waltz

The power of the Pathétique when Tchaikovsky’s directions are followed to the letter is demonstrated by two of the most faithful ever committed to disc. Semyon Bychkov, also issued in 2015, finds a planet of poetry in the score. He doesn’t push the initially-movement improvement as well fast yet actually captures its fight-or-flight character, and it moves as if pulled by the inexorable undertow of an ocean wave, finally crashing at the ffff chord. Perhaps the Czech Philharmonic winds aren’t as characterful currently as they have been in the 1950s for Talich but the orchestra’s dark, burnished tone is nonetheless...