Tchaikovsky: Symphony no 6 / Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic (Penguin Music Classics Series)

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Novelist Edmund White annotates Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 by linking it to two factors: the composer's homosexuality and the music's ballet-like motion. Remarking that he hears in this piece "the master's last testament and requiem," White does listeners a great service in rendering the music's details according to Tchaikovsky's mix of fascination with dance and music and the composer's certainly difficult position as a gay man in late-19th century Russia. Karajan's take on the music is aptly huge--leaning towards a deference to Tchaikovsky's Romantic grandness, rather than the layers of detail evident in the music. This is music that's hard to the philosophical core, leaning toward unsettled resignation but always resistant to full-on darkness of spirit. That the music is so inextricably bound to Tchaikovsky's death--which came less than a year after the Sixth's completion--is a plump historical twist when reading White's liner note, because in the aural throes of misery, White hears fast-dancing bodies and woven dances. But no good dance goes unpunished, and the dancing passion incites frenzy, and he finally shares in the historical conclusion that this "agonized work" is rife with pain and death. Without lightening the mood, it bears noting that this is wide-angle music when it comes to dynamics, depth, and tension. --Andrew Bartlett

Tracks:

Symphony No. 6: Adagio - Allegro non troppo
Symphony No. 6: Allegro con grazia
Symphony No. 6: Allegro molto vivace
Symphony No. 6: Finale. Adagio lamentoso

Amazon.com

Novelist Edmund White annotates Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 by linking it to two factors: the composer's homosexuality and the music's ballet-like motion. Remarking that he hears in this piece "the master's last testament and requiem," White does listeners a great service in rendering the music's details according to Tchaikovsky's mix of fascination with dance and music and the composer's certainly difficult position as a gay man in late-19th century Russia. Karajan's take on the music is aptly huge--leaning towards a deference to Tchaikovsky's Romantic grandness, rather than the layers of detail evident in the music. This is music that's hard to the philosophical core, leaning toward unsettled resignation but always resistant to full-on darkness of spirit. That the music is so inextricably bound to Tchaikovsky's death--which came less than a year after the Sixth's completion--is a plump historical twist when reading White's liner note, because in the aural throes of misery, White hears fast-dancing bodies and woven dances. But no good dance goes unpunished, and the dancing passion incites frenzy, and he finally shares in the historical conclusion that this "agonized work" is rife with pain and death. Without lightening the mood, it bears noting that this is wide-angle music when it comes to dynamics, depth, and tension. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Sorry, Herbi, sorry Berlin Phil..........2004-01-29

... but there are better ones out there.

To me the Pathetique is about raw emotions: About anger, utter despair, but also tenderness and love for life. It is about the final account of someone's life; someone in a suicidal mood (PYT, of course, who was forced to commit suicide). The fate is determined and unavoidable, and so all reservations are gone; as if someone lets his pants down and is crying out loud for a final last time.
There is nothing "suave" or "streamlined" about this symphony, and that is where this recording goes wrong. Too much discipline, too much direction and control, and not enough emotion.

Listen to the Mravinsky accounts (1950s and 1990, both with the Leningrad Phil), or Fritz Reiner's with the CSO. Far better than this one.

Just Listen..........2001-04-03

There are many reasons for buying this disc but one stands out for me. Put on the First movement and listen to the Second subject theme when it reappears after the anguished development. At this point Tchaikovsky outdoes himself and let's loose a theme of such magnificent melancholy that it is hard to comprehend. The extension to the theme (first heard earlier in the movement) is, in my opinion, Tchaikovsky's finest hour!. And Karajan and the BPO, like the rest of the symphony, play it with such grandeur and passion as to silence all would-be rivals. Have NO reservations------this CD HAS to be in your collection.

The fiercest recording of Tchaikovsky's Sixth.......2000-01-22

One of the best Karajan discs from the late '70s, before the advent of digital recording, finds the great conductor and orchestra at their peak. Buy it for the March alone; my partner's recent comment was "They're playing as if the devil were chasing them." But all of the various moods Tchaikovsky weaves into this masterpiece--melancholy, anguish, boisterousness, resignation--are perfectly conveyed by Karajan and the BPO. Get the Bernstein (on DG) for an angry final movement (conducted that way in response to rumors about Tchaikovsky's enforced suicide), but keep the Karajan for perfection.