There are wonderful performances, made all the more appealing by the addition to the original issue (containing 1812 Overture, Marche slave, and Romeo and Juliet) of Hamlet and the Capriccio Italien, bringing the total playing time to nearly 80 minutes. The excitement and passion Bernstein brought to Tchaikovsky is well known, but what strikes me even more forcibly on rehearing these interpretations is their intelligence and thoughtfulness. The final pages of the Marche slave, for example (beginning with the Czar’s Hymn) never have been so characterfully shaped; every adjustment of tempo and phrasing makes perfectly logical sense. Or witness the clarity of the canonic exchanges between lower strings and woodwinds in Romeo and Juliet’s initial fight sequence. The point here is that Bernstein’s energy and spontaneity go hand in hand with an extremely well planned and musically smart view of each work, whether it’s a potboiler like the 1812 Overture or a more elusive masterpiece like Hamlet.
The New York Philharmonic also gives the conductor 100 percent effort. Ensemble isn’t always perfectly tidy (note the occasionally slightly “off” cymbal crash in Romeo), but when Bernstein drives the players hard, as in the whirling Saltarello in the Capriccio, they respond with extreme bravura. The brass do a terrific job, and the strings play the big tunes with warmth and real intensity. Sonically this is something of a mixed bag: the recordings show their 1957-70 ages, but nothing comes between you and a visceral experience of the music. Tchaikovsky collections come and go, but these performances have withstood the test of time, and taken together they represent as fine a compilation as we have any right to expect. More importantly, they represent an ideal melding of heart and mind in the service of the music.
