1. 1957 RCA Ravel/Prokofiev

2. 1958 RCA Mozart Concerto

3. 1958 RCA Bach Concerto

4. 1959 RCA Mozart

5. 1959 RCA Chopin

6. 1964 Columbia Bach

7. 1965 Columbia Schubert

8. 1966 Columbia Haydn

9. 1966 Columbia Mozart

10. 1967 Columbia Chopin

RCA Advertisement in
High Fidelity Magazine
(October, 1957)

Meloclassics Review

Photographs from RCA recording sessions (1957)

André Tchaikowsky on CD
The history of André Tchaikowsky as a pianist on ten (10) Long Playing (LP) records appears in the left column, and below. But first, here are all the known CDs of André Tchaikowsky at the keyboard as pianist, and various other CDs of André as composer. Some CDs, like those produced by Dante, are out-of-production, yet others have appeared very recently. Some are based on the LP recordings and others are from various artists, from radio broadcasts or other musical archives. You can also hear André Tchaikowsky at the keyboard using the Pianist link above. The most recent CDs are first.

Private LP (1958) - Andrzej Czajkowski Piano Concerto (1956-1957)
A private firm was hired to make a recording of Andrzej Czajkowski playing his own Piano Concerto (1956-1957) with the National Orchestra of Belgium, and André Vandernoot conducting. (Not the original label.) There is only one known copy to exist, held by a Polish pianist living in Sweden. The music from this LP is on this website. Click Here.

BBC Transcription Service #110151 (1964) - London Chamber Concerts
The BBC Transcription Services licensed BBC Radio programmes to overseas broadcasters who were authorized to broadcast the programmes for a set period, usually 2 or 3 years. The pressing was limited to 100 copies and after the expiration period, they were required to be destroyed. This particular LP survived and recorded André playing Mozart: Rondo in F, K. 494 and Dvorak: Piano Quintet (scherzo) w/Amadeus String Quartet. We do not have these recordings on this website.

Private LP (1967) - The Inventions / Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare
Sound News Reproductions was hired to make a private recording, probably from a radio broadcast tape, of André playing his Inventions of Side A, and André playing and Margaret Cable singing the Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare on Side B. These recordings are on this website: Inventions (Click Here) and Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare (Click Here).

1. 1957 RCA Ravel/Prokofiev
     Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
     Prokofiev: Visions Fugitives

2. 1958 RCA Mozart Concerto
     Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C (K.503)
     André Tchaikowsky, Piano
     Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
     Fritz Reiner, Conductor

3. 1958 RCA Bach Concerto
     Bach: Concerto for Clavier No. 5, F minor (BWV 1056)
     André Tchaikowsky, Piano
     Chicago Symphony Orchestra
     Fritz Reiner, Conductor

4. 1959 RCA Mozart
     Mozart: Fantasia in C minor (K475)
     Mozart: Sonata No. 14 in C minor (K457)
     Mozart: Sonata No. 10 in C major (K330)

5. 1959 RCA Chopin
     Chopin: Prelude No. 18, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 2, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 14, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 4, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 5, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 8, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 19, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 20, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 23, Opus 28
     Chopin: Prelude No. 24, Opus 28
     Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp, Opus 60
     Chopin: Etude in A-flat, Opus 10, No. 10
     Chopin: Etude in C, Opus 10, No. 7
     Chopin: Mazurka in A-minor, Opus 59, No. 1
     Chopin: Mazurka in A-flat, Opus 59, No. 2
     Chopin: Mazurka in B, Opus 56, No. 1
     Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A-flat, Opus 47

6. 1964 Columbia Bach
     Bach: Goldberg Variations (BWV 988)

7. 1965 Columbia Schubert
     12 Ländler, Opus 171
     Valses, Opus 18, No. 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10
     Dances allemandes, Opus 33, No. 7
     "Ländler" en mib mineur, D. 366
     Deux danses allemandes, D. 769
     Valses nobles, Opus 77, No. 9, 10
     Valses, Opus 9, No. 19, 21, 22, 26, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36
     "Letzte Walzer" Opus 127, No. 15, 18
     Valses sentimentales, Op 50, No 1, 3, 7, 12, 13, 15, 19, 27
     Fauré [Danté reissue only] Quatuor No. 1, Op. 15

8. 1966 Columbia Haydn
     Haydn - Sonata No. 49 in mib majeur, Opus 66
     Haydn - Andante et variations en fa mineur, Opus 83
     Haydn - Sonata No. 23 in fa majeur, Opus 13, No. 3

9. 1966 Columbia Mozart
     Sonate K533 - Allegro
     Sonate K533 - Andante
     Sonate K494 - Rondo | Andante
     Sonate K312 - Allegro
     Rondo K511 - Andante
     Marche K408
     Menuet K355
     Gigue K574 - Allegro
     Adagio K540

10. 1967 Columbia Chopin
      Mazurka, Op. 50, No.1 in Sol Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 50, No.2 in la Bémol Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 50, No.3 in Do Dièse Mineur
      Mazurka, Op. 56, No.1 in Si Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 56, No.2 in Do Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 56, No.3 in Do Mineur
      Mazurka, Op. 59, No.1 in La Mineur
      Mazurka, Op. 59, No.2 in La Bémol Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 59, No.3 in Fa Dièse Mineur
      Mazurka, Op. 63, No.1 in Si Majeur
      Mazurka, Op. 63, No.2 in Fa Mineur
      Mazurka, Op. 63, No.3 in Do Dièse Mineur
      Mazurka, No. 43 in G minor, Op. 67/2
      Mazurka, No. 49 in F minor, Op. 68/4
      Mazurka, in A minor ("à Émile Gaillard")

For more examples of André at the keyboard from concerts and recitals, instead of a recording release, see the Pianist link above. For André at the keyboard playing his own compositions, see the Composer link above.

André Tchaikowsky began his recording career with RCA records after the path to his recording contract was paved by pianist Arthur Rubinstein and impresario Sol Hurok. However, after a few years, when it became clear that André was not particularly interested in making recordings and did little to cooperate with RCA, RCA dropped him as a recording artist. Rubinstein dropped him as his possible someday replacement, and Sol Hurok ended his association with André as well, which neatly ended André's performance career in the USA. Some years later, Columbia Records in France (Pathé) made recordings with André but they, too, found him too difficult to work with and also dropped him as an artist. The result of all this is four recordings for RCA and five recordings for Columbia, the last recording being made in 1967 when André was 32 years old. He never made another commercial recording.

There is one additional RCA recording session that was released by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) as part of a fund raising program in 1980 called Marathon V "Mostly Bach," which featured André playing the Bach piano concerto No. 5 with the CSO. Normally fundraising recordings, given as premiums to contributors, come from radio broadcast archive tapes, however, the CSO had ceased radio broadcasts and had to derive fundraising recordings from unreleased recording sessions, thus, the Bach recording featuring André came to light.

Recording Re-Releases
All five of the Columbia recordings (EMI France) were re-released as CDs by Danté Productions as part of their Historical Piano Collection (HPC) series of vintage performances. Each Danté Volume I to V corresponds to an original Columbia release, with one exception: Danté release Volume 4 includes a recording of the Fauré Piano Quartet No 1 in C minor, Op 15, which was never released by Columbia. This Fauré recording features André on the piano, Michael Belmgrain, violin, Lars Grund, Viola, and Ino Jansen, Cello. There have been other re-releases of the RCA recordings. See the CD list above.

RCA Unreleased Recording Sessions
(Special Note: the unreleased recording sessions below for RCA were examined for possible inclusion into a RCA/Sony Classical Box Set (Sony 88985470142) but were found, according to the box set producer: "After having reviewed the existing session reels we have to state that the material found was not fit for release.")

The following unreleased RCA recording sessions are known:

Bach - Goldberg Variations (87 takes total)
Recorded December 13, 17, 23, 1957 - RCA paid André $280 (estimate) [Union Scale]

Prokofieff - Sonata No. 7, Opus 83
1st Movement (5 takes) | 2nd Movement (1 take) | 3rd Movement (3 takes)
Szymanowski - Mazurka No. 3 (2 takes)
Szymanowski - Mazurka No. 14 (2 takes)
Szymanowski - Mazurka No. 5 (1 take)
Recorded February 12, 1958 - RCA paid André $165 [Union Scale]

Mozart - Sonata No. 11 in A major (K331)
Mozart - Sonata No. 12 in F major (K332)
Mozart - Sonata No. 13 in B flat major (K333)
Recorded January 26-28, 1959 - RCA paid André $388 [Union Scale]*

Chopin - Preludes, Opus 28, Nos. 1, 3, 6-7, 9-13, 15-17, 21-22 (1 take)
Recorded March 10-12, 1959 - RCA paid André $236 [Union Scale]**

Scarlatti - Sonata in A minor, L. 429 (10 takes)
Scarlatti - Sonata in D minor, L. 422 (6 takes)
Scarlatti - Sonata in F, L. 432 (11 takes)
Scarlatti - Sonata in D minor, L. 366 (2 takes)
Recorded April 21, 1959 - RCA paid André $97 [Union Scale]

Columbia/Pathe [EMI] Unreleased Recording Sessions
The following unreleased Columbia recording sessions are known (big "thank you" to Tom Deacon and his EMI friends for this research information):

Bach - Four Duets
Recorded May 14, 1964.
Duetto, for keyboard No. 1 in E minor (Clavier-Übung III No. 23), BWV 802
Duetto, for keyboard No. 2 in F major (Clavier-Übung III No. 24), BWV 803
Duetto, for keyboard No. 3 in G major (Clavier-Übung III No. 25), BWV 804
Duetto, for keyboard No. 4 in A minor (Clavier-Übung III No. 26), BWV 805
(This session, May 14, 1964, was the day after the Bach Goldberg album sessions of May 12 and 13, 1964.)

Chopin - 24 Preludes, Opus 28
Recorded May 31, 1965
Preludes 1 to 10 only
(This session, May 31, 1965, preceded the June 1st date when André started recording his Schubert album.)

Bach - Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Recorded May 11 and 12, 1966
1. Without tempo indication | 2. Andante | 3. Presto

Bach - Overture in the French style, BWV 831
Recorded May 12 and 13, 1966
1. Ouverture | 2. Courante | 3. Gavotte I/II | 4. Passepied I/II
5. Sarabande | 6. Bourrée I/II | 7. Gique | 8. Echo.

Schumann - Davidsbündlertanze
Recorded May 23 and 24, 1967
1. Lebhaft | 2. Innig | 3. Etwas hahnbüchen | 4. Ungeduldig | 5. Einfach
6. Sehr rasch und in sich hinein | 7. Nicht schnell mit äußerst starker
8. Frisch | 9. No tempo | 10. Balladenmäßig sehr | 11. Einfach
12. Mit Humor | 13. Wild und lustig | 14. Zart und singend | 15. Frisch
16. Mit gutem | 17. Wie aus der Ferne | 18. Nicht schnell
(This session, May 23, 1967, followed the next day after completing his Chopin Mazurkas recordings on May 22, 1967.)

* These sessions also recorded Mozart for RCA release LSC-2354/LM-2354.

** These sessions also recorded Chopin for RCA release LSC-2360/LM-2360.