Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Symphony No. 5 In E Minor, Op. 64 (1888)
Symphony No. 6 In B Minor, Op. 74 ‘Pathétique’ (1893)
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Karina Canellakis
rec. live, 15 March 2023 (5), 2 November 2024 (6), Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
Reviewed from a WAV download 96kHz/24-bit
London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO0137 [89]

‘Tchaikovsky is for some things the greatest of all composers. It’s not just his melodic genius in itself so much as the musical utterance brought into being when this gift is given complete primacy in the music’s total effect’. This is Robin Holloway, writing in his extraordinary new book on Western classical music, Music’s Odyssey (of which more soon on these pages). As he does consistently with other composers and music, Holloway goes with precision to one of the primary characteristics of Tchaikovsky’s brilliance. And it’s notable I think that one of the most exciting qualities shared by the last three Tchaikovsky symphonies is that the ‘utterance’, as Holloway would describe it, is unleashed to even greater effect than in the ballets. Even putting Fate motifs and possible hidden programmes aside, there’s no question that the melodic writing is wreaking something more than the abstract, is at the very least strongly implying a destination to be reached. And whilst one can possibly be more critical of the slightly unsubtle aspects of the Fourth’s signposting whilst simultaneously admiring its sheer emotional heft, the achievement of the last two symphonies, at least in the best performances, of a delicate balance of that melodic gift, immaculate orchestration, and formal innovation is surely immense.

I’ve listened exclusively to two sets of recordings of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies in the last few years. Most recently those by Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic, and performances from about ten years before that by Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic (both sets on the own labels of the orchestras). I can quite see though why the LPO would want to issue these newer performances from 2023 and 2024, where the Orchestra is directed by its Principal Guest Conductor, Karina Canellakis. While the approach to tempo by Petrenko and Jurowski is often quite different from movement to movement, their essential conception of both works feels similar: brooding, sometimes opulent but overwhelmingly symphonic and rhetorical. The overall effects are superb, but Canellakis shows us there is another way. Her readings seem to me intensely dramatic, indeed theatrical, in the best sense of the word, and there’s a nimbleness and flexibility to the playing to match. To go back to Holloway, it’s the focus consistently given to the melodic line by Canellakis, as if we were at the ballet, that makes these performances so memorable and refreshing.

Let me give an example from each work. The second movement of the Fifth in Canellakis’s reading has a noticeably more transparent texture than either of the other two recordings I have mentioned, and that serves to emphasise what feels like an almost classical framing to what plays out. The seven and a half bars of hushed strings before the solo horn enters has an exquisite limpidity to it. The solo itself is understated, and the melody reaches us with a startling directness, and its interplay with the woodwind sounds naturally dialogic. But it’s the entry of the strings with the melody that makes an overwhelming impression, first, at the con noblesse marking , where the nobility is absolutely present but almost self-effacing, so there’s instantly a sense of something akin to repressed heartbreak; and then con desiderio, where the sudden intensity of those repeated notes seems to tell us that the longing will not see a comfortable resolution. Canellakis and her players without resort to rubato or other external interpretative devices, but with considerable agility, show us that unadorned, light-footed attention to the score reaps considerable dramatic dividends. And that is true overall of her thrilling account of the Fifth.

I was really struck in the Pathétique by Canellakis’s approach to the famous second subject theme of the first movement. Not to put too fine a point on it but any suggestion of exaggeration or added emotion here very quickly leads to something tawdry and cheap. In this performance it’s presented with an openness and ardour that testifies to Canellakis’s belief in it. In what are more ostentatiously tragic interpretations, Jurowski, and particularly Petrenko, treat the melody with more caution and distance. This has a decisive effect of course on the overall impact on the movement and the symphony as a whole. In Canellakis’s account, it becomes a meaningful prologue to an ultimately devastating account of what feels like a story of loss and sorrow, told operatically, compellingly.

This is without question one of my favourite orchestral recordings of the year. The LPO Label used different recording teams for the two symphonies, and both have done an excellent job of catching the undiluted excitement generated by these electrifying live performances.

Dominic Hartley

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