This
is a success and an easy recommendation if you want Tchaikovsky’s
last three numbered symphonies in good and better performances
and recordings. The pity is that Rozhdestvensky and IMP did
not add
Manfred and
Francesca da Rimini. As
it is, these three discs, available in a single slip-case
or separately, are just what the doctor ordered. At bargain
price, which is about £5 each in the UK, this is cheaper
by a pound than any Naxos equivalent.
The
sound is in the superior tradition of other Regis IMP-licensed
discs. This includes an extraordinary disc - something of
an insider’s secret: same conductor, same orchestra, same
venue just one year later: Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2 (see
review).
Rozhdestvensky
is sturdy, tender, imaginative and prepared to let the brass
rip. He knows these works of his fellow Russian very well.
Perhaps his
andantino for No. 4 could have done with
more of a lilt but the élan and flightiness of the
Scherzo more
than compensate. Also on the positive side the valour and
high romance of the
Allegro con fuoco communicates
well if without the ferocious unanimity and steely edge of
Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra (DG).
A soundly inspired single disc sleeper is Marin Alsop’s Fourth
with the Colorado Symphony (see
review).
Rozhdestvensky's Fifth is broad, earnest and controlled.
There is none of the near hysteria of Mravinsky (DG) nor
of Monteux’s unremittingly vital live LSO version for Vanguard
in Vienna (see
review).
We could have done with a little more of that rather than
having everything quite so buttoned down. The brass are caught
on good form with a healthy rasp in the brass buffets at
4.10 of the first movement. The French horn section is in
the pink with a mature rolling roar to their ravening calls
and fanfares. The conductor also adopts an expansive stance
in the
Pathétique but can still unleash a Blitzkrieg
assault on the emotions as at 10:30 in I and 7:20 in III.
I have heard nervier interpretations of the
allegro molto
vivace but the playing is spirited certainly. The best
movement is the
adagio lamentoso where not once is
the concentration broken and where a myriad orchestral details
register with fresh clarity. An example is the metallic rattle
of the horns played well - all the way down to
pp.
Of
the 'makeweights' two are the war-horse stock of the Royal
Albert Hall Victor Hochhauser concerts of yesteryear. Each
of the three fillers is allocated one per symphony. The
Marche is
one of Tchaikovsky's few concessions to the Borodin nationalist
school. The
Capriccio Italien - that incongruous mix
of Italian and French in the title - exhibits the virtues
of tight control and precision. As an illustration of Rozhdestvensky’s
attention to fine detail and colour listen to the controlled
'jabs' of the strings at 4.03. This is deliberate and four-square
rather than euphoric. While I hanker after more substantial
fillers: e.g.
Hamlet,
Francesca and
Romeo
and Juliet,
two of those selected (the
Marche and
Capriccio)
will go down well with the novice.
The Storm (after
the play by Ostrovsky) is a rarity, an early work; not top-drawer
Tchaikovsky but Rozhdestvensky nevertheless gives it a lively
interpretation avoiding bombast.
The
1812 Overture has the LSO conducted by Yuri Ahronovitch.
This conductor was born in Leningrad in 1932 - not 1972 as
claimed by the notes. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatoire
with Sanderling and Rakhlin. He held the latter in high esteem
and his hothouse expressive style appears to be based on
Rakhlin’s approach. He was principal conductor of the Moscow
Radio Symphony Orchestra (1964-72) then emigrated to Israel
in 1972. He is likely to be best known outside the old USSR
by his conducting of the Rachmaninov piano concertos for
Vasary and DG and for his tiredly misfired
Manfred with
the LSO (again DG). Apparently he also conducted the French
National Orchestra for Decca and Aristocrate in the two Prokofiev
violin concertos (soloist: Wally). He is the conductor of
the 1985 Caprice CD of Gunnar de Frumerie’s opera
Singoalla (CAP22023).
He died in Köln in 2002. Rather written off because of his
unfashionably hyper-expressive approach Ahronovitch on a
good day was formidable. I shall never forget the RFH concert
broadcast one late summer’s evening on 19 September 1978.
It included the LSO conducted by Ahronovitch in an all-Tchaikovsky
programme. I still have a now ailing cassette of a hair-raising,
scorching and swooning
Francesca da Rimini that made
Stokowski and Mravinsky sound tame. As for his
Manfred,
it
easily tops Svetlanov’s but what on earth had happened when
he recorded it with the LSO in Watford Town Hall in February
the previous year. Now if BBC Legends are looking for the
golden fleece of concert experiences let them dig out a good
tape of those RFH performances. All that said, his 1812 is
coarse and coarsely recorded. The ordnance sounds grafted
on and lacks bass impact.
Regis
provide sound and extensive liner notes from James Murray
in English only.
When
the Rozhdestvensky recordings were reviewed by me some years
back as part of a Brilliant Classics set minus the Ahronovitch
but plus Slovak performances of the two popular concertos
(see
review)
I wrote: “They do not set the pulse racing nor are they
manic. These are honest and inspired without exaggeration
or affected point making.” Hearing them again in such gripping
sound I must have had an off day and take the opportunity
now to correct myself. These are often exciting and extremely
moving performances. The temperature in the Fifth Symphony
is cooler than the most exalted readings but it’s a matter
of fine degree in a ferociously competitive market. The Fourth
and particularly the Sixth are among the very best. You could
hardly better these in this price range. If you love your
Tchaikovsky or see yourself as a Tchaikovsky connoisseur
then you must not miss this set. Beginners too would do well
to make this their Tchaikovsky symphony box of choice. If
you want all six then try Temirkanov’s BMG-RCA box (see
review)
but for ‘the famous three’ there’s little real competition for
this Regis set in or out of the price range.
Rob
Barnett
London Symphony Orchestra/Gennadi
Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Ahronovitch *
