This set restores most of Decca’s Maazel/Vienna Philharmonic Tchaikovsky symphony cycle to circulation at mid-price. These detailed but over-bright transfers tend to exaggerate the many moments of high vulgarity resulting from Maazel’s already hard-driven approach. Among the worst are the coda of No. 4’s opening movement and most of its finale, the latter being nearly as fast as Mravinsky’s but missing its virtuosity and inevitability. Other drawbacks are the acid-toned solo oboe in the slow movement and Maazel’s carelessness with Tchaikovsky’s meticulously annotated dynamics in the scherzo. Symphony No. 5 has an excellent if distant-sounding horn solo in the Andante and a nicely-sprung waltz later on; but the finale’s second group is quite coarse. The final coda, where Maazel gives the brass their head, does have the required grandiloquence but still sounds crude.
The Pathétique also receives a less than wonderful performance. The nasal-sounding solo bassoon is annoyingly below pitch near the start, but the cellos sound superb in the 5/4 waltz. The March, brilliant but brutal, is exciting, though the Viennese trombones and tuba sound woolly and unfocussed. The filler, a decent 1965 “Hamlet” completes the deal. On balance, Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Philharmonia recordings of the last three Tchaikovsky symphonies (also on Double-Decca) are better recorded and musically more satisfying.
