André Previn's superb recordings of
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker have been admired since they first appeared on vinyl in the mid-'70s, and this EMI Classics twofer presents highlights of these famous performances with the
London Symphony Orchestra.
Tchaikovsky's dance music is conveyed with dynamic energy, rich sonorities, elegant expression, and ecstatic climaxes, so the true brilliance of the scores is readily apparent. The
London Symphony Orchestra made several terrific-sounding albums with
Previn at this time, and the ensemble's energy, tone, blend, clarity, expression, and technique are all that could be desired of any world-class orchestra. In light of his career as a jazz pianist and composer,
Previn surprised many with his recordings of the Romantic orchestral repertoire, and his great sympathy with
Tchaikovsky's music made these performances especially satisfying because he drew particularly vivid and lively playing from his musicians. EMI's original recordings were analog, but they were produced with the finest engineering of the time, so this reissue has all the clarity and bright colors of the original LPs with virtually no traces of hiss and absolutely no distortion in the transfer.