Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Herbert von Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra of London :: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"; Swan Lake Suite

This could be Karajan's best Pathetqiue, and it's a bargain

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 04/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Karajan recorded the Tchaikovsky Pathetique no less than five times between 1939 and near his death in the late Eighties, first with the Berlin Phil. and last with the Vienna Phil. In 1956, when this early stereo version was made (early for EMI, that is) he was the conductor and unparalleled star of the Philharmonia Orch., an ensemble he raised higher than it has reached afterward. We hear a grand, committed reading that is yet quite natural and free from eccentricity--none of Karajan's later glossiness and over-refinement.



It's a quick, nervy performance with lots of inner tension and relatively little Russian rhetoric. The big climaxes in the outer movements have great impact, even if they don't convey the shattering emotion of a Bernstein or Mravinsky. Listen to the delightfully shaped Waltz to get an idea of how inspiring Karajan could be at his best. The sonics are good, too, even without a major remastering. EMi tosses at us the same version it used for its budget Karajan four-box set from the Eighties so far as I can tell. The fillers, six numbers from Swan Lake, are also freer and more modest in scale than his sumptuous later readings from Berlin and Vienna."