Do I hear a waltz? (Tchaikovsky edition)

Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963)

by Ken

Nothing fancy going on here this week. As I explained in Friday night's preview, we're just listening to four waltzes that happen to be included on an-all Tchaikovsky DG CD reissue conducted by Ferenc Fricsay. Okay, maybe not quite "just." It's possible that there are one or two diversions or digressions along the way.

Right now, for example, we're going to kick off, not with a waltz, but with a polonaise. Friday we listened to the waltz from Act II of the opera Yevgeny Onegin -- in both its "concert" form and as it's heard in the opera, as the music around which the opening scene of Act II, a ball given on the country estate of Madame Larina, unfolds. We're going to hear that again, in some different performances (plus the Fricsay, of course), but first we're going to hear the polonaise that opens Act III, introducing a considerably more cosmopolitan ball, in Moscow, at the home of Madame Larina's daughter Tatiana, now married to a genuine prince (and a prince of a fellow is our Prince Gremin).

TCHAIKOVSKY: Yevgeny Onegin, Op. 24:
Act III, Polonaise

Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine, cond. DG, recorded June 1987

Orchestre de Paris, Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips, recorded October 1992

USSR State Radio and Television Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, cond. Audiophile Classics, recorded 1986

Sofia Festival Orchestra, Emil Tchakarov, cond. Sony, recorded Jan. 15-21, 1988

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded December 1977

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 12, 1971


NOW LET'S GET TO OUR WALTZES --


We hear the operatic version of the Yevgeny Onegin Waltz in this English-language recording conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.


In Friday's preview I used the word "dynamic" to describe Fricsay, and that still seems to me a pretty good characterization. Of course that's not all he was as a conductor. But it's a quality that lingers in my ears after most of the performances of his I've heard: a sense of purposely directed musical energy. It's a quality not always valued by performers of Tchaikovsky, though it's very much to the point. Even in (very good) mono sound, his performances hold their own against some pretty stiff competition here.

1. WALTZ FROM ACT II OF YEVGENY ONEGIN

(1) "Concert" version


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded December 1977

(2) As the waltz is heard in the opera

TCHAIKOVSKY: Yevgeny Onegin, Op. 24:
Act II, Entr'acte and Waltz

The principal reception room of the Larins' house, where a ball is in progress. The room is brightly lit by a central chandelier and candles in sconces along the wall. Uniformed officers are among the guests. As the curtain rises, the younger people are dancing a waltz while the older ones watch admiringly. ONEGIN is dancing with TATIANA and LENSKI with OLGA. MADAME LARINA bustles about with the air of an anxious hostess.

GUESTS: Well, what a surprise!
We never expected a military band!
Revelry, and to spare!
A long time has passed
since we were so entertained!
A marvelous party, would you not all agree?
[Repeated]
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
What a lovely surprise for us!
ELDERLY LANDOWNERS: In our estates we seldom see
the joyous glitter of a merry ball.
Hunting is our only entertainment.
We love the hubbub and clatter of the hunt.
LADIES: Fun indeed:
They ride all day
along thickets, fields, bogs, bushes;
they lie down when tired
and pause for a rest.
A fine entertainment for poor ladies indeed!
[The CAPTAIN appears. The young ladies flock around him.]
YOUNG LADIES: Oh, Trifon Petrovich,
how kind you are indeed!
We are so grateful to you!
CAPTAIN: That's quite enough!
The pleasure's mine!
YOUNG LADIES: We'll dance to our heart's content!
CAPTAIN: That's my intention too!
Let's start the dance!
[The dances begin again. TATIANA and ONEGIN are among the dancers and they attract the attention of the ladies.]
A GROUP OF LADIES: Look, look,
the fops are dancing!
ANOTHER GROUP: High time too!
FIRST GROUP: Fine suitor indeed!
SECOND GROUP: Pity for Tanyusha!
FIRST GROUP: He'll marry her.
TOGETHER: And tyrannize her.
They say that he's a gambler.
[After finishing the dance, ONEGIN walks slowly through the hall, listening to conversations.]
LADIES: He's a dreadful ignoramus and behaves extravagantly.
He doesn't kiss a lady's hand,
he's a freemason and only drinks
red wine by the glass!
ONEGIN: That's a nice opinion!
I've had enough of listening
to spiteful gossip.
It serves me right.
Why did I come
to this silly ball? Why?
I won't forgive Vladimir [Lenski] for this!
I'll court Olga.
I'll drive him thorougly mad!
There she is!
[ONEGIN approaches OLGA. LENSKI approaches her at the same time.]
ONEGIN [to OLGA]: Please!
LENSKi [to OLGA]: You promised me this dance!
[to LENSKI]: You must have made a mistake.
[OLGA dances with ONEGIN.]
LENSKI: Oh, what's wrong?
I don't believe my eyes! Olga!
Gd, what's wrong with me?
GUESTS: A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
What a treat!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
We never expected
a military band!
There's no end to the fun!
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
Bravo! Isn't that so?
A splendid feast, isn't it?
No, we never did expected
a military band!
A splendid feast, splendid, splendid!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast! A splendid feast!

Hervé Hennequin (bs), A Captain; Dmitri Hvorostovsky (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Neil Shicoff (t), Lenski; St. Petersburg Chamber Choir, Orchestre de Paris, Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips, recorded October 1992

Stoil Georgiev (bs), A Captain; Yuri Mazurok (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Nicolai Gedda (t), Lenski; Sofia National Opera Chorus, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Emil Tchakarov, cond. Sony, recorded Jan. 15-21, 1988

[in English] Richard Van Allan (bs), A Captain; Thomas Hampson (b), Eugene Onegin; Neil Rosenshein (t), Lenski; Welsh National Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded June 29-July 6, 1992

2. WALTZ FROM ACT I OF SWAN LAKE

From those opening descending string pizzicatos, nobody matches the the effortless grandeur and everything-in-its-place, full-bodied sense of proportion of Eugene Ormandy in this music, though for energy and technicolor orchestral splendor, there's never been another Stokowski.

Swan Lake, Op. 20: Act I, Waltz


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded 1961

New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca, recorded September 1965

3. WALTZ FROM THE PROLOGUE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY

Again the inclusion of the gorgeous Ormandy performance is a no-brainer. I don't think I've ever heard anyone take the waltz itself as broadly as Leonard Bernstein did in this 1971 recording -- I think it's quite wonderful. The Stoky recording may not be as distinctive as his Swan Lake Waltz (and it omits the rousing introduction), but it's pretty wonderful in its own right; note the delicious ascending woodwind chatter leading up to the reprise of the waltz theme, which itself seems to take on a little more swagger the second time. And anyway, I already made the audio file.

The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66: Prologue, Waltz


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded 1961

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 12, 1971

[minus the introduction] New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca, recorded September 1965

4. "WALTZ OF THE FLOWERS" FROM
ACT II OF THE NUTCRACKER

Some of you will recall that we actually did a complete Nutcracker last Christmastime, and for the ever-familiar and ever-cherishable "Waltz of the Flowers," I really don't think we can do better -- by way of supplements to the Fricsay version -- with the two performances we heard then, by William Steinberg and Charles Dutoit, whose performances of the Miniature Overture we also heard, of which I wrote (in a preview devoted to the composer's own Nutcracker Suite) that Steinberg takes "a rather spritelier approach," Dutoit "a more buoyant, caressing one," and "both the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Montreal Symphony play utterly delectably" and both were dazzlingly recorded in the very different modes of Mercury's Living Presence technology and Decca's vivid, famously audiophile-quality Montreal ambience.

The Nutcracker, Op. 71: Act II, No. 13, Waltz of the Flowers


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg, cond. Command, recorded c1963

Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, cond. Decca, recorded c1985


COMING SOON . . .

It occurred to me after finishing this post that we can't brush up this close against the Letter Scene from Onegin without entering. So that's what we're going to do, probably the week after next.


UPDATE: IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

See the October 27 preview, "Meet Tchaikovsky's Tatiana, who's going to write a famous letter," and October 28 main post, "They say that falling in love is wonderful -- Tchaikovsky's Tatiana writes a letter."

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