The latest in Marriner's cycle of the numbered symphonies, and very unsensational performances they are too. Extremes of temperament are, perhaps, less essential for the Fifth Symphony—Edward Garden has claimed it ''one of the finest cyclic works of the nineteenth century'', and 'Fate' here (trombones at 10'15'') doesn't interrupt the slow movement's lovesong with the kind of fff fury you find in performances by Markevitch, Mravinsky or to a lesser extent, Jansons. The Academy has obviously been augmented for these recordings, though the violins still sound understaffed to my ears, and the playing is more fallible than you might expect (e.g. violins in the preceding climax at 9'52''). The third movement waltz, though, is supremely elegant, and there's no dragging of the rhythm for the woodwinds' staccato articulation (from 2'17'') of the trio's semiquavers; indeed, flute playing throughout, particularly in Francesca da Rimini's central section, is of a rare aerial grace, wonderfully animated.
Animation is absent in Francesca's painfully slow (or so it seems) moderato (from 1'21''); violins lifeless in all those wailing chromatic phrases, and in a beat early (at 1'49''). I had thought the main Allegro of the Symphony's finale too leisurely as well, but like Markevitch, Marriner is closer than most to Tchaikovsky's metronome marking here; even so, the final moderato/maestoso is all portly and pompous (more incisive rhythms and the extra rasp and bite of Markevitch's brass save the day for him). Curiously the woodwinds' ostinato at the start of this maestoso breaks off (at 10'12''), and is then submerged under strings and brass. In fact, woodwind projection comes and goes in this otherwise spacious and decently balanced Capriccio recording.'