{"id":806,"date":"2015-12-07T10:43:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T04:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kettledrummer.com\/?p=806"},"modified":"2015-12-09T09:30:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T03:30:18","slug":"recording-the-tchaikovsky-symphonies-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kettledrummer.com\/?p=806","title":{"rendered":"Recording The Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recording the Tchaikovsky Symphonies | Part Five<\/h1>\n

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Symphony No. 3 in D major, op. 29<\/h3>\n

At this point in time, the Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons were on a roll (figuratively) when it came to recording the Tchaikovsky symphonies for Chandos. It was the early winter of 1986. Symphonies No. 5 and 4 were recorded and released to critical acclaim. Symphonies 1 and 2 were recorded, with No. 1 scheduled for release, and No. 2 \u201cin the can\u201d and awaiting a \u201cfiller\u201d before it could be released. The question for the powers that be was the usual \u201cWhat next?’\u201d They had several choices: Number 3, Number 6, or the Symphony in B minor, op. 58 \u2013 otherwise known as \u201cManfred\u201d.
\nI was hoping that it would be either the Sixth or Manfred, but I was only thinking from the standpoint of a timpanist and not a music director or A and R man.
\nAfter some discussion, it was decided that since the third symphony was scheduled to be performed during the winter of 1986, this would be the work to be recorded.
\nThe third symphony is not performed that frequently, and to be quite honest is the my least favorite of the six. From where I sat in the orchestra, any substantial timpani work happens in the first and fifth movements, with some delicate entrances in the third movement. There are no other percussion instruments scored for, and the orchestra that Tchaikovsky uses is perhaps the smallest of all of the orchestral works.<\/p>\n

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Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 3<\/p><\/div>\n

The symphony is a bit of an anomaly in that it is the only one of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies that is made up of five movements. This is due to the addition of the second movement, which is a waltz in all but name, and inserted before the normal andante movement. The symphony is also incorrectly called the \u201cPolish\u201d; this was not because there was anything \u201cPolish\u201d about the symphony \u2013 there certainly is not \u2013 but was due to the conductor of its British premiere, Sir August Manns in 1899. He called it the \u201cPolish\u201d due to the \u201ctempo di polacca\u201d tempo marking for the finale. According to Noel Goodwin in his liner notes for the release, Manns might just as well have called it the \u201cTedesca\u201d (German) after the Alla Tedesca marking for the second movement.The symphony was composed just before the ballet Swan Lake, and was composed relatively quickly. In essence it was a way of getting Tchaikovsky primed for the composition of the ballet.The final movement, the aforementioned \u201cTempo di Polacca\u201d, is very much like those written for his opera \u201cEugene Onegin\u201d as well as those in the ballets Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/strong><\/p>\n

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As I mentioned earlier, the symphony had been scheduled to be performed in concert at the end of January 1986 , so it was logical that it be recorded at that time. By this time the orchestra was quite used to recording at the end of a concert cycle, as the symphony would have been well played in and \u201cin the heads and hands\u201d so to speak. Rehearsals and the initial concert went well, and so did the second and final concert. Recording sessions were held on the Friday morning, with the second and final session held on the Saturday morning.
\nApart from the normal concert preparations and keeping myself up to speed on the music, there were no other special preparations. I used the Hinger drums with Remo heads- I believe that I was trying them with hazy on the two lower drums and clear on the upper two drums at the suggestion of
\nDan Hinger, my teacher and mentor. I was not happy with the hazy on the 25 and 22.5 inch drums, and he had suggested this arrangement, as he personally felt that the clear Remos worked better on the upper drums, whereas the hazy were much rounder and warmer on the two larger drums.
\nHe was correct \u2013 that arrangement served ne well for quite some time.
\nStick choice was, like the other recordings, dictated by the microphones. Mostly, it was a pair of Feldman blue -medium hard mallets and green generals.<\/p>\n

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The sessions….<\/h3>\n

The sessions were held on January 31 and February 1, 1986 at the Oslo Konserthus, with the usual Chandos team of Brian and Ralph Couzens, ably assisted by NRK’s resident engineer Dag Kristofferson.
\nMost of my work was in the first and last movements, with a tiny bit of staccato-like work in the scherzo movement. Those entries – all four of them \u2013 two on low F sharp, and two on B at the very end – had to be clean, and precise, with not too much over-ring. It was not difficult, but one had to be alert and place them carefully.
\nThe first movement required great care, especially in the slow introduction to make the low As sound like a bass pizzicato \u2013 and place them correctly. The rest of the movement was straight forward \u2013 it is the only movement to require three drums \u2013 A, D and e. I played the concerts and recording using the three larger drums \u2013 keeping the smallest drum for insurance purposes. This arrangement gave me a fuller, rounder sound. The finale only used two drums \u2013 A and D, and these I also played on the 31 inch and 28 inch. The mallet choice for this movement was Hinger wood-shafted medium generals that I had used fairly frequently. There was plenty of felt on the mallet, and\u00a0 there was enough \u201cpoint\u201d or \u201cedge\u201d to the sound to make them ideal for recording this movement.It gave me a\u00a0 full, round sound, yet enough articulation to make the movement (and recording) work well. The movement is fun to play \u2013 like I mentioned earlier, it is very much in the mood of the polonaise from \u201cEugene Onegin\u201d. Tchaikovsky throws a curve near the end of the movement when, at Letter R, he goes to a sudden Presto, and one must keep one’s wits about one in order to make the coda work. I am glad to say that I did, and the result satisfied me and Mariss and the rest of the gang. (Eventually it satisfied the critics, too!)\u00a0 It is hard to believe that next month will mark the thirtieth anniversary of those sessions!<\/p>\n

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