Deutsche Grammophon has reissued these catalog staples umpteen times in various couplings, and here they are again. Critical consensus remains split over the 1962 Karajan/Richter/Vienna Symphony Tchaikovsky First Concerto. My colleague Victor Carr accurately described the interpretation as “far afield from the stereotypical heavy breathing and rhetorical grandstanding.” You won’t find the surging accelerandos at climaxes or wallowing in lyrical sections that have more to do with “tradition” than what Tchaikovsky actually set down in the score. Yet the music’s inherent drama and almost-balletic character gets lost in the process, notwithstanding Karajan’s lively shaping of the finale’s rapid solo woodwind flourishes. I also sense little organic give and take between conductor and soloist, a telltale example being when the slow movement’s first theme returns and Richter waits a whole extra beat for the orchestra to come in. Of Karajan’s four commercial Tchaikovsky “Ones”, his collaboration with Lazar Berman remains the most sympathetically accompanied and emotionally vital. In addition, Richter brings equal aristocratic sheen to his more animated and red-blooded mono account with Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic.
No quibbles about the Rococo Variations, where the opulent yet flexible Berlin Philharmonic strings outpoint their Viennese colleagues. However, the show belongs to Rostropovich, whose stylish ease and effortless technique have long justified this recording’s reference status. If you want proof, go straight to the lyrical third variation, where the cellist’s suave bow arm and subtle dynamic shadings suggest the opera singer of one’s dreams. DG’s transfers offer no major differences over their excellent-sounding counterparts available via the label’s Originals series.
