October 3, 2014

  • Uninspiring Tchaikovsky

     

    Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathetique
    Vienna Symphony/Philippe Jordan
    Vienna Symphony 006
    Total Time:  46:28
    Recording:   (*)***/****
    Performance: ***/****

     

    There are a couple hundred recordings of Tchaikovsky’s 6th symphony in the catalogue and that does not come close to those now OP that are considered classic.  Personally, my own favorite recorded performance is Pierre Montreux’s performance with the Boston Symphony.  Next up would be Carlo Mario Giulini’s LA Philharmonic recording made towards the end of his life for Deutsche Grammophon, and Andrew Litton’s take on Virgin Classics was an interesting modern approach.  Of course, there are many great performances (Gergiev comes to mind more recently of many of the work and so into this very crowded field comes this new live concert recording with the Vienna Symphony under their new music director, Philippe Jordan on their own label.  The release feels a bit more like a “marking” of a new era for the orchestra and an electric performance as the short playing time of the disc certainly left room for additional selections and will cause it to be overlooked.  The recording was made at his inaugural concert.  He comes to the podium with an orchestra that has itself logged some 280+ performances over its collective history since 1903 when they first played the work.  The recording launches at the beginning of Jordan’s tenure with the orchestra this 2014-15 season.

    Overall, tempos feel about right with the second movement andante falling in the halfway mark (i.e., not as brisk as say Monteux).  The woodwind colors are articulated well and strings tend to be well-balanced against them.  Brass need a bit more crisp articulation at times though for the fanfares, part of this may be the hall itself which adds a bit more ambience.  This makes the sweeping lyrical melodies of the first movement come across quite well.  Jordan does not overtly add much affectation to these moments mostly just letting them play through with much ebb and flow.  Some may find that a bit distracting, others just a refreshing straight read of a familiar work.  Slight ensemble issues occur at times that would be cleaned up perhaps a bit more in a non-concert setting, but the result is a fairly faithful concert moment cemented in time with the sort of new excitement that goes along with it.  This affects the halfway point punch in the opening movement a bit where things seem to get a bit hectic and ensemble is trying to keep up just a bit.  The dramatic pauses feel less so, more like a regrouping before the next launch which suggests some formal shaping that is not occurring as well at times.  The cello line in the opening of the second movement is beautifully lyrical but the descending line needs more staccato to keep it from being too muddy.  Interpretively, there seems to be a shift here as the musicians and conductor settle into this somewhat Viennese movement.  The real issue though really lies in the lack of distinguishing articulation (the woodwinds seem to get it) enough (further clouded by the ambient hall).  The tempo seems to drag a bit in the center as well and needs to move forward just a bit more and it feels like it will collapse under its own weight.  The scherzo begins very promisingly with nice balance as motives are tossed about the ensemble.  Here the crisper wind articulation does help move things along (again the concert hall itself seems to be working against this).  The result overall though is that this becomes an overall good reading of this movement that creates a good sense of growing excitement as it progresses.  Unfortunately, low brass feel a bit muddier in the sound picture at times, though trumpets do sail over the top here well.  The opening lamenting theme is quite well shaped and seems to have a bit more emotional energy that feels adapted better to the hall as the nice slight echo manages to add to the drama.  Oddly, the ending feels a bit anticlimactic when all is said and done.

    The recording will be a good benchmark should Jordan return to this piece again having had some time to shape the Vienna Symphony players to respond more to his own ideas and interpretations.  This feels a bit more cautious at times.  So with most of these issues in place, this becomes another middle-of-the-road release that will be of interest historically for supporters of the orchestra and those wanting to watch to see how Jordan’s tenure changes this ensemble.  There needs to be just a bit more romanticism in this piece that does not really cut through in this performance which feels at times a tad tired, the energy coming from the live setting more than the performance itself.  Mind you, it is hard to perform warhorses like this as everyone will have their favorite performance, live or recorded, that will always be their benchmark.  There are many better options though for this work historically and recently that would be a far better bang for your buck and have more consistent pathos, and most of those have many varied coupled repertoire as well.