# 1812 Overture



## SalieriIsInnocent

I have two versions of 1812 overture.
1. the whole song but no canons replaced with ****** drums
2. partial song with canons with the best sound ever 
Does anybody know where i can purchase a cd with the whole song with the canons in digital surround sound?


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## Rondo

There's a recording with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Karajan which uses sound effects of cannons. You can find a CD with it here, though it isn't the one I have (it's a CD Ive had for almost 10 yrs which only has the finale).


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## david johnson

the dorati/minneapolis of mercury used real cannon. it was too early for surround sound. though.
the best 1812s i've heard don't bother with the cannon.

dj


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## opus67

Cincinnati Pops w/ Eric Kunzel


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## YsayeOp.27#6

opus67 said:


> Cincinnati Pops w/ Eric Kunzel


That's the one.


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## Gustav

i don't know, i haven't listened to 1812 for at least 5-6 years, but for me, hearing such music once is enough. There isn't anything in there that Tchaikovsky can be really proud of, just a bunch of really loud noises, bombastic and very unattractive really.


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## YsayeOp.27#6

Gustav said:


> i don't know, i haven't listened to 1812 for at least 5-6 years, but for me, hearing such music once is enough. There isn't anything in there that Tchaikovsky can be really proud of, just a bunch of really loud noises, bombastic and very unattractive really.


I'd rather say "there isn't anything there that would make YOU proud of Tchaikovsky".


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## Gustav

YsayeOp.27#6 said:


> I'd rather say "there isn't anything there that would make YOU proud of Tchaikovsky".


it's a musical disgrace, that's what it is, and if people call that "Music", or "classical music" even, god knows what other music they listen to! I think Ravel had similar feelings toward his "Bolero", Tchaikovsky probably wrote it for other than artistic reasons, but that's okay, because composers sometimes have to sacrifice artistic freedom for "instant fame".


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## david johnson

nah...it's a hoot and strikes the right 'chords' in most folks. take it for what fun it is.

dj


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Well i dont really call it music but rather the way it sounds through surround sound. Really though i think john williams music has more talent and all his music is excerpts from a few songs combined in several different ways to make several songs


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## Gustav

hey, he needed bread and butter, what can the guy do? just like Strauss writing the Olympic Hymn, the money is too good to refuse.


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## Yagan Kiely

> I'd rather say "there isn't anything there that would make YOU proud of Tchaikovsky".


The ending is rather bombastic and not exactly artistically pleasing, but it is still melodic and memorable - regardless of the canons. The rest of the piece is melodic memorable and not entirely bombastic. You do realise Beethoven wrote a piece for weapons as well?

Tchaikovsky disliked Nutcracker as well, but I'm sorry, it is beautiful and melodic. Bruch disliked his First Violin Concerto. Yes Ravel disliked Bolero, doesn't stop it from being melodic memorable and lovable. Just because it doesn't have an all important intrinsic meaning to life and everything doesn't mean it is any less music.

1812 is light music (in one sense), it is not music that moves you, captivates you. It is simple listening that is still pleasing to the ear. It pretty much takes the romantic tradition and exaggerates it to an extreme.



> hey, he needed bread and butter, what can the guy do? just like Strauss writing the Olympic Hymn, the money is too good to refuse.


And is there anything wrong with that? It is far from selling out.


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## Gustav

Yagan Kiely said:


> The ending is rather bombastic and not exactly artistically pleasing, but it is still melodic and memorable - regardless of the canons. The rest of the piece is melodic memorable and not entirely bombastic. You do realise Beethoven wrote a piece for weapons as well?


i know, but people nowadays don't say that Beethoven wrote 10 symphonies, but 9 symphonies, for obvious reasons.



Yagan Kiely said:


> And is there anything wrong with that? It is far from selling out.


No, there isn't, I simply don't understand why someone needs more than 1 copy of the 1812 overture, what else is there? Maybe he wants to listen for different interpretations? I dunno


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## Yagan Kiely

To find a good recording of it. It is surprisingly difficult to find a good recording of canons (for obvious reasons).


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## SalieriIsInnocent

I know i tried several the cinncinatti pops version is okay but the canons crack but I thank everyone for their feedback.


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## Rondo

If any of you are really into cannons, you can always go for some recordings of _Wellington's Victory_, which has them. There's a London Symphony recording which includes them and I _believe_ the Ormandy/Philadelphia recording does, as well.


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## Gustav

nah, I am not into cannons, too violent for me. Violin is better, it doesn't hurt anyone and has a nice timbre.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

violins can be violent when my uncle plays them gosh all you hear is screach like fingernails on a chalkboard or rubbing your hand on saran wrap


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## marval

My brother many years ago played the violin.

When people came to the house they used to ask, "is someone ill up there?" when they heard him practicing.

But I do like the cannons in the 1812, it gives it an atmospheric feeling. I can just picture the battle scenes.


Margaret


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## shsherm

Live performances are better. I have heard the 1812 with fireworks several times. I think I have also heard it with cannons outdoors. One timed the Dallas Wind Symphony did it indoors with electronic cannons.


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## SamGuss

A great article about the 1812 Overture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture

Tchaikovsky was actually commissioned for the work as part of an upcoming festival. He was to write in a letter about it: "not a concocter of festival pieces," and that the Overture would be "very loud and noisy, but [without] artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love"

That all said:










Is an awesome recording of the 1812 Overture and uses period-specific cannon fire and clarion, orchestra and brass band to produce an historically accurate piece as was originally written. From the above article:

"Antal Dorati's landmark 1954 Mercury Records recording with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (recorded in mono in 1954 and in stereo in 1958), partially recorded at West Point, and using the Yale University's Harkness Carillon (then a mere chime) in Hartford, Connecticut, uses a period French single muzzleloading cannon shot dubbed in 16 times as written, and was such an advancement in authenticity that on the first edition of the recording, one side played the Overture and the other side played a narrative by Deems Taylor about how the feat was accomplished. The stereophonic version was recorded on April 5, 1958 using the bells of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon,at the Riverside Church. On this Mercury Living Presence Stereo recording the spoken commentary was also given by Deems Taylor and was coupled with Tchaikovsky's "Capriccio Italien". "

Last but not least for sampling persual:


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## BAWIG05

*1812 Versions not mentioned yet*

1. Jarvi on DG adds an opening chorus in Russian

2. Ormandy on Sony adds an opening chorus (The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, no less) but it is in fuzzy English

3. Bernstein, also on Sony has the New York Philharmonic blasting away.

4. Mikhail Pleniev on DG, one of the fastest versions out there, on a 3 CD set of tone poems by Tchaikovsky.


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## opus67

BAWIG05 said:


> 3. Bernstein, also on Sony has the New York Philharmonic blasting away.


But that has no choir involved. I was first introduced to the 1812 with the singing, and only after listening to this CD (my third, actually), did I find about the original work. It's one of those CDs I haven't listened to in a looong time, though.


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## Badinerie

I cant think of the 1812 without thinking of that episode of 'Frasier'
Frasier; "Remember when we used to think the 1812 Overture was a great piece of classical music?" 
Niles; Ah! were we ever that young?"


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## SixFootScowl

This is a magnificent recording of the 1812 and also has guns and cannon in Beethoven's Wellington's Victory:


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## bigshot

Dorati on Mercury has cannons with low frequency info which, if your system can reproduce it, will frighten house pets for at least three blocks in all directions.


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## SixFootScowl

Ah, if only I could set up my old Yahama component system that I bought in 1979 and really listen to the Dorati 1812. I did have vinyl of Dorati 1812 but it was with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and live cannons. That sounded pretty good on the old Yahama set. Didn't have a dog at the time.


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