TCHAIKOVSKY. Symphony No. 2 in C minor. Op. 17, "Little Russian". The Tempest—symphonic fantasia, Op. 18. Chicago Symphony Orchestra I Claudio Abbado. CBS Masterworks digital ® 1M39359; LEI 1MT39359.

Symphony—selected comparisons:

New Philh,Abbado (4/72) (10/79) (R) 2542 113 LPO, Rostropovich (10/78) (10/84) (B) EMX412062-1

Abbado starts his new Tchaikovsky cycle with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on CBS, by choosing a symphony he recorded exceptionally well in the early seventies. That 1972 version is still available from DG at mid-price and makes an excellent bargain—like the rather warmer Rostropovich version now on EM! Eminence—but the new Abbado brings palpable advantages in addition to modern digital sound. This time along with the extra virtuosity of the Chicago orchestra there is an extra sense of freedom. This is a reading which, generally adopting speeds faster than usual, conveys lightness and sparkle in a way I have not always associated with Abbado in Tchaikovsky. Particularly after the very different and much more ambitious first movement which Tchaikovsky wrote for the original 1872 version— splendidly recorded by Geoffrey Simon and the LSO and ironically the only issue of that symphony (LP—ABRDI07I, 2/83; CD CHAN8304, 1/84)—Abbado makes this one sound exhilaratingly crisp and incisive.

The Andantino marziale in its lightness becomes a sharply pointed miniature march, which at its relatively fast speed still allows for warm espressivo in the string melodies and fine shading of dynamic. The Scherzo, well-sprung with crossrhythms biting splendidly, becomes a virtuoso piece with a brilliant sparkling trio, while taking note of the moderato marking for the finale Abbado for once adopts a restrained basic speed. My one reservation is that in the brief passages where the main motif is not being exploited and you have the syncopated counter-subject—almost jazzy—Abbado slows perceptibly so sounding a degree self-conscious. His comparable slowing for the second subject in the first movement is more naturally handled,

A major attraction in this issue is the substantial fill-up, Tchaikovsky's fantasy on Shakespeare's The Tempest (not to be confused with the much less ambitious piece based on Ostrovsky's The Storm). Currently there is no rival version listed, but in any case this one—by turns evocative in the opening sea-scape, dramatic and passionately expressive—is not likely to be bettered. The CBS sound is not ideal—less specific than it might be, rather too distanced—but it is very acceptable and there is no deterioration on the very long first side of over 30 minutes (The Tempest plus the symphony's first movement). Even so, in other more competitive symphonies as the series progresses, the CBS engineers will have to think hard about balancing the Chicago sound. E. G.