Yes, you need this one in your vast collection.
G. Gordon Holt once said the greater the performance, the worse the sound. He would have loved this recording.
First its sonic character: Overall, highly dynamic, very rich and 3-dimensional. Loud passages remain rich and musical.
For performance my point of comparison is Mravinsky on DG.
The first movement is especially expressive. Bernstein would have loved this treatment. The second movement exceptionally lyrical. The third is worth the purchase price alone… exceptionally tense and dynamic. The last movement is brimming with musical tension.
I think is has been a long time since an old war-horse has received so much acclaim from the press.
I agree this is definitely worth listening to but it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Its a very aggressive interpretation, but I love hearing new interpretations. This one IS to my ears, rather extreme and will always be tangential to more mainstream versions. Currentzis’ other work is also fascinating (there’s not much of it on record, but he has also done some interesting interpretations in the choral repertoire.
I’m not a big fan of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral music but I’ve listened to this recording twice and it’s probably going to replace as a go to my Telarc Cleveland Von Dohnanyi CD which in comparison is quite austere.
Currentzis has a number of recordings on Tidal and his Dido and Aeneas is so willfully strange I’m very glad I didn’t have to buy it to hear it!
This 1960 recording really brings out the beauty and emotions of the Tchaikovsky’s compositions. The brass and strings are especially powerful (when it should be) while embraced with romantic characters of mother Russia; No. 6 just keep me on a Rollercoaster ride; from the full spirited all-out fightback to the inevitability of final dying (that really sucks!)
