Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Jordan
Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Jordan
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6, Pathetique
(Wiener Symphoniker)
Oh, what a disappointment. It just goes to show: don't build up your expectations too high; and in I went, both feet first, as it were. I had been so impressed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra's recent disc of fizzing, bubbling repertoire from the Strauss family. Then up went the expectations again: terrific orchestra, new conductor in Philippe Jordan, the Golden Room of Vienna's hall from heaven, the Musikverein, as the recording space, and Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony as the ultimate in repertoire - electrifying, heartbreaking, shattering in the blistering third movement and devastating in that finale which ends with death and those final heartbeats. The recording itself is bland - at its worst it's like a wash, as though someone has taken a one-size-fits-all approach with the microphones. It's very short on orchestral detail, especially of the innards, and Jordan fatally misses the febrile qualities in Tchaikovsky's last great masterpiece. I'm afraid it's a pale shadow of the Pathetique.
Michael Tumelty
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