Mercury redid it for stereo in 1958, again with Dorati and the Minneapolis SO. It's hard to believe this legendary recording is 50 years old.


Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati, cond. (with cannon and carillon). Mercury, orchestral part recorded April 5, 1958

If you want to know more about the making of the recording, composer-commentator Deems Taylor had provided a spoken commentary for the 1954 mono version, and Mercury had him do the honors again for the stereo remake.


Spoken commentary by Deems Taylor recorded in New York City, Nov. 13, 1958

Now, do you have a hankering for more than cannons and bells? I'm afraid we're not equipped for fireworks. But conductor Igor Buketoff produced a version that effectively retrofits choral settings of the Russian Orthodox hymn "God Preserve Thy People," which is used first solemnly at the opening and triumphantly later on, when it leads into a choral rendering of the anthem "God Save the Tsar."


Temple University Choirs, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. (with electronic cannon and bells). RCA/BMG, recorded 1970

Finally, if you just like cannons and bells, Mercury and Dorati came up with a sequel to their 1812s: Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, a not-quite-joke "Battle Symphony" written originally for the "panharmonicon," a giant mechanical orchestra invented by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, whose name became a household word for another of his inventions, the metronome.

In a lighter-hearted way, Wellington's Victory re-creates the defeat -- at the Battle of Vitoria, in northeastern Spain, in 1813 -- of another Napoleon, the reeling emperor's older brother Joseph Bonaparte, still ruling as king of Spain, at the hands of a multinational European army commanded by the future Duke of Wellington. You shouldn't have any difficulty recognizing, musically, the English and French sides of the action.

BEETHOVEN: Wellington's Victory, Op. 91

i. Battle
ii. Victory Symphony


London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati, cond. (with cannon and carillon). Mercury, orchestral part recorded June 9, 1960

Once again Mercury enlisted Deems Taylor to provide commentary:


Spoken commentary by Deems Taylor recorded in New York City, Nov. 22-23, 1960

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