Spellbinding tchaikovsky packs an emotional punch

ORCHESTRAL CHOICE

Tchaikovsky

The Voyevoda; The Tempest; Francesca da Rimini; Cherevichki – Overture and Polonaise

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Alpesh Chauhan Chandos CHSA 5300 (CD/SACD) 78:12 mins

Alpesh Chauhan evidently has a tremendous flair for Tchaikovsky. Supported by stunningly responsive playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, his interpretations brilliantly project the music’s theatrical excitement as well as its subtle and sophisticated orchestration. Such qualities combine to especially powerful effect in The Voyevoda, a startlingly original work unaccountably rejected by the composer after its first performance in 1891. After a hair-raisingly fast opening section, Chauhan vividly encompasses a wide gamut of emotions within a relatively short time, moving seamlessly from eerie passages for bass clarinet to a brief yet impassioned love theme before shattering gunshot sounds bring the work to a brutal close.

Chauhan’s performance of The Tempest projects a similar level of graphic intensity on a more expansive scale. The opening mysterious quasi-impressionistic soundscape holds you spellbound before giving way to a raging storm, whispering strings and another deeply felt and beautifully phrased love theme. Equally persuasive are the excerpts from the opera Cherevichki, albeit Tchaikovsky’s musical invention here is not quite on the same level as in the other works. Finally, an excellent Francesca da Rimini. Chauhan puts the orchestra through its paces in the more frantic passages, and the climax to the middle section, depicting the blossoming but ultimately doomed love affair between Paolo and Francesca, is wonderfully eloquent. The ominous Wagnerian chords that open the work sound a bit matter-of-fact, but this doesn’t seriously detract from the exceptional impact of these performances as a whole.

PERFORMANCE

RECORDING

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Beethoven

Symphony No. 4 in B flat, Op. 60; Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

National Symphony Orchestra/ Gianandrea Noseda

National Symphony Orchestra NSO 0009 61:03 mins

Gianandrea Noseda’s Beethoven 5 doesn’t hang around. No portentous pauses interrupt its dynamic progress, pushing forwards with a thrilling impetuosity that drags the listener along.

With his big-boned National Symphony Orchestra of Washington (the booklet lists 26 violins, though I guess not all played in both symphonies), Noseda manages to ach