Recorded live, Barenboim and the Chicago orchestra give a warm, powerful and beautifully paced reading of the Fifth, freely expressive without self-indulgence in a winningly spontaneous way. Much the same could be said of the two live recordings which I have listed above, the Berlin performance of Abbado for Sony and the Hamburg performance of Wand for RCA, though Barenboim is a degree more impulsive, more volatile than either in a way that might be counted more idiomatic. It almost goes without saying too that the Chicago orchestra play with a refinement second to none, with much outstanding solo work, not least from the horn in the slow movement.
Where the new recording falls down in relation to the three I have listed is in the sound. Orchestra Hall, Chicago, is not an easy venue, particularly when there is an audience present, damping down the acoustic, and though many will be perfectly satisfied, the Teldec recording is certainly drier than any of the others, becoming constricted in loud tuttis. Not only do the brass suffer seriously, the Chicago violins also lack the bloom we know they genuinely have, and the proof comes in the fill-up, 1812, recorded in the same hall but without an audience.
The difference may be marginal but it is a crucial one, with the violins opening up far more sweetly, and with brass antiphonies given their full bloom and proper focus thanks to the more spacious acoustic. Barenboim directs a strong, urgent and very exciting reading without bombast, minimizing the vulgarity with crisply pointed, purposeful playing. Anyone wanting this coupling may well find that the limitations of sound in the symphony are easily borne. As to the alternatives I have listed, Abbado comes in generous coupling with Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, while Wand even more generously has Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. One suspicious oddity is that not one of the three live recordings has any applause at the end. Jansons’s studio version has no coupling at all, but in absolute terms I still count it a first choice with its fresh spontaneity and full, warm and immediate sound.'