From: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu (Vinh Nguyen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: The Best Thaikovsky's 6th
Date: 10 Nov 92 22:04:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Nov10.170408.17319
Reply-To: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu
Originator: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu

In article <bTB=1S@engin.umich.edu>,
 newjack@engin.umich.edu (Kyong Soo Lee) writes:
> Hello fellow netters!
  I'm sure this question has been raised in the past.  Anyway,
> which is the best recording of the
  Thaikovsky's 6th symphony out there now in your opinion?
> 
> Hope to get a long productive thread on this subject!
> 
> Kyong Lee
> newjack@engin.umich.edu
> U of Michigan, School of Engineering
> Wolverines Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's in teresting that you ask about the best "recording" of 
the Tchaikowsky's 6th.  If "sound" is a prime consideration
then there can be 3 extraordinary contenders:

1. Pletnev/Russian National Orchestra (Virgin VC 7 91487-2)
2. Jansons/Oslo PO (Chandos 8446 single; or Chandos 8677 in the
complete 7-CD set)
3. Bernstein/NYPO (DG 419 604-2)

PLetnev has the most stunning sonics: you can hear the distinct
pluckings of the cellos in vivid realism.  The orchestral colors
are brilliantly delineated.  But I must admit to a certain amount
of tiredness at such superb "clinical" digital sound.  Other people
might not, and should not hesitate to listen to this demonstration
class sound.  The performance is easily one of the best -- taut
and well-judged, the playing of this "pick-up" orchestra brilliant
and virtuosic.  Pletnev, in his conducting debut, makes a splendid
transition from his virtuosic brilliance on the keyboard to that
of the podium.  But, as in his keyboard performances, there is a
laser-like degree of probity that somehow can appear rather detached.
This isn't all that "damaging" if one subscribe to the school of
"sober mania" of Tchaikowsky conducting -- which is far from bland
and lifeless, I hasten to say.  And Pletnev is perhaps one of the
best exponent of this style -- exuding much raw energy but under
such breathtaking control.  For me, this is one of the best
Tchaikowsky 6th to marvel at and to admire.  But to love is another
matter.

Bernstein's is a Tchaikowsky 6th that I cannot live without --
precisely because it is so exasperatingly draining.  This is not
something for casual, much less "repeated", listening.  It is
an "experience" that would either leave one raving in manic
delirium or drive one to extreme loathing.  I simply LOVE it!
This is a Pathetic at its most nerve-wrenching sublimity dragged
out to an intense 58'31 (at least 15' longer than most other
performances).  This is a performance of extreme -- typical of
the Mahlerian view of Bernstein.  The sound is vivid and amazingly
wide-ranging from the almost inaudible hushed pppppps (yes 6 ps
as marked in the score) to the shattering ffffs that would leave
one emotionally devastated.  The Avery Fisher Hall sound, however,
is not brightly lit and can be a bit muddy, which serves the bold
"organic" broad strokes of Bernstein quite well.  If there is
only one single Pathetic to listen only once: this would be it
for me.  But I caution against listening too often to it for it
can be quite unbeareable.  (I haven't touched the recording for
over a year now -- and I still shudder when I just "think" of it.
But I would unhesitatingly place it at the top of my list of 
best loved performances of this symphony -- well, just edging
the classic Mravinsky version by a hairbreadth).

Jansons is a perfectly stylish performance of the Tchaikowsky 6th.
(Ahem, which style? <smile>).  It is even tauter than Pletnev's
and even more controlled and sober.  It is an "urgent" Pathetic,
quite the antithesis of Bernstein.  The Oslo PO works marvel here
even though it's a far cry from the best of the best orchestras
in the world, and that is to the credit of Jansons.  The sound is
gorgeous -- demonstration class sound, and among the best ever
produced by Chandos.  The complete cycle is probably the most
distinguished one in this repertoire, edging out Karajan and
just about everybody else both in performance and sound.  This
is a most satisfying Pathetic, full of energy and delivered in
such taste and committment.

If sound isn't the primary consideration then the competition
tightens with at least 2 more major contenders:

1. Mravinsky/Leningrad PO (DG 419 754-2 in a 2-CD set of 
Symphonies 4-6)
2. Karajan/Berlin PO (DG 429 675-2 in a 4-CD set of Symphonies
1-6).

Karajan recorded the Tchaikowsky 6th 4 times (I think), and
the 1976 version shows him at his best, which is nothing to
sneer at (even for Karajan-haters).  A distinguished and
polished Pathetic that exudes grandeur and free of fussy
mannerisms.  The sound is a bit congested but otherwise 
very good in its analogue format.

The Mravinsky set of the early 60s is in a class of its own.
Here is Tchaikowsky at his most red-blooded and raw in sheer
energy.  It is an urgent reading whose influence can be clearly
seen in the latterday Jansons reading.  How Mravinsky could
unleash such manic intensity and drive (quite the opposite
of the overdrawn intensity of Bersntein -- which is its most
remarkable antithesis) without getting out of control is
a marvel that has to be heard to be persuaded and believed.
There are so many delectable insights in this reading that
defy description -- the orchestral parts emerge crisply
and weave in magical ways under Mravinsky's relentless baton.
The sound is dry to say the least, and has plenty of hisses
to boast, but it is strikingly immediate and vivid and one
quickly gets use to it (and I could even prefer it to the
rather clinical digital sound we tend to get these days).  
It is not perhaps the best sound even by analogue standard,
but there is something about the orchestral placing that 
makes this Pathetic sound so strikingly bold and "right",
if not "revelatory" in the best sense of the word.  

So what is the "best" Tchaikowsky 6th on records?  A tongue-
in-cheek, question let it be!  I think that it depends very
much on what one's preferred conception of Tchaikowsky is,
as well as one's personality and mood.

The best cataclysmic/apocalyptic Pathetic is undoubtedly
by Bernstein who brings out the Mahlerian monumentality
of the work.  If you like your Pathetic served with almost
Beethovenian/Brahmsian grandeur then Karajan can be the 
preferred choice.  Pletnev has an almost Beethovenian 
rigor combined with slavic poetry and served in brilliant
playing and sound.  Mravinsky is the epitome of the slavic
spirit -- raw poetry free of sentimentality and artifice --
exploding with energy and almost running away with rapture:
perhaps the most "russian" (and almost Mussorsgkian) of
them all.  Jansons combines many of the best features
above, but only a bit too well to be the most satisfying
yet somewhat faceless Pathetic around.

Vinh Nguyen