Tchaikovsky Symphonies — No. 1 in G minor, "Winter Daydreams", Op. 13; No. 2 in C minor, "Little Russian", Op. 17; No. 3 in D, "Polish", Op. 29; No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36; No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64; No. 6 in B minor, "Pathetique", Op. 74. Russian National Orchestra / Mikhail Pletnev.

DG IT 449 967-2GH5 (five discs: 263 minutes: DDD). Recorded in association with the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Symphonies - selected comparisons:

LSO, Markevitch (3/91) (PHIL) 426 048-211194

VPO, Maazel (4/92) (DECC) 430 787-2DC4

Symphony No. 6 - selected comparison:

Russian Nat Orch, Planes (1/92) (VIRG) VC7 59661-2

First things first, and the very opening of the First Symphony's first movement, subtitled "Daydreams on a Wintry Road", is initially very dreamy at a tempo a lot slower than you might be used to (and Tchaikovsky's marking). I wonder, though, if the shape of the first theme is best served by a tempo this slow (and even if subsequent developments are impressively grand, do the proceedings have sufficient momentum?). The spirit of the dance also seems loath to visit the finale: very impressive indeed is the holding back of the heavies so that tutti force is more evenly balanced than usual with ensuing fugal vigour, but might not the wind band have been persuaded to kick a little higher in the second subject (or the coda be sent on its way with a touch more forward motion and flamboyance)?

It may be that one has to try and forget the familiar various Russian ways with these symphonies (say, of Svetlanov, Markevitch or Temirkanov), as Pletnev seems keener to focus attention on Tchaikovsky's other cosmopolitan, classical self. It is surely significant that he avoids the time-honoured unmarked dynamic and tempo adjustments felt to be essential props (for varying repetitions, and building climaxes) by virtually all other interpreters. And his orchestra's cultured tones seem ever more fitted for the job: there is a choir-like blend and evenness of tone from the top to the bottom of the orchestra (brass contributions, in particular, are rounded and sonorous); and it's a very Russian-sounding 'choir' in that, time after time, your attention is caught by the colour, richness and definition of the orchestra's basses, whether bass trombone, tuba, bassoon or string basses (and the cavernous bell-like boom of the gong must rate a mention). All of this is heard to great effect in the Second Symphony's finale, lightly dispatched with (wicked?) relish as outsize Haydn (turn to, say, Maazel or even Markevitch to hear how blatancy and overemphasis cheapens this movement).

In the Second Symphony's finale, ideals and actual performance come together (a point confirmed by the final uproarious cannon-fire crescendo from the timpani). On other occasions though, the seriousness of intention can preclude real performance tensions. One listens with a certain detached fascination to the Fourth's first movement, admiring such things as the steady continuity rather than contrast between the two subject groups (they are, after all, both moderatos) and the tamed fate fanfares in the brass. But will it ever deliver? Perhaps it does in the coda, where these magnificent strings give out the last statement of the first moderato theme — but only perhaps.

A refusal to overstate the case again ennobles much of the Fifth Symphony, but for Pletnev, the Pathétique, I suspect, stands apart from the other symphonies, as this new DG account remains an interpretation that throws moderation to the winds. Compared with his 1991 debut recording on Virgin Classics, the first movement Allegro is a degree more moderate, but the Scherzo/March is not a whit less immoderate (a warning to those who don't like death-defying speed in this movement). The finale is now broader tragedy with darker colourings; the strings sing with greater intensity and there is no stinting on blistering trumpet tone at the top of the climactic scale. The trumpets' /ff outburst in the first movement's development is equally powerful, though you can now hear more of the surrounding activity. And that is a tribute to the DG recording; more open, clearer and more present than the Virgin recording, and one that perhaps conveys a greater sense of occasion.

The layout is ungenerous but it avoids splitting the symphonies between discs — and the five discs are priced as four. JS