Title: OK, but...
Review: A fine - refined - version. I don't think CvD quite gets into this music like many others, though. The playing is faultless and the recording wide-ranging BUT it is not as clear and detailed as it could have been. It was like listening to music through a fog, with the high frequencies typically veiled in the usual Telarc manner. Musically, I'm not too fond of the way he does the famous first movement melody. The 5/4 and March-like Scherzo movements come of the best here. The Scherzo's tempo is grand and bold rather than lightening fast like many others, which is OK. One can wallow in the bass drum parts. The finale is missing the necessary neuroses.The filler, the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, is a peculiar, if not inappropriate, choice. One of Tchaikovsky's heavier overtures would have been better suit - or nothing at all.
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