This BMG-RCA bargain
box is part of the Complete Collection
series. The set was first issued in
1994. It is highly recommendable.
We probably know our
Rozhdestvensky, our Svetlanov and our
Kondrashin. Those who have collected
Arkadia, Arlecchino and Boheme will
also know of the galvanic Golovanov
whose liberty-taking easily outstrips
Stokowski. Even so Golovanov remains
something of a mystery man. What about
the rest? Edward Serov records for Kontrapunkt
and Northern Lights. Sinaisky has done
some excellent Sibelius (Saison Russe)
and Szymanowski (Chandos).Vladimir Ponkin
has had several recordings on Saison
Russe including a fine disc of Prokofiev’s
theatre music.
When in the 1970s EMI-Melodiya
were haphazardly producing their Glazunov
symphonies two conductors Fedoseyev
and Ivanov became known. Fedoseyev even
recorded all eight and these were issued
on a box of Eurodisc LPs - still absent
from the CD lists. Much of his recorded
activity on Melodiya has been reissued
on the Swiss Relief label courtesy of
producer Urs Weber - although not the
Glazunov. Yuri Temirkanov was in much
the same category as Fedoseyev although
his EMI-Melodiya LPs were few and far
between. The Soviets allowed both to
tour outside the USSR but the impact
they made was limited. The reception
accorded their recordings was muted
by comparison with figures such as Mravinsky,
Rozhdestvensky and Kondrashin.
With this in the background
the present bargain price set comes
as something of a surprise. Temirkanov
allows himself a great deal of license
in the interpretative steer he gives
to these well loved scores. His mercurial
stormy spirit gives each work the feeling
of a performance made anew. Temirkanov
is a master of the well-judged accelerando
and decelerando. The elasticity of response
and the romping power reminds me of
the headstrong wilfulness of none other
than Golovanov whose Arlecchino CD of
the Rachmaninov Third makes fascinating
listening whipping up a headstrong emotional
storm.
I started with a personal
favourite: the Fourth Symphony.
The start bodes well with the horns
goaded to raucous hoarseness in the
first movement (8.12). Wildness is not
everything: the grace of the flute is
most touchingly done in the second movement.
As for recording quality this can be
judged from the lusty glowing reverberant
sound evident from the delectable pizzicato
capers of the third movement. Temirkanov
builds and releases genuine excitement
here. The finale pumps out a real blast
of sound and there is a lightning-bolt
impetuosity about the experience. It
is not quite as headlong or breathless
as the classic 1961 DG recording of
Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic.
However it is impressive and allows
the listener more of a chance to draw
breath than Mravinsky ever did. Given
Sakari Oramo’s recent Sibelius Sixth
it would be interesting to hear his
version of the Tchaikovsky Fourth. I
suspect that it would not be a million
miles from Temirkanov’s.
Temirkanov’s Fate
or Fatum is given
a strongly Elgarian splash at the start
and this returns at 11.03. There is
a raucous melodrama about this as it
careers close to Borodin’s Second Symphony.
At 6.43 we hear that peculiar brand
of Tchaikovskian heart’s-ease and from
9.48 onwards there is a similarity to
the strenuous moments from Manfred (and
what a pity that there is no Manfred
here - he might well have trounced or
at least equalled Svetlanov). The work’s
weaknesses begin to become evident in
the ramshackle and gloom filled attitudinising
of the final pages. This was a work
destroyed by the composer after criticism
from Balakirev. It survived through
a reconstruction from the surviving
orchestral parts.
The Fifth Symphony
again shows individuality. The ‘sticky’
phrasing, the hesitations and accelerations,
the micro-scale pressings forward and
holdings back, all are expertly judged.
For Temirkanov there is no question
of following the care-worn orthodoxy
of the conventional line on the Fifth.
The recording smiles on the brass who
shine momentously. The finale is tenderly
expressed and the presto while not taken
at the withering speed of the Mravinsky
recording (DG) has perhaps more loving
kindness about it. Temirkanov's temperament
is not as remorseless as that of the
stern Mravinsky. This is a version of
the Fifth to re-engage the listener
although if you want a great recording
I would not part company with the revelatory
Vanguard recording of the LSO and Monteux
in Vienna in the early 1960s.
What of the Pathétique.
There are moments when it is just over
the top. Temirkanov takes the first
movement at times preternaturally slowly
although this does pay dividends in
the lunging lightning contrasts of speed.
At 10.30 the music thunders and stabs
viciously. The pace is devil-take-the-hindmost.
This is not all adrenaline rush. The
strings are leant a starry radiance
by the acoustic and the engineers. The
march struts in vainglory at 6.04. The
agreeably distended finale is superbly
weighed, timed and choreographed. Here
we encounter more phenomenal playing.
This has a forbidding not to say oratorical
power driven to the point of decay.
I noted the merest touch of the tam-tam
played piano at 9.10 - revel
in it. This is wonderfully recorded
both stunningly subtle and brazenly
proud. Late Bernstein out-Bernsteined.
The three early
symphonies here in bright and eager
performances are the more Kouchka-like
of the six and therefore the least (mature)
Tchaikovskian. The Second Symphony communicates
very much in the Glazunov and Balakirev
camp with a smashing finale from Temirkanov.
The First is lightly painted and ingratiating.
The Third includes a very stretched
out Alla tedesca that may surprise
if you know the symphony at all from
other versions.
This possibly mannered
and sculpted approach also extends to
the Capriccio Italien.
Listen at 3.10 to the way he articulates
the trumpet line note by note. This
is unusual. Then again there is an understandable
impatience about the storming and stomping
rush at 12.40. He seems to want to get
the big blowsy Neapolitan tune (12.50)
out of the way with minimum delay. The
Marche slave reeks of
swagger and waxed moustaches as for
that matter does the great march of
the Pathétique.
On the other hand the Swan Lake
suite seems comparatively mainstream
… and enjoyable although I missed the
surprises and perhaps effrontery of
the usual Temirkanov approach. The Francesca
is almost too superheated. Listen at
21.15 to the brass statements stuttered
out with such powerful emphasis. When
the strings whirlwind at the end comes
the orchestra play as if possessed by
the devil called Legion who drove the
Gadarene swine to their deaths. After
this the classic Stokowski version seems
almost serene. This version recalls
for me the BBC broadcast performance
by Yuri Ahronovitch and the LSO on 19
September 1978 - a withering performance
which I hope will one day be issued
on the BBC Legends series. The Manfred
in the same Royal Festival Hall
concert was equally outstanding - far
superior to the densely lacklustre Manfred
he recorded with the LSO on Deutsche
Grammophon.
This is a crowded field
and few versions are weak. Jansons and
the Oslo Phil have been a mainstream
recommendation for years.Bernstein's
six have been reissued by Sony at bargain
price. You can still get my personal
favourite: the 1960s Markevitch with
the LSO on Philips. Svetlanov's six
are intermittently to be found on BMG-Melodiya
twofers. Pletnev and Muti have been
highly praised in some quarters. This
BMG set is highly personal, not bland,
provocative and probably wrong-headed
on some occasions. However one thing
it will not do is allow your attention
to drift.
Temirkanov knows the
latencies of this orchestra and the
right spell to draw them out. He makes
the RPO sound buzzingly idiomatic. If
someone had told me that this was the
one-time USSRSO, but for the recording
dates, I would have believed them.
Rob Barnett
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Yuri Temirkanov 