Five great performances of Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' Symphony

[vandermolen]

Koussevitsky (RCA)
Stupka (Supraphon)
Mravinsky (Erato)
Fricsay (DGG)
Mravinsky (DGG)

[Jo498]

Do you mean the mono Fricsay from the early/mid 50s or the later stereo one (posthumeously published because he had not been satisfied with it)?

[vandermolen]

Do you mean the mono Fricsay from the early/mid 50s or the later stereo one (posthumeously published because he had not been satisfied with it)?

The mono one that was once on a Heliodor LP. I think that I have the other (also excellent) version in a DGG CD boxed set of Fricsay's recordings. Thanks for your interest. 

[Jo498]

I have the mono on a mid-90s DG Dokumente CD. This is very "lean and mean" with one of the fastest 3rd movements I have heard. It's about the best antidote to overly romantic or larmoyant readings of the piece. (This one used to be a favorite of mine but I can understand that many listeners find it too "dry".)

The ca. 1960 "posthumuous" one was included in the "original Masters" box of the early 2000s. It is much slower (as are some other late Fricsay recordings) but it's been too long I listened to it to be more specific. I think it had also been available in the late 90s in France and Japan as single disc.

[Sergeant Rock]

Bernstein/New York (DG)
Franck/Swedish RSO
Ashkenazy/Philharmonia
Celibidache/Munich Phil
Mravinsky/Leningrad
Jurowski/LPO

Edit: Just listened to Celi...adding him to the list, bumping the Ash.


Sarge

[North Star]

Everyone and their brother has recorded this work, e.g. Ansermet, Ozawa, Fricsay, Muti, Abbado, Jansons with BRSO and Oslo, Giulini, Reiner, Silvestri, Munch, Cantelli, Rozhdestvensky, Gatti, Pletnev DGG and Pentatone, Mackerras, Barenboim, Kitajenko, Nelsons, Jurowski, Kletzki, Celibidache, Sinopoli, Eschenbach, Ormandy, Toscanini, Franck, Rodzinski, Maazel. I suppose Sarge owns the lot. 
I only know the Pletnev DGG and Gatti, they're both fine to me.

[Drasko]

Mravinsky / Leningrad Philharmonic (DG, stereo)
Kondrashin / Moscow Philharmonic (Altus, live '67)
Toscanini / NBC Symphony (Naxos, live '41)
Gergiev / Mariinsky Orch. (Mariinsky, live DVD)
Sinopoli / Philharmonia (DG)

[david johnson]

reiner/cso and ormandy/philly (any of them) are always fun for me to hear.

[vandermolen]

I have the mono on a mid-90s DG Dokumente CD. This is very "lean and mean" with one of the fastest 3rd movements I have heard. It's about the best antidote to overly romantic or larmoyant readings of the piece. (This one used to be a favorite of mine but I can understand that many listeners find it too "dry".)

The ca. 1960 "posthumuous" one was included in the "original Masters" box of the early 2000s. It is much slower (as are some other late Fricsay recordings) but it's been too long I listened to it to be more specific. I think it had also been available in the late 90s in France and Japan as single disc.

Many thanks Jo.

[vandermolen]

Bernstein/New York (DG)
Franck/Swedish RSO
Ashkenazy/Philharmonia
Mravinsky/Lennigrad
Jurowski/LPO


Sarge

The Mravinsky I know and it is a very fine version. I had 4,5 and 6 on a double DGG LP set in my youth. I have a DGG CD set as well but I think that one recording is conducted by Sanderling (possibly Symphony 4).

[vandermolen]

Everyone and their brother has recorded this work, e.g. Ansermet, Ozawa, Fricsay, Muti, Abbado, Jansons with BRSO and Oslo, Giulini, Reiner, Silvestri, Munch, Cantelli, Rozhdestvensky, Gatti, Pletnev DGG and Pentatone, Mackerras, Barenboim, Kitajenko, Nelsons, Jurowski, Kletzki, Celibidache, Sinopoli, Eschenbach, Ormandy, Toscanini, Franck, Rodzinski, Maazel. I suppose Sarge owns the lot. 
I only know the Pletnev DGG and Gatti, they're both fine to me.

The Pletnev is very highly regarded. I like his Rachmaninov recordings too.

[vandermolen]

Mravinsky / Leningrad Philharmonic (DG, stereo)
Kondrashin / Moscow Philharmonic (Altus, live '67)
Toscanini / NBC Symphony (Naxos, live '41)
Gergiev / Mariinsky Orch. (Mariinsky, live DVD)
Sinopoli / Philharmonia (DG)

Which one is your favourite?

[Sergeant Rock]

I suppose Sarge owns the lot. 

Not quite but almost 

KARAJAN BERLIN
ORMANDY PHILADELPHIA
SOLTI CHICAGO
ASHKENAZY PHILH
BERNSTEIN NEW YORK
FRANCK SWEDISH RADIO SO
MRAVINSKY LENINGRAD PHIL
ABENDROTH RSO LEIPZIG
GOLOVANOV USSR RADIO SO
PLETNEV RUSSIAN NATIONAL O
MARKEVITCH LSO
JUROWSKI LPO
GIULINI LOS ANGELES
CELIBIDACHE MUNICH PHIL
SINOPOLI PHILHARMONIA


Sarge

[vandermolen]

There's also a very good Rozhdestvensky LSO recording, originally on RCA.

[Jo498]

I don't care enough for the piece (although it is my favorite Tchaikovsky symphony) to actively buy new versions. I think I bought only the Markevitch integrale (to get the lot) and the Mrawinsky DG mono (and later got rid of it in favor of the DG stereo) on purpose. On LP I had Rozhdestvensky (some Russian orchestra, on Eurodisc) and Karajan.

But through boxes and couplings etc. I acquired both studio Fricsay, an earlier Markevitch, Klemperer, Silvestri, Erich Kleiber and probably another one or two I forgot. And I am not sure I have listened to all of them (the Silvestri is a recent acquisition, I only listened to the 4th so far). Apparently I do not have any on CD recorded after 1970.
I got rid of Giulini/LA because in spite (or because) of beautiful playing and sound this one seemed to miss all the passion and mania.

[Drasko]

Which one is your favourite?

Mravinsky.

Koussevitsky (RCA)
Stupka (Supraphon)
Mravinsky (Erato)
Fricsay (DGG)
Ancerl (DGG)

Your list is very interesting. I have to get the Koussevitsky (love his Brahms and Sibelius), Fricsay's Tchaikovsky I never liked, to me feels rushed and breathless in all the wrong places, I didn't know there is an Ancerl recording (where to find it?) and have no idea who is Stupka (can you tell a bit more about it).

[AnthonyAthletic]

Kondrashin / Moscow PO (Altus, live '67)

Kondrashin's became my favourite after being introduced to it by Tony "Sidoze"...any old timers remember Sidoze?  Heartbreaking finale, superbly played throughout.  Just edged out Mravinsky and Jansons as my personal favourite.

Ok, the Pletnev is very good but a tad too fast in the March (III), had many an argument over this, but I love it 

Karajan has thinner sound from EMI in 1971, I have the reissue in the mid 80's, which is still a great performance.

So many more to discover, after reading this thread.  I probably have around 15+ copies or so and a few bootlegs here n there.

Mravinsky / Leningrad (DG with 4 & 5)
Jansons / Oslo PO (Chandos)
Pletnev / Russian NO (Virgin Twofer)
Karajan / BPO (EMI) 1971

[(poco) Sforzando]

As Michael Steinberg wrote: "Tchaikovsky assumes a flexible performance style, but, as one would not infer from the giddy havoc most conductors visit upon his music, he has in mind precise tempo relationships that are both structurally and expressively motivated."

I do not know what constitutes a "great" performance of this work, but Tchaikovsky wrote careful tempo designations and metronome markings in the Pathétique that many conductors ignore. The fast parts are taken faster than he asks for and the slower parts much slower. For instance, the Ashkenazy, which I recently heard, takes the march at quarter = 168, eventually accelerating to a giddy havoc of quarter = 176, where Tchaikovsky asks for quarter = 152 throughout. The pulse should be only slightly faster than the 5/4 waltz, which is quarter = 144.

The slow theme in the first movement is marked Andante (walking, going, moderately slow, quarter = 76), but in the Ashkenazy is heard as a droopy Adagio (slow, quarter = 60). The last movement especially is one that I've yet to hear according to the very precise tempo scheme marked in the score. The movement as I'm surely any listener recognizes has two main themes. The opening theme is marked Adagio lamentoso, but each time it recurs it is marked to be played slightly faster, NOT slower. The second theme (the one with which the movement concludes) is marked Andante. The last time the main theme recurs, it is given a metronome marking almost equivalent to the Andante theme, and the trombone passage following, which is often slowed enormously, is only marked poco rallentando (slightly slower) and quasi adagio (in the style of an adagio -- but not adagio per se).

The very last statement of the second theme, which the shameless Bernstein/DG slobbers over and stretches nearly to the point of stasis, is marked Andante giusto -- that is, only moderately slow, and in *absolutely strict tempo*. Only the very last four bars have a ritenuto (slowing).

[Karl Henning]

Kondrashin's became my favourite after being introduced to it by Tony "Sidoze"...any old timers remember Sidoze?

One can scarcely forget someone who sneered at me so determinedly 

[AnthonyAthletic]

One can scarcely forget someone who sneered at me so determinedly 

He just disappeared, loved his Chopin then one day was no more a GMG-er...