Tchaikovsky ballet suites herbert von karajan biography

“Karajan was unquestionably a great Tchaikovsky conductor. […] The triptych of ballet suites can be recommended almost without reservation.”
Ivan March in Gramophone

There are a lot of pieces that Karajan only recorded once and never performed live (symphonies by Bruckner, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Schubert for example).

But it was unusual for him to record a group of works four(!) times and never play them in concert although they are very popular.

Herbert von karajan

This is the case with Tchaikovsky’s three ballet suites. Their appeal to Karajan is obvious. It’s the mixture of inimitable tunes, elegant dance rhythms and colourful orchestration and it’s something these ballet stories call for and Karajan had a special ability to evoke – the symbiosis of beauty and threat.

He never conducted the great ballets “Swan Lake”, “The Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker” in their entirety but concentrated on the suites, which last about 20 – 25 minutes each