Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 (original version)

[Alan Howe]

I have just acquired Wang/Oundjian on Chandos - fab playing and spectacular recording!

[Christopher]

I have two recordings:
- Andrej Hoteev/Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow/Vladimir Fedoseyev (Koch label), from a 4-CD box-set of all his works for piano+orchestra. The cover explicitly says "Unabridged original versions", so that seems to be clear.

The other is a Naxos CD, with Bernd Glemser/Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Antoni Wit.  Annoyingly the website doesn't say if it's the original or the Siloti.  Does anyone know off-hand? I've long since got rid of my hard-copy CDs and their booklets!

[Alan Howe]

Glemser's slow movement runs to 16:22, which would suggest that it's the original version.

[TerraEpon]

The other is a Naxos CD, with Bernd Glemser/Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Antoni Wit.  Annoyingly the website doesn't say if it's the original or the Siloti.  Does anyone know off-hand? I've long since got rid of my hard-copy CDs and their booklets!

I'[ll just link it then
https://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/files/tchaikovskydisc-2024-08.pdf

It's about as thorough as it even possible.
That recording (which is one that I have as well) is fully the original.

[Ilja]

I got to know this concerto through the Donohoe EMI recording in the 1990s, which made something of a splash back then. It was one of the first complete recordings, and featured the Bournemouth SO conducted by Rudolf Barshai, with Steven Isserliss and (the then-omnipresent) Nigel Kennedy in the trio. Ponti may well have been the first to record the complete concerto, though.

The Siloti massacre isn't entirely dead yet, and it does return from time to time. One example is the relatively recent (2012) recording by Simon Trpčeski with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko, on Onyx. The booklet mentions how:

when, in December 1888, Alexander Siloti (pupil of both Nikolai Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky) proposed a number of radical alterations, Tchaikovsky put his foot down, agreeing to some small changes but nothing else, writing to his publisher: 'He goes too far in his wish to make this concerto easy, and wants me literally to mutilate it for the sake of simplicity.However, Tchaikovsky died before he was able to oversee a new edition of the concerto to its conclusion. Having entrusted the task to Siloti in 1893, it was eventually published in 1897 with a small cut to the first movement, the second movement reduced from 332 bars to 141, and with the finale intact, Siloti claiming that this was all 'according to the composer's intentions'. This version was de rigueur for many years but is now rarely played. On the present recording Simon Trpčeski plays the first and last movements uncut but uses the Siloti edition for the central Andante non troppo.

Apparently, playing the Siloti version has become a kind of historical re-enactment by this point.

Albeit a fine performance in itself, I don't think the Donohoe hasn't aged all that well, I think; the recording is a bit dull, and they're so proud of playing the complete Andante with Nigel that they've chosen to do so at a positively geological pace (17:09). Among the recordings I know, I rather like the Leonskaja/Masur one. It's a display of thoughtful pianism, but avoids to wallow in sentimentalism (a lethal affliction when playing Tchaikovsky).

Of course, by no stretch of the imagination is this an unsung piece, except in comparison to its predecessor, which is among the most-played in the repertoire, if not the most-played.

[John Boyer]

Ponti may well have been the first to record the complete concerto, though.

Ponti did his in 1974. The piano and orchestra are nicely balanced -- for once Ponti isn't in your lap.  You can hear a lot of orchestral detail, but the sound is typical for Vox before they started doing recordings with Joanna Nickrenz and Marc Aubort, who finally brought Vox sound (if not their pressings) on par with the big league labels.  It's muffled and sounded pretty dated even back then, as if you were listening to a recording from the early 50s.

Ponti being Ponti, he pushes the tempos, dispensing with the complete slow movement in a little over 14 minutes, but it does add for a lot of excitement in the outer movements.

Slightly off-topic, this disc is one of two that I have (the other being the Centaur recording of the Rubinstein fifth piano concerto) where there is a spot of incomplete silvering, such that there's a little pinhole of pure transparency where you can look right through the disc, yet the playing is unaffected (nor is it on the Centaur).  Because of the high summer humidity in my home, I need to gently wash my discs in lukewarm water from time to time to remove mold buildup which will easily cause skipping, so I am curious that this spot of transparency does not cause problems when playing.

[Ilja]

The Ponti recording isn't even all that fast compared to most modern recordings, except for the first movement. For instance, Hough on Hyperion gets through the Andante and Finale quite a bit quicker.

[Christopher]

Many thanks TerraEpon!

[eschiss1]

" On the present recording Simon Trpčeski plays the first and last movements uncut but uses the Siloti edition for the central Andante non troppo"- translation: our budget didn't extend to two string soloists

[John Boyer]

translation: our budget didn't extend to two string soloists

Alternative translation: "Mr. Trpčeski declined to share the limelight with the first desk violin and cello players."

[Ilja]

translation: our budget didn't extend to two string soloists

Alternative translation: "Mr. Trpčeski declined to share the limelight with the first desk violin and cello players."

Not necessarily. Often the orchestra will provide their services for free as part of their mission to record musical heritage, but the production company pays for any additional musicians. And these people don't work for nothing. This also explains why every instrumental idiosyncracy can prevent a work from being recorded.

[Alan Howe]

But who wouldn't prefer the longer, better, non-butchered version?

[Ilja]

Yes, rather. Or: what's the point recording a piece if you can't do it properly? I don't get it either.

[Alan Howe]

Is there any valid argument for retaining Siloti?

[eschiss1]

Ilja has hit on it, yes- they neither do, nor should be expected to, work for nothing.