I grew up with
Tchaikovsky's Pathétique symphony played by Toscanini (NBC
Orchestra), Cantelli (Philharmonia) and Furtwängler (Berlin
Philharmonic) later followed by Mravinsky (Leningrad Orchestra) and
Mikhael Pletnev (Russian National Orchestra). I still have all of
these, plus a few others, so I really did not need yet another
Pathétique. However, it is one of my favourite orchestral
works, so I launched out and bought yet another version: Teodor
Currentzis and the MusicAeterna orchestra.
Teodor Currentzis (half
Greek, half Russian) is a highly interventionist conductor. The
orchestra (from Perm in Siberia) confirms my often stated belief that
a “second tier” orchestra playing repertoire familiar to it will
often play its heart out, whereas a world-famous orchestra under a
guest conductor will often go through the motions. Russian orchestras
in core Russian repertoire, like German or Austrian orchestras in the
core German repertoire, French orchestras in the core French
repertoire, or English orchestras in the core English repertoire,
almost always add that extra 10% of commitment and authenticity.
This is a Pathétique
with a difference; somewhat wild, with exaggerated pauses and wide
dynamics. I enjoyed it (as is often the case when one listens to
musicians playing their hearts out in repertoire they know and love).
However, Tchaikovsky's Pathétique is too good a symphony to
be listened to too often in a distorted performance. The music of
composers such as Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Mahler and Rachmaninov is
already so full of Angst and insecurity that it really does
not need additional dollops. I felt the same way about Nemanja
Radulovic's performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto, despite the
magnificent violin playing. For the Pathétique, maybe I
should buy the recording by Vasily Petrenko; but that is on a double
CD with the third and fourth symphonies that I do not want. Till
then, it's back to the ancient Mravinsky recordings, plus the more
recent Pletnev or Valery Gergiev.
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