1.01. - 1.04. Symphony No.1 in G minor, op.13 'Winter Daydreams' [40'23]
1.05. - 1.08. Symphony No.2 in C minor, op.17 'Little Russian' [33'11]
1.09. - 1.13. Symphony No.3 in D major, op. 29 'Polish' [42'23]
2.14. - 2.17. Symphony No.4 in F minor, op.36* [39'34]
2.18. - 2.21. Symphony No.5 in E minor, op.64 [46'27]
3.22. - 3.25. Symphony No.6 in B minor, op.74 'Pathétique' [43'50]
3.26. - 3.29. Manfred. Symphony, op.58 [54'03]
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oleg Caetani
ABC Classics 476 644-2 [recorded live in concert through 2007; CDs and digital download released November 2009]
[digital download; flacs, cover and inlay scans - no booklet]
Recording venue: Arts Centre, Hamer Hall & Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University*, MelbourneRecording engineers: Jim Atkins & Russell Thomson; Producers: Stephen Snelleman & Alex Stinson
Italian conductor of Russian descent, Oleg Caetani, is probably best known in recorded music circles for his complete series of Shostakovich symphonies made in Milan for the Arts label in the early noughties. He also made a series of recordings with the Melbourne Symphony for Chandos.
This very fine series of Tchaikovsky symphonies with sober and unfussy performances, but with plenty of character, were recorded slightly later when he was chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony - 2005 to 2010.
For me, all of these performances are near the top of my list of preferred recordings of these symphonies - with the real standout being Symphony No.3. Previous to hearing this performance, I always thought that symphony very weak compared to the others but this performance transforms it for me. Almost as fine is the Manfred - although not quite displacing the recording by his papa, Igor Markevitch, with the London Symphony from top spot.
Although recorded in concert, the audience is unobtrusive and recording quality is excellent.with lots of orchestral detail. The Melbourne Symphony play extremely well for Caetani with whom they obviously had a very good relationship. Unfortunately, as usual with ABC Classics, the digital download comes without any booklet.