Not that you’d be tempted to buy this, but just in case, this isn’t the worst possible coupling. EMI once released a Tennstedt recording of Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony coupled to Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain–but this is almost as bad. At least both composers have last names that begin with the letter “B”. Actually, another “B” word comes to mind here: Boring. The LSO phones in its performance as Jonathan Pasternack slogs his way through both pieces. The opening of Mandarin never has sounded so tame; the “decoy” games hang fire, and the strings in the “chase” fugue barely hold their own against the percussive accompaniment. The Brahms is even worse: heavy, thick, and dour. About the only positive thing you can say about the first movement is that Pasternack spares us the exposition repeat. The Andante goes well enough, but the third movement is a faceless nullity, the finale, once it gets going, as stiff as a board. Are you surprised? [2/4/2011]
