Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5; Capriccio Italien: Classic Library Series

by James Leonard For some listeners in the '90s, Yuri Temirkanov was the great conductor of post-Soviet Russian orchestral music. Temirkanov not only had the St. Petersburg (Leningrad Philharmonic) -- the most virtuosic orchestra in Russia -- he had such complete control over it that he could do anything he wanted with it. In this 1992 recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, Temirkanov could pull back or push forward the tempo, he could linger over a melody or accelerate a rhythm, he could bend the strings or he could blend the winds and brass and he could do all of it without worrying about the orchestra because, whatever he did, they stayed right with him every bar of the way. For some listeners, Temirkanov's interpretation of the Fifth might be too much: too dramatic and too rhapsodic, too controlled and too emotional. But for other listeners, Temirkanov's command of the work's phrasing and forms make a compelling case for his view of the work as a symphony of immense power and enormous strength. Temirkanov's 1990 recording of Tchaikovsky's Capriccio italien with the Royal Philharmonic is nearly as well played and surely as compellingly conducted. RCA's early-'90s digital sound is rich and warm and deep.