Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) - Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"; Eugene Onegin: Polonaise (1987) Cover Front Album Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi Orchestra / Ensemble I The Cleveland Orchestra Length 49:21 Format CD Genre Orchestral; Symphony Index 548 Out of Print Yes Credits Producer Robert Woods Label Telarc Track List 01 Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": I. Adagio - Allegro non troppo - Andante - Moderato mosso - Andante - Moderato assai - Allegro vivo - Andante come prima - Andante mosso 18:01 02 Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": II. Allegro con grazia 07:50 03 Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": III. Allegro molto vivace 09:06 04 Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso - Andante 09:49 05 Eugene Onegin: Polonaise 04:35 Personal Purchase Date 12/25/1996 Value $16.50 Store Gift Condition 100% Nationality Russian Premiere October 28, 1893 Period Romantic Details Studio Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland Catalog Number 80130 Live No Recording Date 10/28/1986 Spars DDD Reissue No Sound Stereo Notes Essay: Steven Ledbetter Cover Photo: Linda McCartney Gramophone review: "Dohnanyi's wonderful refinement in balancing rich orchestral tapestries makes this performance a delight to the ear. I was continually reminded of the way he displayed those same qualities, conducting Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten at Covent Garden in the summer. If you want a beautifully-crafted reading that keeps its emotions perfectly under control, comfortable for easy-chair listening, you need look no further, but next to the white-hot inspiration of Jansons (Chandos) this does seem too easy, sweet and smooth, lacking in the sort of tensions that reflect the composer's own tragedy. This Pathetique is presented positively but without neurosis. "The comparison with Jansons is more apposite when in the big outer movements their speeds are almost identical, and Jansons, though he takes a bitingly emotional view, also by some sleight-of-hand remains just as close to the markings in the score, similarly free of expressive distortion. The sense of apprehension and tension, of danger ahead, of drama, are all muted with Dohnanyi, and even the great thunder-clap that starts the first movement development is relatively tame, even though the pianissimo for clarinet and bassoon beforehand brings an ear-twitching whisper of sound. "Dohnanyi's view of the 5/8 second movement is smooth and rather small-scale, marginally slower than Jansons and much less involved. The third movement march brings the biggest contrast, very characteristic, when Jansons's speed stretches his Oslo players to the very limits (just as Mravinsky does in his Leningrad Philaharmonic recording now reissued with the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies on DG CD 419 745-2GH2, 8/87), and Dohnanyi secures pin-point precision with not a whisker out of place. The Nutcracker quality at the start is a delight, pointed and brilliant, but there is a serious lack of excitement as the movement progresses. "Clearly my perference would be for Jansons, with its sound equally full and vivid though more reverberant than this excellent Telarc. Dohnanyi provides a brief fill-up in the Onegin Polonaise—welcome enough, though that too is not quite biting enough."