Dedicated to Nikolai
Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony
was first performed in Moscow in February
1868. When it was composed Tchaikovsky
was 26 and his youthful, if still somewhat
green, fervour shines through the score.
Fedoseyev ensures there is plenty of
drama in the first movement (‘Daydreams
of a Winter Journey’ – or, as this disc
translates, ‘Dreams on a Winter Road’).
The musical argument unfolds naturally;
the tender second movement (‘Land of
gloom, land of mist/A Gloomy Land, A
Foggy Land’) is beautifully balanced
orchestrally and marvellously phrased.
What appears to be a rather strange
balance at around 3’40 detracts somewhat,
though – the wind accompaniment is too
strong, taking the attention away from
the lyrical melody on strings.
The third movement
(Scherzo) is where this performance
really takes off, though. This is very
special playing - the music dances,
light as air. Strings textures are all
but transparent while woodwind trip
around affectingly. A pity the counterpoint
in the finale seems compositionally
clumsy (little can rescue it) – despite
this, Fedoseyev makes it work well as
a whole.
The coupling on the
present Relief disc is fascinating and
apt (not always the case with this company).
The excerpts from the incidental music
to Ostrovsky’s play The Snow Maiden
are most appealing. The music for Snegurochka,
for such it is in transliterated Russian,
was written quickly (in three weeks)
for the first staging of the play at
the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. Of course
the subject was used, shortly afterwards,
by Rimsky-Korsakov, as the basis for
his opera of 1882 (Tchaikovsky was apparently
disappointed that he had been pipped
at the post here). The fairy-tale plot
(a maiden of snow whose heart will melt
if she feels the warmth of love …) evidently
appealed to Tchaikovsky, if the interludic
music on show here is anything to go
by. The meltingly limpid clarinet in
the first Entr’acte is particularly
noteworthy (for a change as far as Relief
is concerned, the soloist is not credited).
While the easy flow of the first Melodrama
may speak more of craftsmanship than
the white-heat of inspiration, the quiet
interior statement of the second Entr’acte
and the half-voices of the second Melodrama
contain more than enough to fascinate.
The final ‘Allegro vivace’ is as jubilant
as Tchaikovsky comes, especially when
performed like this. The triangle-emphasised
woodwind accents are judged to perfection
in what is in effect a life-enhancing
dance.
One of the best in
the Fedoseyev/Relief series - highly
recommended.
Colin Clarke
Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio/Vladimir
Fedoseyev. 
