TCHAIKOVSKY

Hamlet & Romeo and Juliet

 

Hamlet Op. 67a - Overture & Incidental Music

1 Overture  9.09

  Act 1 

2 No. 1 Mélodrame – Moderato assai  1.13

  Scene 1: First appearance of the Ghost 

3 No. 2 Fanfare – Allegro vivo  0.25

  Scene 4: A Flourish of Trumpets 

4 No. 3 Mélodrame – Moderato assai  0.40

  Scene 4: Appearance of Ghost to Hamlet 

5 No. 4 Mélodrame – Allegro giusto ed agitato  3.26

  Scene 4: The Ghost tells Hamlet of his father’s murder 

  Act 2 

6 No. 5 Entr’acte – Allegro semplice  2.55

  Prelude to Scene 1 and first appearance in the play of Ophelia 

7 Fanfare  0.25

  Scene 2: The Dumb Show enters  

8 No. 6 Fanfare  0.27

  Scene 2: A Room in the Castle – Flourish 

  Act 3 

9 No. 7 Entr’acte – Andante quasi allegretto  3.04

  Prelude to Scene 1 which features Hamlet’s soliloquoy 

10 No. 8 Mélodrame – Allegro giusto ad agitato  2.21

  Scene 2: The players enact the Scene of the Poisoning 

  Act 4 

11 No. 9 Entr’acte – Andante non troppo  7.38

  Prelude to Scene 1 – A Room in the Castle 

12 No. 10 Scène d’Ophélie – Andantino  2.19

  Scene 5: Elsinore – Ophélia’s Mad Scene 

13 No. 11 Deuxième Scène d’Ophélie - Moderato 2.26 

  Scene 5: Re-enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers 

  Act 5 

14 No. 12 Entr’acte – Marcia.Moderato assai  4.16

  Prelude to Scene 1 – A Churchyard 

15 No. 13 Chant du Fossoyeur – Andantino  1.17

  Scene 1: Gravedigger’s Song 

16 No. 15 Fanfare – Allegro giusto  0.27

  Scene 2 : Trumpets sound 

17 No. 16 Marche finale – Allegro risiluto ma non troppo  0.40

  Scene 2

18 Romeo and Juliet   16.32

  “Fantasy Overture” (original 1869 version) 

 

Total playing time: 60.01

 

Russian National Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski

 

There were not many composers of standing, who worked equally hard on absolute and programme music. And of those composers, only few were destined to achieve extraordinary results in both genres. One of them was Peter Tchaikovsky. Probably his passion for reading stood him in good stead when inspired by high literature; after all, Tchaikovsky considered “reading as ranking amongst the greatest moments of happiness”. In his programmatic works, he did not try to elaborate on a literary programme or the detailed portrayal of a plot; rather, he was attracted to the psyche of the figures depicted, to the development of their characters, or, for instance, to the emotional impasses and whirlpools, into which they manoeuvred themselves, or into which they were drawn.

Anyhow, Tchaikovsky used three plays by the great Shakespeare on which to model various works: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. He turned them into a symphonic fantasy (The Tempest, Op. 18), two fantasy-overtures (Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet, Op. 67) and incidental music (Hamlet, Op. 67 bis). Just like many other composers, Tchaikovsky was inspired by a disastrous love, which led him to ruin. It is interesting to note that the young composer was truly encouraged to compose by Mili Balakirev. Balakirev suggested that Tchaikovsky use Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a model for his following work - he probably knew about Tchaikovsky’s unrequited love for the Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt and assumed that the story of the famous Shakespearian lovers would encourage him to get down to the composition.

 

“Vladimir Jurowski’s highly focused conducting makes Tchaikovsky’s overture and incidental music for ‘Hamlet’ leap off the page. A galvanised Russian orchestra displays blistering strings, pleasingly punchy woodwind…a must-buy disc.” Independent on Sunday, 14th December 2008

 

“Think you know your Tchaikovsky? Think again…..Hamlet gives us a glimpse into a composer with a theatre director’s sensibility – he knows when to lend urgency to the players without overwhelming them, the music heightening but never upstaging….Jurowski and his forces offer playing of drive and passion.” Gramophone, March 2009

 

Pentatone SACD PTC5186330