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Symphony no. 5 - Slavonic March op. 31
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Symphony no. 5 - Slavonic March op. 31

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Yutaka Sado

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: SACD
Barcode: 0608917235623
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Catalog number: CC 72356
Releasedate: 29-01-10
Yutaka Sado’s interpretation is based on this understanding of the work. The Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin plays precisely and judiciously, and the darkly shimmering rendering resonates in an even balance of drama and finesse.
  • Yutaka Sado inn 1987 he studied with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival and became Bernstein’s assistant during his concert tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra.
  • He won, among other prizes,  the Premier Grand Prix of the 39th International Competition for Young Conductors Besançon in 1989
  • In 1993 Sado was appointed chief conductor of the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux
  • In his home country he has been the artistic director of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center since 2005 and regular guest-conductor all over the world
  • Super Audio Recording
The world premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place in St. Petersburg on November under Tchaikovsky’s baton. It was a triumph, and the composer received frenetic applause from an enthralled audience. However, the reaction from the press was cool and harshly critical of the work. One critic even wrote that the piece contained no fewer than three waltzes and did nothing but repeat itself. Thus the insecure composer was assailed by acute feelings of self-doubt: “After having performed the symphony twice in St Petersburg and once in Prague, I am convinced it is a failure. There is something repellent in it, something insincere and artificial. Am I worn out, as you say? Yesterday evening I looked through the Fourth Symphony. How much nobler, how much better it is!” This self-criticism was often cited as a proof of the supposed weakness of the work, but it should not be overestimated. For Tchaikovsky was a notorious doubter and extremely vulnerable when facing criticism.

This overwhelming rendering of  the Fifth Symphony by Sado proves the people of the time more than wrong!

Yutaka Sado’s interpretation is based on this understanding of the work. The Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin plays precisely and judiciously, and the darkly shimmering rendering resonates in an even balance of drama and finesse.