Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64, TH 29 & Capr

George Szell wasn't known for his Tchaikovsky, and he didn't record all that much of him. There's a very good Fourth Symphony on Decca (with the LSO), and of course he played the major concertos when necessary, but this release constitutes his outstanding contribution to the Russian composer's discography. There's certainly value in scarcity, for this Fifth Symphony is one of the great ones: magnificently played (of course), urgent and dynamic in the first movement, passionate but always flowing in the second, elegant in the waltz, and triumphant but never needlessly bombastic in the finale. Listeners who view Szell as a "strictly by the score" interpreter, largely on account of his treatment of tempo, will be surprised to hear an added cymbal crash in the finale's coda. It's all good, clean fun. The same holds true for the Capriccio, a bubbly performance given additional brilliance thanks to Szell's willingness to let the trumpets strut their stuff (also true in the symphony) and