Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Deshnoff: Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon* | Michael Rusinek, Nancy Goeres*; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck | 60’55” | Reference Recordings FR-738SACD

The opening bars of Honeck’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Fourth immediately forecasts and encapsulates what this whole performance is about. Like columns of light, Pittsburgh’s hefty brass beams through the dark orchestral blend that favors the strings, which Manfred Honeck typically prefers. Right when the tension pins one to the wall, Honeck then abruptly diffuses with fussy phrasing which imposes an unmarked hairpin diminuendo in the fanfare’s descending line. So it goes from time to time for the remainder of the performance.

Whether by fault or by design, many orchestras today are like the fat man who sucks in his gut to appear svelte, giving the impression of being a tad sheepish about being a symphony orchestra and not a chamber group. Honeck’s Pittsburgh Symphony, thankfully, takes an unabashed pleasure in their sheer bigness. Or as Walter Slezak once cheerfully remarked upon his own bigness: “Aw, let it spread!”

Spread they do, with a sonorous breadth that appears before the listener like aural Cinemascope. But the performance here goes beyond mere sonic splashiness. Honeck smoothly subtly threads the opening movement’s weaving of its three principal themes, each one as if emerging seamlessly from the other. Perhaps no conductor alive today is as skilled in building and unleashing climaxes as Honeck. The first movement erupts into a near cataclysmic roar which builds up organically, its gathering of tension built up carefully bar by bar.

The “Andantino” is expressive, songful, yet clear-eyed, with granitic blocks of sound that bring to mind Beethoven or Bruckner more than what one usually hears in Tchaikovsky. Brawny brilliance is at play in the Scherzo and the Finale launches into feats of fit athleticism that displays the Pittsburghers’ ability to balance power and detail. Honeck’s pacing goads the music on without pressing it unduly: This is no mad scramble to the finish. Altogether, a potent recording of the Tchaikovsky Fourth.

Accompanying the Tchaikovsky is the slight, but attractive Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon by Jonathan Leshnoff: A fan fiction sequel to Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto.

Reference Recordings’ production is deep and wide, with plenty of ensemble impact and inner detail.

If not quite on the exalted level of his Bruckner Ninth from last year, Honeck’s Tchaikovsky Fourth is still very good and makes for very rewarding listening.