Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский) Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888) Movement 4 - Allegro ma non troppo Performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
BUT OH that ending is one of the worst - NOT the performance here which was much better than most - but the ACTUAL ending of this symphony always leaves me COLD COLD COLD........... so disappointing :(
Thank you so much for taking the time to upload with wonderful score. And the performance is lovely, too. What a shame so few conductors take note of the Molto meno mosso right at the end. Such a rich score and great to be able to follow it with a great performance. Thank you again.
Homo Gingerus, that page in the score is a fun experiment in scoring that occasionally turns up in a Tchaikovsky score: there are dozens of them throughout his works. Mæstro Pyotr takes advantage of this opportunity at this moment, because it’s the beginning of the development section. The slow C-major arpeggio is a musical curtain being raised on the incipient pyrotechnics. The way it’s scored is very likely meant to be a demonstration of how to balance a line traveling through two-and-a-half octaves, over 8 measures, in the brass. Fun to see a pair of horns, then a pair of clarinets help out the trumpets, who were handed the line from the trombones. Tchaikovsky was a meticulous orchestrator, who greatly admired the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, who practically invented the sound of the Romantic symphony orchestra, and constantly came up with phenomenal effects that are unsurpassed.
Gotta be my favorite recording of this piece. The New York Phil has such incredible musicians, and Bernstein's conducting is absolutely incredible - the closest to perfection as something can be. Absolutely incredible.
One of the shittiest recordings of all time. This finale has a fiery energy within it that's always there from beginning to end (except for the first 2 bars of the coda, an unfortunate mistake by Tchaikovsky). And one of the best conductors ever decided to play the whole thing (apart from the beginning of the fast part of the coda) slower than a slow dance of grandmas, with added ritenuto in random places (like the main theme's triumphant return in C major at the end of the exposition) if that wasn't enough. This is just ludicrous. I have no idea how Bernstein, such a talented musician and clever man in general, could've made such a grave mistake. The coda was simply painful to listen to. The first two bars were torturous enough; now, they are akin to medieval torture devices thanks to the extra slow tempo, which I assume is supposed to evoke a feeling of grandeur and triumph, which it just doesn't. At least the fast section was fast enough, but only up until the 6/4 part of it. Even the buildup to the coda was horrible. The rapid tutti chords were played quickly and soullessly, matter-of-factly, even, and the final B major chord was ridiculously long. This recording of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony finale is a showcase of extremes and how to use them terribly, nothing more.
Could not agree more. I find that to be the case with most of Tchaikovsky's work (possibly following the lead of his musical idol Mozart), but this piece in particular has brilliant viola writing.
First time I listened to this, I knew all of the symphonies before (1-4) and I was thinking, "this feels like the best symphony by Tchaikovsky". Then we got to the moment at 10:16, and honestly (and I know this'll be an unpopular opinion), that bit ruins the whole symphony for me. The build-up is so intense, and what happens doesn't feel like a resolution, but a cop-out. Other than that moment, this is probably either my favourite or second favourite of Tchaikovsky's symphonies. Because of that, I have to put it after 6 (my favourite), 4 and 3. Don't know 1 or 2 well enough to compare.
klop422 , can’t say I blame you. PIT’s 5th is an experiment in using a leitmotivic motto theme throughout a symphony. It may be that the "cop-out" is that the gesture seems too sacharine, too Wagnerian, possibly too autobiographical. I toy with the idea of reworking the final moments so it’s not so operatic, not so Lisztian, not so western european (like richard strauss would be), and drives through to the finish. (he does it much more cleanly in the 4th sym.) The composer wished to validate the Germanic approach to the symphony, where a theme evolves, as Beethoven strove to accomplish.
Interesting to hear, but totally fair. I personally find the section at 10:16 to be my favorite section in the piece, however at 12:50 I could say the same thing you said. It took me several times listening to make sense of that section and eventually it grew on me, but I still think that Tchaikovsky could have had a far more powerful and yet still lyrical finale (like in the 4th symphony).
@@tonyoB I mean, the big melody at 10:16 is pretty great, but the two bars of accompaniment before the melody are still really weak in my opinion. Maybe if the general pause before it was much shorter, it'd work, but imo it works better just cutting those two bars. I realise that my original comment didn't make clear I was just talking about those two bars, though.
@@klop4228 Nothing wrong with preferences! What you're describing reminds me of the recapitulation at the end of the 3rd movement of the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto - dramatic build up, caesura, then dramatic melody immediately on the following downbeat. It's a really cool technique, I gotta agree! :)
