This orchestra, also called Tchaikovsky Symphony of Moscow Radio Orchestra, was established in 1930 and the conductor, Vladimir Fedoseyev has been with them since 1974.
The soloist, Arabella Steinbacher, was quite good to my ears. She's been a rising start since 2004, when she stepped in for someone who was ill and unable to play the Beethoven Violin Concerto. She didn't push the concertmaster of Cleveland out of my mind though.. but what do I know about strings? I really enjoyed her performance though. She played really smoothly and had a beautiful sound on every note, even the really high ones came out perfect! I couldn't quite figure out what I was hearing that sounded different in the string sections from what I'm used to. I think I was hearing a fast vibrato going on, but I could be confused. I also was hearing a "higher" sound, if you know what I'm talking about. If I was talking about horn, I'd say it wasn't very dark. The strings had a really nice section blend, they were very together too. The one thing that really surprised me in the Tchaikovsky was the 2nd trumpet. He was playing enormously loud in comparison to the first trumpet. It sounded a little immature in terms of balance. I could barely hear the first trumpet!
Transitioning to the Shostakovich..
The trumpets also had a very nasal type of sound with very harsh articulations in the Shosty. They were obviously very good players. It was a little overly full of character for my taste, but it was definitely the right style for Shostakovich. The trombones sounded good, I liked their sound and they played with a lot of power in general. The tuba was the same. They both had less sustain than Chicago, and I thought the trombones got a little excited and out of control in the 4th movement. Perhaps it was the distance from the stage and the fact that I was under the lip, but the woodwinds were very quiet in comparison and I couldn't always here their solos as well I would have liked. The flute also played incredibly smoothly, but I couldn't hear a lot of phrasing, it was just a completely smooth line with almost no dynamic change for all of her solos. But that could be due to my placement in the hall as well. The orchestra as a whole had a lot of balance issues to my ear. There were a lot of parts when I couldn't hear the solo or soli and I was hearing more of the accompaniment. The beginning of the 4th movement had the clarinet or flute overpowering the brass. I think the conductor could have done a better job of fixing these things. He also took the piece generally quicker than I prefer it to go.
And of course, the horns need their own paragraph..
For some reason, it had completely caught me by surprise at the first solo entrance when I heard the obvious Russian vibrato! I had completely forgot about it and wasn't expecting it! It's not my style, but it was cool hearing in real life! After taking that out of the equation... They had a very open, mellow sound. I don't like to use the word dark if I can get away with it, but if it helps, it was a dark sound, but unlike any that I've heard before. They never got loud enough for my taste, and they never had any brassiness in their sound. Being truly critical, because I'm used to CSO, the solos were not up to par with Chicago, Vienna, or New York (the big 3 that I've heard live). The trouble that I've always had with the solo in the last movement was where to breathe without breaking the line. This wasn't a problem for this solo horn because he cut a few of the notes short. He didn't play it with the connected line that I've always gone for, it was a nice tone though.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience! I'm really glad I'm getting to hear so many different approaches to orchestral playing! It's really exciting to start being able to hear what I really want to sound like and pick out things from each player that I like or dislike and add it to my idea of what I'm going after.
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