Tchaikovsky - Symphony 6 'Pathetique' [Ashkenazy-Philharmonia Orchestra]
This is the third time i've listened to this disc, the first time was a revelation!, it became my 'disc of the month' in February 2014, this wasn't its equal, but it was still an excellent experience, plus it's so good to have the Elegie For Strings on the disc, it's a lovely piece of music that was otherwise unknown to me.
Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian, he's now 77, he has extensively recorded most of the main repertoire, orchestral, chamber, and solo, he recorded this work in 1981, this issue comes from the 'virtuoso' series, an excellent re-issue of discs, with a large 'v' covering a third of the booklet, but a lovely snow filled Russian scene, it's a shame as there's no photographer mentioned, or where it's shot, at first it looks like a painting, but really it's a superb photograph, snow covered trees in the foreground, with the Church domes in the background, very much a grey scene, but it's crisp sharp and gorgeous.
On this listen it was the glorious first movement that i just loved, on this recording just over 19 minutes, it's in B Minor, and shares its key with Schubert's Eighth Symphony, so both works have turmoil and sadness, the start is full of deep basses, a lone bassoon creates a sense of melancholy [0:00-1:17], powerful stuff indeed, different instruments come in one by one, there's a skittish anxiety about the whole thing, when the trumpets come in [3:35+], it's almost developed a fanfare type of worry to it, but then a lovely magic happens, the strings send in a sad yet sweet melody [4:34+], gentle at first, but more passionate later, i love the way the flute / woodwinds play on this melody [5:47+], and i guess the strings full on [7:24-9:12] create what could be referred to as the 'pathetique' theme, the music winds its way down to nothing, but there's this frightening smash to wake the dead [9:58], lots of drums here, and then the whole frantic Allegro comes in, it's full of anger and agitation, the brass work has some really good work in places [12:20+ & 12:52+], plus the strings play their hearts out [12:38+], there's rolling thunder [13:16], and a real sense of ominousness, the piece seems to come to a shattering end [14:32-14:50], all drums and low brass, but out of the silence comes the sad / sweet pathetique theme [14:58+], and develops into a heady passion [15:41+], and i guess then comes a sweeter and gentle sort of coda of sorts, i love the way Tchaikovsky ends the movement, with a slow grind towards the finish line, pizzicato plodding strings [17:47-19:57], with the brass and woodwind giving some sort of epilogue to the whole thing, it's almost a 'symphony within a symphony', one of the greatest Tchaikovsky creations, and i love Ashkenazy's interpretation of it.
Here's Gergiev conducting the first movement on YouTube.
Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian, he's now 77, he has extensively recorded most of the main repertoire, orchestral, chamber, and solo, he recorded this work in 1981, this issue comes from the 'virtuoso' series, an excellent re-issue of discs, with a large 'v' covering a third of the booklet, but a lovely snow filled Russian scene, it's a shame as there's no photographer mentioned, or where it's shot, at first it looks like a painting, but really it's a superb photograph, snow covered trees in the foreground, with the Church domes in the background, very much a grey scene, but it's crisp sharp and gorgeous.
On this listen it was the glorious first movement that i just loved, on this recording just over 19 minutes, it's in B Minor, and shares its key with Schubert's Eighth Symphony, so both works have turmoil and sadness, the start is full of deep basses, a lone bassoon creates a sense of melancholy [0:00-1:17], powerful stuff indeed, different instruments come in one by one, there's a skittish anxiety about the whole thing, when the trumpets come in [3:35+], it's almost developed a fanfare type of worry to it, but then a lovely magic happens, the strings send in a sad yet sweet melody [4:34+], gentle at first, but more passionate later, i love the way the flute / woodwinds play on this melody [5:47+], and i guess the strings full on [7:24-9:12] create what could be referred to as the 'pathetique' theme, the music winds its way down to nothing, but there's this frightening smash to wake the dead [9:58], lots of drums here, and then the whole frantic Allegro comes in, it's full of anger and agitation, the brass work has some really good work in places [12:20+ & 12:52+], plus the strings play their hearts out [12:38+], there's rolling thunder [13:16], and a real sense of ominousness, the piece seems to come to a shattering end [14:32-14:50], all drums and low brass, but out of the silence comes the sad / sweet pathetique theme [14:58+], and develops into a heady passion [15:41+], and i guess then comes a sweeter and gentle sort of coda of sorts, i love the way Tchaikovsky ends the movement, with a slow grind towards the finish line, pizzicato plodding strings [17:47-19:57], with the brass and woodwind giving some sort of epilogue to the whole thing, it's almost a 'symphony within a symphony', one of the greatest Tchaikovsky creations, and i love Ashkenazy's interpretation of it.
Here's Gergiev conducting the first movement on YouTube.
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