Recorded in London in 1960, Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic have produced something extraordinarily stunning. Released on DG, these interpretations will make your hair stand on end and leave you sprawled out naked on the floor gasping for air. Too far? Okay fine, but one must admit that few conductors have the ability to play music like this. There is something remarkably Russian about these interpretations - each movement of each symphony is crafted in a dramatic and quintessentially Slavic fashion. The extremes are more extreme, the passions more burning, the melancholy more torturous, the climaxes louder. The Russian musical landscape comes alive in astonishing colors and textures, emphasizing the romantic environment in which these symphonies were created.
The fourth is simply glorious. The finale requires that you be strapped in and keep your hands inside the vehicle until the ride comes to a complete stop. Only Bernstein is as wild with this symphony, but Mravinsky sounds more heartful and convincing.
The fifth is a very difficult symphony, which makes it one of the weaker symphonies of the set. That being said, I've never heard anyone bring off the finale convincingly and it's hard for any conductor to make sense of the schizophrenic nature of the movement.
The sixth "Pathétique" was Tchaikovsky's final symphony; under Mravinksy, it takes on a tragedy as it does with few others. His first movement is as anguished and explosive as any on record. Yet it is the second movement, often played with the least character and adventurousness, that stands out. Mravinsky finds a deep streak of tragedy throughout this pulsing 5/4 "Waltz," which is structurally important since the second theme from this movement returns in the final bars of the finale, to devastating effect.
With these recordings it is clear that it takes a Russian to know a Russian - sorry Westerners!
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