Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Symphony No.6 Pathétique
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Prelude to Khovanshchina (orch. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
London Symphony Orchestra / Gianandrea Noseda
rec. live, January/February 2020 (Mussorgsky), December 2023 (Tchaikovsky), Barbican Hall, London
LSO Live LSO0895 [50]

Gianandrea Noseda has made a speciality of Russian music in his recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra. That includes a recently completed Shostakovich cycle and a trilogy of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies No.4-6, of which this is the final instalment. It is perfectly fine, and you might want it as a memento if you were at the concerts. But when you look at the competition for Symphony No.6, this recording is not up there with the greats.

In many ways, Noseda deserves credit for making this a Pathétique very faithful to the composer’s requirements. There is nothing flashy or exceptional, and the conductor is (mostly) studious in his attention to the markings. But that makes it rather tepid. Take the climax of the first movement’s central development section, for example. That is surely the most volcanic, hair-raising music that Tchaikovsky ever wrote, and it is exciting enough in Noseda’s hands. Yet it never quite boils over and, in places, it feels a little too disciplined. Its ending, when the strings pour out the wail of lament, is taken a tempo. That is exactly what the composer requires, but it means the playing is just a little bit bland, with no slowing up to milk the drama. That makes it faithful but rather serviceable. (This might make it a winner for you: it iss remarkable how few conductors stick to the composer’s markings at this point.)

You get the same, too, in the third movement march. It is deliberate and steady, not exhilarating, though it also avoids any highwire, high-speed theatrics. Thus, it will appeal to many who drink their Tchaikovsky straight.

One thing you cannot complain about is the orchestral playing. The strings are expertly coloured throughout, with an appropriately sighing tone when they introduce the first movement’s main theme, which then recurs in the wilting finale. The major key “love theme” of the first movement feels a little cursory at first, but it soars for its second iteration once the mutes come off. The clarinet solo is very convincing in the wreckage of the recapitulation before a trance-like final funeral plod.

Noseda comes into his own in the finale, where the absence of histrionics is very welcome. He controls its unfolding with a sweep that verges on the cinematic, though not everyone will warm to the way the consoling major key second theme slows down the action rather than moving it along. There is a fairly self-indulgent pause after the tam-tam stroke, but the trombone threnody and final fade-out are very well handled.

Overall, though, this is not persuasive enough for repeated listening. It certainly does not replace the fearsome competition from, for example, Karajan (1964), Jansons, Dutoit, Pletnev or Gergiev.

Mussorgsky’s piece is a rather odd choice of filler, not least because it is so slight. Something far more substantial could have been fitted in. Was it choosen just because it is Russian? It is nicely played, even if it plods slightly towards the end, but who would be swayed by that to buy this disc? And anyway, only fifty minutes of running time may not be really acceptable these days. More would have been better.

Simon Thompson

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free