Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Herbert von Karajan :: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake Ballet Suites

The 1952 mono recordings, NOT the 1959 stereos

Arved Ashby | Columbus, OH | 01/01/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There has been a major screw-up with this reissue. By general consensus, Karajan's stereo 1959 Philharmonia remakes of the standard "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty" suites are improvements on his 1952 recordings with the same orchestra. (He only did one "Nutcracker" suite with the Philharmonia, in 1952 -- and that opens the present CD.) Certainly Alan Sanders' liner notes go into some detail on why the 1959 performances are better. Also, the thrilling 1959 versions have never made it to CD. So far, so good. Well, what does EMI do? Someone at the company, apparently bent on sabotage, defies the liner notes and the jewel box copyright-date listings and somehow substitutes the 1952 tapes for this reissue! These are fine performances in their own right -- but they're in mono, they were already reissued in 1989, they're not as good as the 1959 versions, and the person buying the disc is misled about the contents.



"High Fidelity" Magazine once reported a wicked statement making the record industry rounds in the 1980s, when the company was slow to get into CD releases and production, that EMI must stand for "Every Mistake Imaginable." Given a gaffe like this Tchaikovsky reissue, you're inclined to think the saying is true."

EMI Mistake

J R Sound Police | California | 01/05/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I agree entirely with the Ashby review of this product. After looking for a long time for a CD version of the wonderful EMI stereo Karajan Tchaikovsky ballet suites, I found this CD release claiming to be the real 1959 stereo recordings. But, as Mr. Ashby points out, this release is not the real thing, but the already issued older mono recordings. While I do think a great many of Karajan's best recordings were his earlier mono EMI productions (such as the Cosi fan Tutte), in this case, I think the stereo ballet recordings are far superior to the earlier versions.



I wrote to EMI about the problem, but apparently they don't care."

An overlooked gem from Karajan's early Philharmonia years

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I sympathize with the two reviewers who complain that EMI misled them with this issue of Karajan's 1952 Tchaikovsky ballet suites. The rest of us who aren't looking for the late stereo version from 1959 (which makes a total of four recordings of this music form Karajan, the other two being on DG with the Berlin Phil. and on Decca with the Vienna Phil.) will want to know how good these mono readings re. The answer is very good. For elegance and refinement, I doubt that Karajan ever surpassed them, even though the rather distant Kingsway Hall recording isn't remotely as sumptuous as any of the later versions.



I own most of Karajan's early work with the Philharmonia, but this recording was new to me. There's a lean strength to the orchestral playing that's extremely appealing. When I was a child my first LP was of the Nutcracker Suite with Toscanini and the NBC Sym., and Karajan was recording it at about the same time. Where Toscanini is razor sharp and impatiently fast, Karajan is both precise and elegant -- you won't find Beecham's warmthor humor.



His Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty are patrician rather than viscerally dramatic. Because he was a great musician, Karajan supplies some surprises even in this thrice-familiar music, such as his startlingly fast tempo for the waltz from Sleeping Beauty. An overall timing of 62 min. is fairly generous, but this CD obviously is aimed at Karajan's most devoted fans. Since I count myself as one, I was very pleased to discover it. (Another plus is that Dennis Brain plays first horn -- his career with Karajan was almost entirely in mono.)"