Tchaikovsky: 1812 Festival Overture, Op. 49, Capriccio Italien & Beethoven: Wellington's Victory

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture has long been a favorite for concerts in the park with its one-off scoring for an orchestra with multiple cannons and carillon. Tchaikovsky was not the first to include a military fusillade in a score, though, nor even the first to do so in celebrating a Napoleonic defeat: Beethoven's Wellington's Victory likewise includes a volley of muskets and cannons. Both pieces are spectacularly captured in this epic Mercury Living Presence recording, including ground-rumbling munitions fire and fascinating commentaries by renowned music critic Deems Taylor of Disney's Fantasia fame. Tchaikovsky's charming Capriccio Italien ices the cake.