TCHAIKOVSKY, P.: Symphony No. 5 / The Nutcracker Suite (South West German Radio Symphony, Norrington)

Albumbeschreibung

Because the Symphony No. 5 in E minor by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky has been performed, recorded, reissued, and rehashed so many times it has become a tired but true warhorse that is brought out time and again with little justification, and the occasions when it appears in insightful and important performances are few and far between. One wonders what justification Roger Norrington had in recording this symphony for Hänssler with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester-Stuttgart des SWR, but whatever it was, it is insufficient to give this recording any meaningful place among myriad others. Certainly, Norrington's ideas about nineteenth century instrumentation, orchestral sound, seating arrangements, and the like are not urgent enough to make anyone listen to this symphony with new ears. No one derives any great benefit from hearing Tchaikovsky's strings with little to no vibrato, or from having the lean, shiny Norrington sound applied to one of the most famously lush works in the repertoire. The technical changes he brings are slight, his interpretive innovations seem minor, and his tempos and phrasing are pretty much what everybody else chooses. Furthermore, the lack of real emotion in this rather sterile performance makes one wish Norrington would have stayed in the early music category and not flirted with a repertoire he has little feeling for. His sprightly reading of the Nutcracker Suite, however, is nice and enjoyable, and the lightness of this ballet music sorts well with Norrington's Classical bent. But because the gloomy and stormy Fifth is so far out of this conductor's ken, it really should have been replaced with a less frequently performed symphony that would have been much closer to his temperament. That, at least, could be justified, but not this exercise in futility.
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