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PROGRAM Tchaikovsky to arrange the movement for piano four hands. The Second Symphony earned warm applause and enthusiastic reviews at its first performance, on February 7, 1873, in Moscow, with Nicholas Rubinstein con- ducting; but Tchaikovsky soon grew dis- satisfied with thepiece and withdrew it for revision. He put off this task for more than six years, finally beginning it in December of 1879. The Symphony's second Version was completed the following month, and premiered in St. Petersburg a little over a year later, on February 12,1881, directedby Karl Zika. As Tchaikovsky himself stated in a let- ter, his changes in the Symphony were substantial. Recomposing the opening movement virtually from scratch, he also recast the Scherzo and made a large cut in the Filiale. Tchaikovsky eventually d estroyed the earlier score, but orchestral parts from the 1873 premiere survived, and after his death scholars found it a simple matter to reconstruct the first Version. After examin- ing the reconstituted original, the Com poser Sergei Taneyev (a Tchaikovsky pupil) pronounced its first movement Su perior to the very different one in the pub- lished edition. Many commentators have since questioned whether all of the composer's revisions were well con- sidered. No one disputes, however, that the Second is by far the finest of Tchaikovsky's early symphonies (Nos. 1- 3). Far more populär than the First or the Third, it was a special favorite of the Rus- sian composer-cond uctors IgorStravinsky and Alexander Tcherepnin, who frequent- ly included it on their concert programs. Meet the Artists Philippe Entremont is internationally renowned as an art- ist of remarkable technique and style, both at the keyboard and on the podium. Lifetime Music Director of the Vien na Chamber Orchestra, which celebrates its 47th season this year, Mr. Entremont led the ensemble on a 17-city United States tour in early 1993, including engagements at Carnegie Hall and at the Kennedy Cen ter in Washington, D.C. In January of 1993 he assumed the post of Principal Conduc- tor of the Netherlands Chamber Or chestra. In September of 1993 Philippe Entremont opened the Dallas Symphony's season as conductor and soloist with the orchestra. Other highlights of his 1993-94 season have included a month-long engagement with Tokyo's NHK Symphony as well as two solo recital appearances. Mr. Entremont's latest recordings are volumes three and four of a four-disc set of the complete Mozart piano sonatas on the Pro Arte label, and five Haydn sym phonies on the Harmonia Mundi label. His other releases include re-issues by Sony Classical of his Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, and Saint-Saens discs (originally on CBS), as well as Schubert and Dvoräk pieces for piano and string quartet with the soloists of the Vienna Chamber Or chestra for Pro Arte. His recordings of Stravinsky, Bernstein, Milhaud, Jolivet, Satie, Dohnänyi, Richard Strauss, Saint- Saens, and Litolff, also reissued by Sony Classical, are considered by many to be definitive. His disc of Debussy's Printemps and Prelude a l'apres-midi d'ane faune and Ravel's Bolero, Rapsodie espangole, and Al- borada del gracioso, made with the Denver Symphony for Pro Arte, was singled out on Billboard's bestseller chart. A native of Rheims, France, Philippe Entremont was born on June 7, 1934. At age 12 he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study with Jean Doyen, and won the Harriet Cohen Piano Medal. He made his Professional debut at age 16 in Barcelona. In 1953 he became the first Laureate and Grand Prize Winner of the Marguerite 20A
