Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition.

This is the first real miss I have come across in the generally excellent LSO Live series. The fanfares that open Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony are really rather mild, setting off a reading that exists at medium, rather than white hot, heat; in addition to this, some woodwind detailing is lost in the recording. Noseda seems to wish to underline balletic references, but the second movement could be more eloquent, and even sags in places. If the Scherzo offers the finest of the symphony (including some well-caught pizzicato), the Finale returns to the default of accurate but soulless.

The Mussorgsky Pictures offers many felicitous touches (‘Tuileries’), the brass is on form and all of the LSO’s virtuosity is here in spades, but this is not a great reading. The ‘Great Gate of Kiev’, unfortunately, brings us full circle to that medium heat of the Tchaikovsky.

COLIN CLARKE Read the full review on Agora Classica