Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 2 “Little Russian” and 3 “Polish”

Critics have hailed the first three releases in Alto’s survey of the Tchaikovsky Symphonies conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Musicweb’s Rob Barnett wrote, “This Fourth is kinetically magnificent. … It benefits from Russian wind and a towering passion that in the first and last movements has the brass phalanx taking voluptuous rage close to tragic rupture. … The Fifth [has] an indomitable gait and with fiery inspiration in the finale which I had to replay immediately. … The Sixth is outright superb… this is blisteringly imaginative Tchaikovsky! Not once does Rozhdestvensky loosen his extraordinary grip. It’s even more effective than the Mravinsky-Leningrad.”

The Second and Third Symphonies may be less well known than his last three, but they are brimming with imaginative and memorable melodies and high Romantic passion. Rozhdestvensky and his superb orchestra illuminate these works’ grandeur and dramatic episodes, captured in sensational sound.