DOWNLOAD REVIEWS

posted by James Reel

Deutsche Grammophon has been making a substantial effort to expand into the digital download market. Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare of two of DG's download-only releases.

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” * Lorin Maazel, cond; New York P * DG CONCERTS 477 7594 (download only, from www.iTunes.com: 47:27)

Lorin Maazel has always been an effective Tchaikovsky conductor, especially in his early-digital recordings for Telarc. This live performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” is good, but not quite up to the conductor’s past standards. It’s available not on CD, but as a download in Deutsche Grammophon’s DG Concerts Series. At this writing, oddly enough, you can’t get it through DG’s Web Shop, but only via iTunes.

Maazel doesn’t dawdle anywhere in the first movement, which is good, but the urgency of this performance derives from tempo rather than attack and articulation; often, the result is more efficient than impassioned. Maazel does put his heart into certain passages, most notably the explosive portion of the first movement’s development, where he maintains not only drama but also an admirable clarity of orchestral voices. The second movement is also on the quick side, but this time with little attendant sense of tension; it’s merely a bit fast. The march is crisp, without the least hint of malice or desperation, but the brass buildup is well played and patiently managed for maximum effect. Everything finally comes together in the final movement, all the more devastating for its lack of weepiness.

The New York Philharmonic is on its best behavior here. The sonics are bright, even slightly top-heavy, but without glare. The recording actually sounds a bit better in mp3 format on my PDA, heard through good-quality earbuds, than as the .wav files I burned to a CD. There was a bit of signal degradation toward the end of the first movement, which I assume is an anomaly of my particular download.

I may be giving this production a less than whole-hearted endorsement, but it has enough attractive qualities to merit space on your iPod, especially since it’s a new major-league performance and recording sold for only $7.99. James Reel

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 * Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond; Los Angeles PO * DG CONCERTS 477 7447 (download only, from www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat: 43:42)

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s concert reading of the Sibelius Second is austere, muting the triumph of the last movement and linking the earlier movements to the darkness to come in Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony. The performance is no funeral dirge, though. Without sudden gear shifts, Salonen emphasizes the contrasts in tempo; the second movement and the trio of the third are quite slow, while the outer movements are brisk, without feeling rushed. It’s one of those interpretations that lies just outside the mainstream, while somehow managing not to sound affected. The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays beautifully for Salonen, as it has for years. The recorded sound, despite a slight emphasis on the higher frequencies, is good, if close and a bit dry—there’s little sense of what Disney Hall sounds like—but it’s not so dry that the music withers. The left-to-right imaging is very precise, presumably thanks to multi-miking. You might prefer a more consensus interpretation as your primary recording of this symphony, but Salonen’s effort is a highly intelligent and valid alternative, especially as a download to carry on your mp3 player. James Reel