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| PASC011:
Symphony No. 5 in E minor - Tchaikovsky |
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To
call Stokoswki legendary is almost an understatement. Always an
innovator, always prepared to question, to court controversy and to search
for excellence, he was without doubt one of the greatest conductors of
all time.
Stokowski
single-handedly turned the Philadelphia Orchestra into one of the world's
greatest during his time with them between 1911 and 1941, and the legacy
of that can be heard here in this astounding recording of TchaIkovsky's
Fifth Symphony, recorded in 1934 and now sounding stunning in this brand
new remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio.
Unusually
for any 78rpm recording this appears to have been recorded in a single
take - or at least a movement at a time, rather than the more conventional
one-side-at-a-time approach. This gives the whole performance a greater
degree of coherence and inevitability - a far cry from modern techniques
where some conductors record literally a bar at a time to edit together
afterwards.
This
is surely one of the great historic recordings of all time - if you don't
have it you should get it - if you do have it, well perhaps it's never
sounded better that it does here!
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REVIEW
OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN E MINOR
Philadelphia Orchesta, conducted by Leopold Stokowski (1934) |
| Tschaikowsky
was on tour about to rehearse his new symphony (#5) in Hamburg
(Spring, 1889) when he discovered that Johannes Brahms was occupying
the same hotel. At previous meetings, they had been cordial
to each other, but they did not like each others' music. Brahms,
however, postponed his departure in order to hear the rehearsal
of the Tschaikowky. At a well-lubricated dinner afterwards,
Brahms said he liked the first three movements, but did not
care for the finale. Tschaikowsky, who in letters to his patroness,
Madame von Meck, had already rather excoriated the symphony,
was somewhat buoyed up by Brahms' judgment.
We
may speculate on what Brahms, a masterful finale composer,
disliked about the finale of the 5th symphony. It begins with
the symphony's motto (which starts the symphony in a doleful
E minor) now played rather majestically in E major. In the
major key, it sounds a bit artificial and rather bombastic
and it goes on without much incident for a while. Thankfully,
it segues into one of Tschaikowsky's most dashing and brilliantly
breathless allegros which is the heart of the movement and
is filled with glorious melody and incident. Ultimately to
end the movement and the symphony, Tschaikowsky goes back
to a very martial version of the motto theme. Here he tries
to create maximum triumph, but takes a long time to end things
using every delaying tactic in his "coitus interruptus"
manner before ending the work. The problem for the conductor
is to sustain the genuine excitement of the long middle section
through the somewhat artificial excitement of the final section
to get to the blessed final note. Let's see how Stokowsky
in his prime (1934) makes out.
Stokowsky
begins the Symphony with a sad but firm statement of the motto
theme and a controlled but beautiful statement of the lovely
second theme. No wallowing and no distortion. An excellent
playing of the development follows, almost convincing us that
Tschaikowsky knew how to develop a theme (not until the first
movement of the Pathetique does he show what might have been
if only he hadn't drunk that glass of unboiled water). Stokowsky
almost ruins things by presenting the recapitulation of the
motto them too slowly but recovers to end the movement well.
Both
Tschaikowsky and Stokowsky are magnificent in the incredibly
beautiful second movement. Stokowsky refuses to just float
in the blue sea of melody and keeps a tight rein until nearly
the end when his and the Philadelphia's letting go has an
enormous effect. The fresh and dewy playing of the orchestra
in the third movement almost entirely conceals this movement's
lack of stature.
Stokowsky's
performance of the finale pokes holes in my expectations from
above. He begins the first section at a moderate tempo and
achieves a certain valedictory air. Not what I was expecting,
but not too bad. Now, I'm ready for the allegro and a rather
brutal chase. It doesn't come. Stokowsky conducts a very competent,
but not terribly exciting allegro, filled with very good brass
incidents. And now I'm a bit disappointed and dreading the
final peroration. When it comes, however, it seems to have
a lot of energy on its own without any help from the middle
movement and I quite enjoy it. I ride it to the end with little
sense of bombast. I still miss the central allegro, but I
conclude that all in all this is a rather fine performance
of Tschaikowsky's Fifth Symphony.
My
only reference to the reproduction that I am very fond of
1950's mono sound and here is another example of it.
Reviewer:
Bill Rosen
Restorer's
clarification:
Bill's reference to "1950's mono sound" apparently
refers back to a previous review
where he lavished praise on a 1927 recording I'd remastered.
The implication is that it sounds a lot better than one might
expect! |
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