Musicaeterna & Teodor Currentzis : Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6

 

96kHz/24-bit, FLAC; Sony Classical 88985404352 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

Unusually, a period-instrument recording with a large complement of cellos and basses, recorded (apparently over a whole week of sessions) at a Berlin studio. The booklet note is another of Currentzis’s indulgent addresses, this time largely to the composer. I thought his Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Kopatchinskaja [HFN Apr ’16] was a travesty of the music and other reviews warn that, here, he takes the music to extremes – The Times, though, welcoming ‘a return to subjectivity’ in interpretation. It’s as though Currentzis has studied the legendary 1956 Mravinsky DG recording determined to ‘better’ it in every way – exaggerating dynamics and extending pauses in a way that serves only to rob the music of its innate dignity. The actual playing is very good but the bold studio sound suggests some boosting of levels at the mixing-desk. CB

Sound Quality: 65%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Recorded, mixed and mastered at 96kHz, this powerful recording is arguably too powerful at 10-12mins through the ‘tornado’ of the first movement where some clipping is observed [see Graph, above]. Pity, for otherwise it’s clean. PM

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