This disc promises new interpretations of familiar classics,
but innovations are thin on the ground. The do.gma chamber orchestra
is made up of young musicians and is led by the equally youthful
Mikhail Gurewitsch. They are a competent group and the technical
side of their playing isn't bad at all, but despite their claims
to the contrary, they have nothing radical to say about this
music, making for pleasurable but predictable results.
For most conductors, Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings is an
excuse to show off the dramatic power of their orchestra's string
section, a whirlwind ride through every shade of emotion you
might find in a Tchaikovsky symphony, only without wind or percussion.
Gurewitsch, in contrast, seems to take the generic title at
face value, and directs a performance that is more in the spirit
of Mozart or Haydn. There is no grandeur in the first movement
(which is unusually fast), little passion in the Valse or Elegia,
and the Finale, while it is admittedly longer than its material
justifies, feels longer still for the rigid performance it gets
here.
Souvenir de Florence comes off better. There is a bit more drama
here, and a bit more expressive rubato too. The work is better
known in the original version for string sextet, so performing
the version for string orchestra gives the players a natural
advantage in terms of symphonic power, and for the most part
they make the most of it. Like the Serenade, and indeed many
of Tchaikovsky's works, the Souvenir poses a challenge to performers
in the dichotomy between the Romantic passion of the music and
the Classical structuring of the individual movements. For the
most part, they veer towards the Romantic in the Souvenir, which
makes for a greater sense of engagement from the listener's
perspective.
The audio is good, but by SACD standards it is not exceptional.
The individual lines all come through OK but the orchestra always
feels a bit homogenised. Some moments of shaky intonation don't
help either, although they are mostly isolated to brief exposed
episodes. The array is interesting, in that the first and second
violins are placed on opposite sides, emphasising the stereo
effect at the top of the ensemble, while distributing the bass
more evenly. Every time I hear one of these MDG 2+2+2 discs,
I wonder what the six channel mix sounds like, and I'll confess
to not having the technology to find out myself. Perhaps greater
efforts have been made there to draw the listener into the mix
than have for the stereo mix.
Perhaps the problem with this disc is the coupling. Despite
the fact that Tchaikovsky himself wrote or arranged both works
for string orchestra, and that they are of similar length, the
fact remains that the former is very much a symphonic work while
the latter fits squarely into the chamber repertoire. The two
works can retain their respective symphonic and chamber identities,
however many players are involved in a performance, provided
the right stylistic approach is taken. This recording tries
to bring the works together somewhere between the symphonic
and chamber music worlds. That might provide continuity across
the programme, but does both works a disservice.
Gavin Dixon
do.gma chamber orchestra/Mikhail Gurewitsch
[65:01] 
