Neeme Järvi and
his Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra, now
carrying the epithet "The National
Orchestra of Sweden", are in the
process of recording a complete cycle
of the Tchaikovsky Symphonies. I have
no idea what has happened to Serebrier’s
cycle with the Bambergers, but this
Gothenberg cycle seems to have taken
over. From BIS’s point of view this
seems to make better sense. This conductor/orchestra
partnership is far better known to the
collector, and I suppose the technical
team doesn’t have to travel to Germany
each time BIS wish to issue another
disc.
BIS are issuing each
symphony with substantial couplings,
making each release extremely good value.
Add to this the SACD format, in the
stunning acoustic of the Gothenberg
Concert Hall and I can’t see many SACD
enthusiasts being disappointed. Having
got that out of the way, more importantly,
how do the performances on this disc
stack up against the competition? This
is currently in the form of Gergiev
and the Vienna Philharmonic on Philips.
Their Fifth Symphony is terminally marred
by some idiot who wishes to be able
to say "it was me who started cheering
before the symphony finished – wasn’t
I clever!" Well, no, since each
time I play it, good though it is, I
cringe as the coda comes up, making
the disc almost impossible to listen
to. If you are not affected by this
as I am, the actual performance with
Gergiev, I would rate slightly better
than Järvi but only slightly. But
that cheering, although well deserved,
totally turns me off for domestic listening.
In the symphony, Jarvi
gets under way gently, which I find
rather disturbing, as it is not a particularly
gentle work. The adrenaline does start
to pump, but later than I would have
liked. By the time we reach the middle
of the first movement all is going well,
but the excitement should have started
a little sooner. Maybe a different take
was responsible for this feeling, but
I must stress that it mine is of course
a personal reaction; you may not feel
as I do. This is not to complain about
the playing, which is well up to the
normal Gothenberg standard.
To hear a really up-front
performance of this movement, you might
like to try any of the following: Mravinsky/DG,
Matacic/Supraphon or Jansons/Chandos.
The fill-ups are excellent,
with excitement fully to the fore –
in fact the Capriccio Italien is
magnificent, and the BIS recording deals
with the enormous dynamic range very
well indeed. It was a nice idea to include
the relatively unknown Voyevoda as
this makes the disc all the more attractive
to the inquisitive collector. This is
played in typical Järvi manner:
direct, and very exciting.
BIS are to be congratulated
on this issue, combining as it does
popular and not so well known pieces,
excellently played and stunningly recorded.
Very highly recommended for both the
standard of playing and of engineering.
John Phillips
Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi.
