Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Valery Gergiev (Conductor), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Valery Gergiev
• Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (April 13, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000IIXV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,529 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stay with this one, March 13, 2004

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

Valeri Gergiev is probably the most hyped conductor of the early century. His spate of recordings have given him exposure equal to living long-timers like Abbado and Haitink. He is regularly on European concert stages and made an American tour earlier this year. For these reasons he is overhyped, overpackaged and oversold. His recordings of Shostakovich Symphony 7, Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Berlioz Fantastic Symphony and other staples of the orchestral repertory are generally well-liked by critics who temper their reviews to protect themselves against overindulgence of the Gergiev hype machine. No hype is necessary to sell this magnificent reading of Tchaikovsky's greatest symphony, the Symphony No. 5. Using rubato and tempo variance that would bring a smile to Stokowski and Mengelberg, Gergiev starts this journey with drama and a mercurial burst in the main allegro con anima. His Russian upbringing shows through the music's first half, with particular loveliness in the andante cantabile. Gergiev's international reputation is upheld in the second half waltz and particularly in the finale, where -- after an ominous andante maestoso -- he engages the vienna Philharmonic timpani to drive home the beat and fate message of the hyperRomantic finale. Yuri Termirkanov tried this in his second recording of this music but overdid it. Gergiev, with an assist from the engineers, incorporated timpani into the sound structure in a way Stokowski did not on his famous 1966 Stuttgart rendition on London Phase 4. The result is an audience that went crazy with applause and outbursts of "bravo". I lived 30 years with the Stokowski until I acquired this CD. I'm sure I'll go another 30 with this one until something better comes along. Tchaikovksy is rarely done this well.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Live and dangerous!, July 15, 2000

By 

Tom Gauterin (Loughborough, Leics. United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

This is a very fine performance of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony and, being a live recording from a concert, it has a certain sense of spark that many studio recordings miss. The usual manic energy associated with Gergiev's conducting adds to this in no small measure! As a live performance, then, it certainly makes its mark- the amazing whipping up of speed in the coda leaves you breathless and it's hardly surprising that the audience went mad at the end. Making allowances for the inevitable mistakes that happen in a concert, the symphony is extremely well-played and the strings perform astonishingly, particularly in the finale. Gergiev's choices of tempi feel absolutely right and the result is somewhere between the romantic approach of Karajan and the histrionic view taken by Mravinsky(whose stereo versions of the last three symphonies are unmissable). The opening sounds suitably dark and forboding, while the climaxes in both the first and the second movements are given plenty of power by the VPO's brass players. The third movement waltz is played with consummate charm, as you would expect from an orchestra that could play Strauss waltzes in its sleep. All in all, then, it is hard to argue with the interpretation when listening to it straight through as in a concert, so it certainly merits four stars. On repeated listening, though, one or two things do begin to grate a bit once the adrenalin rush has subsided. The recording balance does seem to give excessive weight to the brass and, along with Gergiev's emphasis on the aggression of the piece, this can come to sound a little crude, as can some of Gergiev's decisions to ignore what the score says. In the finale, for instance, the timpani spend most of the time playing at least forte but the score mostly indicates mp-mf, while some of the phrasing can at times seem rather brash. Nevertheless, these are minor points and it is hard not to be carried along by the power of the performance. It is certainly worth buying and is well worth the price even if you do get only 46 minutes of music. If you want a safer version, try Jansons on Chandos; more faithful to the score and superbly played, but it does lack the immense excitement of Gergiev's performance.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, January 11, 2000

By 

John R Newton (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

This may become the definitive recording of the Fifth. The final movement is practically perfect. Electrifying !