Andrew Litton’s Tchaikovsky symphonies traversal with the Bournemouth Symphony was recorded between 1988 and 1991. Now reissued at mid-price with substantial fillers (including the Eugene Onegin Polonaise, the Capriccio Italien, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, the Serenade for Strings, and the Manfred Symphony) it’s an exceptional bargain set. Litton directs the early symphonies with authority tempered by ease and grace. For example, there’s a wonderfully warm feel about the central episode of the slow movement of “Winter Day-Dreams” (No. 1), contrasting abruptly with the near-Sibelian chill achieved in the outstandingly played opening movement. In the finale, Litton carefully paces the long crescendo into the coda, and it’s good to hear the syncopated horn parts so clearly. His orchestra often plays superbly, too. Listen to the unison violins’ exposed running passage mid-way through No. 2’s (Little Russian) andantino marziale, or the keenly disciplined pizzicato work (you’ll hear every dynamic indication observed) in the scherzo of the F minor Fourth symphony. Litton also gives a deeply felt account of No. 5, with a splendid horn solo in the slow movement and an unashamedly triumphal conclusion.
Litton’s Manfred is excellent, but the finale is less cathartic than from Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic on Chandos, who also turn a marginally better Polish symphony. Occasionally in the Pathétique you miss the density of string tone that the world’s great ensembles can produce (especially in the double-bass solos at the end), but the march is brilliantly effective, and the 5/4 waltz is nicely inflected. In sum, these are fine performances, imaginatively directed, well played, and excellently engineered.
