Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 / Marche slav, Op.31 / 1812 Overture (Bernstein Royal Edition No. 92)

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This recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony 5 was made by Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, ca. 1960, when Bernstein had been conductor of the philharmonic for about 2 years. His youthful, passionate approach works well for Tchaikovsky's oft recorded symphony, and the subtle ritards and accelerandos at key points do much to serve Tchaikovsky's music. Bernstein was a passionate, emotional man, and it shows in his recording of this music. The New York Philharmonic brass are especially good, and the recording clear and bright, despite a little hiss. Sony's engineers did a fine job restoring this for CD in 1993.

Bernstein recorded Tchaikovsky 5 again for Deutsche Grammophon in the late 1980s with the New York Philharmonic, and that is a very good recording, but the youthful energy Bernstein showed in 1960 is not as evident. Bernstein's later Tchai. 5 is more thoughtful and searching; for repeated listenings, I prefer the Sony. The DG is available individually, and in a 2 disc set with Bernstein's DG Tchaikovsky Symphony 6, "Pathetique" and should NOT be confused with the Sony recording.

The accompanying works, "Overture 1812" and "Marche Slave", are also excellent. Bernstein's "1812" introduced me to the piece in 1973 (included in a collection of Overtures of Smetana, Dvorak, Rossini, Herold, Suppe, Wolf-Ferrari, etc. on 3 LPs) and although there are other recordings I now like better than this one, I still have a nostalgic attraction to it. The cannons are loud and pungent. "Marche Slave" is also excellent, but there are many recordings of this concert favorite, so comparisons are difficult.

For those wishing to collect all 6 of Bernstein's New York Tchaikovsky Symphonies, there is a 6 CD set offered by Sony of these, with "1812", "Marche slave", "Romeo and Juliet", "Francesca da Rimini" and "Hamlet" as discmates. That set costs more than this one disc, but figured out by the cost of the set divided by the number of discs, is less expensive per disc. You can't go wrong either way, but I lean toward the set, as Bernstein's Tchaikovsky 1,3,4,and 6 are also very good to excellent, as are the discmates.

There's not much else I can say about this recording and performance that Alan Majeska didn't say in his excellent review. This is an invigorating and spirited performance of a work of which there may be too many recordings. Listening to it makes one understand why Leonard Bernstein was such a super-star in those halcyon days with the NY Philharmonic -- in one word: excitement. There may be recordings with better sonics, but I can't think of another that has so much energy. Highly recommended.