Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4,5 & 6

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4,5 & 6

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4,5 & 6
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CD Details

Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-11-08
Music Label: Philips
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Andante Sostenuto - Moderato Con Anima - Moderato Assai, Quasi Andante - Allegro Vivo
  2. Andantino In Modo Di Canzona
  3. Scherzo. Pizzicato Ostinato - Allegro
  4. Finale. Allegro Con Fuoco
Music CD 2
  1. Andate - Allegro Con Anima
  2. Andante Cantabile, Con Alcuna Licenza - Moderato Con Anima
  3. Valse. Allegro Moderato
  4. Finale. Andante Maestoso - Allegro Vivace
Music CD 3
  1. Adagio - Allegro Non Troppo
  2. Allegro Con Grazia
  3. Allegro Molto Vivace
  4. Finale. Adagio Lamentoso - Andante

Music reviews of Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4,5 & 6

Music Review: Fourth & Fifth quite good, Great Sixth
Rating: 4 Stars

This is an outstanding compilation of the three most famous symphonies of Tchaikovsky by one of the leading Russian conductors of our time and one of the world's leading orchestras of any era, the Vienna Philharmonic. Although there is plenty of room for extras on the three CDs, the symphonies are all that are provided. Nevertheless, one can buy the collection for $24 on Amazon, not a bad price for two hours and ten minutes of music, and I am glad that Philips did not try to put the three symphonies on two discs, which would have necessitated splitting one of the symphonies.

The performance of Symphony #4 is uncharacteristically conventional for Gergiev, and the first movement is too weighty for my taste. I was hoping to get a more Russian view from him, but the Vienna Philharmonic doesn't have a Russian sound, so this ends up being just a very good cosmopolitan reading. And I do mean very, very good. If I had to choose only one recording of Tchaikovsky's Fourth for my collection, this would be a worthy candidate; but I would still choose Lorin Maazel's with the Cleveland Orchestra, primarily because I like his treatment of the first movement better. The sonics are comparable, both being highly reverberant, but with Telarc putting the Cleveland Orchestra into a more believable space. Both recordings feature a rich and full sound, with more silky strings for Vienna but heftier deep bass for the Cleveland.

Now, if I ignore the sonics, I'd recommend Mravinsky's highly charged and distinctive recording. That one is all-out Russian and all-out in most other respects as well.

Gergiev's interpretation of #5 is, as one would expect, highly personalized; and yet, in spite of some exaggerated tempo contrasts, I felt that the music sounded exactly as it should: the pathos was there, the heaviness when required, and a great deal of excitement, although not quite as much as I would have liked in the final bars. When I first listened to the coda as Gergiev presented it, I was inclined to blame him for letting the air out of the symphony at the end. As I compared his with several other recordings, though, I began to suspect that the "problem" was of Tchaikovsky's own making. Checking the score verified that indeed Tchaikovsky wrote a change of tempo at the end that prevents any unequivocal race to the end. (I guess that the melancholy that was about to define the Sixth Symphony was already beginning to creep in; and after all, Tchaikovsky had already given us several symphonies with unmitigatingly thrilling finales.) Different conductors treat the very last measure or two, with the repeated tonic chords, in various ways, some accelerating a little there, others maintaining a deliberate tempo and strong forte to bring the piece to an emphatic conclusion--period, double-period. One performance, that of Mariss Jansons with the Oslo Philharmonic, went at a slower pace before the slow-down that Tchaikovsky marked, preventing his having to slow down much at that point. This was in a way more satisfying to me because the sense of an inevitable push to the end was not lost, but I now realize that that is not the way Tchaikovsky intended it.

Given that it would have been wrong for Gergiev to end the piece in an uninhibited blaze of glory, I might wish that he would end the symphony in some other distinctive way; but as best I can discern, he simply ended it the way it looks on the page. Disappointing as it was for me, I have to admire Gergiev's integrity in presenting an interpretation that I am sure this intelligent conductor had thought out thoroughly.

I am prepared to believe Gergiev's assertion that thorough preparation in rehearsal permitted him and the Vienna Philharmonic to cut loose and take chances in the live performance although I suspect some of the "spontaneity" was planned. Gergiev is a somewhat messy conductor, and the ensemble playing is not perfect at all times, but that's life; and that is what one takes from this performance.

The live recording at the Salzburg Festival is good enough, inferior to the other two recordings in this set but certainly better than the Mravinsky and Dorati studio recordings that constitute some of the stiffest competition. It is a typical, mid-distance, sound with moderate reverberation, a bit lacking in bass warmth, and an indistinct stereo soundstage. The instrumental choirs are well balanced, with the brass, which is always dominant in the concert hall, not entirely reined in, but kept enough in check that the strings easily have the appropriate impact.

Gergiev and the VPO give a very convincing performance of #6, with gorgeous sound and great dynamic range. As in the Symphony #4, Gergiev remains within the bounds of convention, asserting his personality in fairly subtle ways. Once or twice this live performance verges on just the slightest hint of an ensemble problem, but nothing that mars a near-perfect achievement. This interpretation carried me along with it and into the music without calling attention to itself. The last movement is a little tauter and more assertive than some others (after all, the old Ormandy version still has an influence on me) and thus doesn't completely wallow in Tchaikovsky's despair--it's still there in abundance but not exaggerated.

Like the other performances in this set, the character is more universal than the Russian one I expected to find (but what could I expect from Vienna? I don't think they could play a raw note if they tried, not in Romantic repertoire at least). The performance of #6 in particular is one for all seasons and may well become my favorite after I've lived with it for a while and see whether it loses itself in my collection or continues to stand out from the others, as it does at the moment.
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