July 2024 Classical Record Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4–6

Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, David Bernard cond.

Recursive Classics RC4789671 (24/96 WAV). Jennifer Nulsen, prod.; Mie Hirschfield, Joel Watts, engs.

Performance ***

Sonics *****

As in this group’s previous release of the Mahler Fifth, the engineering is refreshingly clean and gimmick-free. The brasses that launch the Fourth have solid presence and depth. The oboe that begins the slow movement emerges startlingly from utter silence. Woodwind chords register with color and texture; the buzzing contrabassoon occasionally cuts through.

Bernard’s instincts are excellent; he gets the best out of his high-end volunteers. Well-intentioned ritards can hobble a secondary motif, and impulsive surges may fly in all directions. The playing is best where rhythmic patterns stay regular; the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies come off well.

In the Pathétique’s first movement, the two themes build steadily and expressively; the development is excellent; the recap sustains a nice intensity. The second movement “waltz” lilts gracefully, but the horns’ supporting parts are rough. The March is first-class. The finale unfolds steadily until the runup introduces a distracting push-and-pull. The final pages ooze.

I liked the Fourth’s forthright start and the first theme’s undulating syncopations, but the exposition climax isn’t the expected avalanche of sound. The Andantino‘s recap is poised, the Scherzo energetic rather than feathery, though its return is properly light. The Finale’s runs are played as the composer indicated, split between strings and winds, but the final run’s a blur.

In the Fifth, I liked Bernard’s straightforward introduction and first subject—but why the recurring ritards in the third theme? The Andante’s horn solo is smooth and expressive, but the pointillist motifs that dot the score are less secure. Intricate textures get skittish and untidy. There’s brief chaos before the finale‘s return of the motto theme.

Despite higher-octave competition, this merits legitimate consideration for its exceptional reproduction.—Stephen Francis Vasta

Reinecke: Piano Concerto No.3; Konzertstück

Sauer: Piano Concerto No.2

Simon Callaghan, piano; St. Gallen Symphony/Modestas Pitrėnas

Hyperion CDA 68429 (CD, 2024). Jeremy Hayes, prod.; Ben Connellan, eng.

Performance ****

Sonics ****

Carl Reinecke’s early-Romantic idiom falls easy on the ear, bringing echoes of familiar composers. His bittersweet lyricism and scampering piano writing echo Mendelssohn with a hint of Liszt in the cadenza’s cascading thirds. The piano writing is idiomatic and fluent.

The piano begins with an unaccompanied chorale, which the strings pick up and round off. A triumphant tutti arrives; the piano continues rhapsodically. The development becomes turbulent, the orchestra begins, the piano dovetails with it. A rousing finish precedes a quiet afterthought. In the central Largo, the piano embellishes a string-based chorale with increasing elaboration. In the Finale, the piano’s rippling theme leads to a hearty orchestral swing.

The Konzertstück is effectively a scaled-down concerto. Its variety of materials—agitated, playful, lyrical, sprightly—risk sounding schizzy, but an internal logic prevails.

The Sauer begins exotically, with Eastern-inflected English-horn and oboe soli over strings. A piano arpeggio rises from resonant bass depths. The second theme sounds vaguely Celtic, but then the piano’s midrange chords turn it thumpy. Demonstrative gestures—note the bracing tremolos—are too easily rhetorical.

Callaghan’s sparkling, articulate runs in Sauer’s scherzo repeatedly catch the breath. His playing throughout is masterful. The St. Gallen orchestra plays stylishly, though fuller passages thicken. Conductor Pitrėnas ensures we can hear lead lines in the reeds, drawing a warm carpet of strings in Sauer’s Andante. Reinecke’s unison horns cut through. The piano’s topmost notes harden; it sounds like the instrument’s problem.—Stephen Francis Vasta

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