Symphony No.5

TCHAIKOVSKY: Ballet Suites, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Enrique Bátiz.

“The performances are fresh and well paced . . . In short this is enjoyable, spontaneous music-making”

Gramophone

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique Batiz, conductor.

"Yet another Tchaikovsky 4 enters an already highly competitive market, but as this. . . it contains a very fine and exciting performance, it should by rights do well for itself. The combination of the Mexican Enrique Batiz and the Liverpool Orchestra conjures some magical moments here -from the outset it is apparent that the RLPO are putting their whole weight behind the performance. But there is no lack of sensitivity: the pizzicato scherzo, with its finely graded dynamics, is as outstanding as the Finale is invigorating."

(Barbara Jahn: Classical Music; HiFi News and Record Review, December 1984)

". . .the Mexican Enrique Batiz adds the Royal Liverpool to the European orchestras with whom he has made notable appearances. A spacious warmblooded performance with the playing well matched by the recording..."

(Oxford Mail, October 1984)

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphonies No. 5 in E minor. Op. 64; No. 6 in B minor. Op. 74, "Pathetique". London Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique Batiz, conductor.

And if you want a version on cassette, I must recommend you to the LPO and Enrique Batiz on ASV.

"Batiz's Fifth is enjoyably direct. His stringendos in the second-subjet group of the first movement and his control of the passionate central episodes of the Andante have more ardour than Abbado's. The LPO play very well for him and communicate their enjoyment of the music. Overall the effect is more extrovert, less subtle, but the power of the reading is in no doubt. . . By the side of Janson's Oslo sound it is strikingly less rich, and while some may prefer Batiz's straightforward generation of adrenalin to Abbado's relative reserve, few will count the ASV digital sound balance an ideal one for Tchaikovsky."

(I. M. Gramophone, June 1986)

"Visiting one of AK's sessions for CfP recently, I was amazed at the bloom -that All Saints Tooting gives to orchestral sound. It was that very quality that led to DH's strong reservations on this recording (originally a Nimbus 45). He downgraded it from a provisional A* to B in view of the 'great wash of resonance', describing the performance as grand in scale, forthright, and persuasive. It seems to me that both technical ratings pertain, one for undoubted accuracy, the other for the 'haze'. Fine playing yes. [A*/B:2]."

(Christopher Breunig; Hi-Fi News and Record Review, May 1986)

"The other release comes at full price and features the same forces in Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. I do not know why this marketing policy presents the performances at different price structures, but Brian Culverhouse's recording does justice to the dark side of this work.

Record 2:

LENINGRAD PO/MRAVINSKY

DC 413 542-1 0'33

S2 B2 start

bars 1-10

"Mravinsky's approach is also that of Karajan and Maris Jansons and Enrique Batiz, all high quality versions. Riccardo Chailly begins rather faster, so does Vladimir Ashkenazy, likewise the older Lovro von Matacic on Supraphon."'

 

Record 6:

CHICAGO SO/ABBADO

CBS 1M 42094 0'40

Sl in Bl Vernier

bars 108-132 (fade)

"That was Abbado on CBS. The gear change and the access of emotion can be conveyed less mawkishly. I like Enrique Batiz here, with the LPO on ASV, if you don't mind the swimming pool acoustic."

 

Record 7:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0'37

Sl in Bl Vernier

bars 108-132

"Just after this, there's a favourite moment of mine. An exchange of dreamy horn and strings is exploded by plucked strings and we hear a quick peasant dance on woodwind alternating with the love theme on strings. Batiz does this well, too."

 

Record 8:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0'36

Sl in Bl Vernier

bars 148-174

"Enrique Batiz and the LPO on ASV, a version I enjoy for its enthusiasm tempered by commonsense and fine orchestral playing. Karajan lets me down just here: his solo horn gets the note values wrong or it is a tape join, he makes little of the peasant dance, and he approaches the second subject with so many crocodile tears that the fabric of the music falls apart."

 

Compact Disc 17:

VPO/KARAJAN

DG 415 094-2 0'39

Track 2 in at 5'47

bars 66-75

"Dreaminess is oversubscribed by Karajan at this point. Most of all these interpretations I enjoyed the climax as built faithfully by Batiz, and the eruption of the doom laden motto into it."

 

Record 18:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 1'31

Sl in B2 Vernier

bars 140-165

"With the third movement, the Waltz, interpreters become less divided about how to play Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Klemperer suggests a cosy country cottage."

3rd. Movement

Valse (Allegro moderate)

Record 19:

PHILHARMONIA/KLEMPERER

HMV E 29 0283-1 0'27

S4B2

bars 1-19

"That's Klemperer. Enrique Batiz suggests a grander, more sensual hall of delights, perhaps. The LPO plays the waltz in fine style."

 

Record 20:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0'25

S2 Bl start

bars 1-19

"The middle section of this Waltz movement features skittering staccato violins and violas, staccato and legato woodwind runs, and offbeat chords, all very brilliant. Chailly and the Vienna Philharmonic manage this splendidly."

 

Record 22:

CZECH PHILHARMONIC/MATACIC

Supraphon 50141 0'34

S2 in Bl Vernier

bars 88-112

"Matacic. Klemperer and Batiz take a less brilliant view of the passage, I have to say, but the movement as a whole doesn't suffer in either case. So we get to the last movement and the motto theme swells confidently in E major for the first time."

 

Record 23:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0-25

S2 B2 start

bars 1-8

"That's Batiz and the LPO, straightforward, big, resonant. Matacic treats it more intimately, as if the transformation was still not quite absorbed, a subtle distinction."

 

Record 26:

BPO/PREVIN

TELARC CD 80107 0-26

Track 4

bars 58-90

"Previn and the RPO, gabbling music that must be articulate at this stage if the symphony is ultimately to win admiration. Batiz gets the speed about right, and it's important in the second subject that every note should sound articulate."

 

Record 27:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0'34

S2 in B2 Vernier

bars 114-148

"At fast speeds those woodwind quavers, da-tiddle-tiddle-da'-da, get swallowed, and a later pair of rapid solos for clarinet and flute won't be truly audible either. This is the first passage, mercilessly swept through by Jansons, not really ideal even though exciting."

 

Record 31:

PHILHARMONIA/ASHKENAZY

DECCA SXL 6884 1'42

S2 in B2 Vernier

bars 472-504

"At this point most of my favourite contestants let me down. Klemperer's ensemble isn't clean, and his coda sounds just too slow for a hero, whereas Chailly's absurdly fast for clarity of heroic musical speech. Batiz blazes quite strongly here."

 

Record 32:

LPO/BATIZ

ASV DCA 550 0'53

S2 in B2

"Let me do some summing-up. The currently available version of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony that I most enjoy for its faithfulness to the music in spirit and letter is by the Czech Philharmonic under the Lovro von Matacic on Supraphon. It isn't a very modern quality of recorded sound, and if you want a version on cassette, I must recommend you to the LPO and Enrique Batiz on ASV. Of the less authentic, Nikisch inspired versions for the many collectors may prefer, the most convincing I think is by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia on DECCA. I'll end with my own personal choice which is Lovro von Matacic."

 

"The above reviews are from a BBC London Radio Broadcast by William Mann, March 15, 1986"

* Symphony No. 5, Op. 64.

** ASV Dig. DCA/DC DCA 550 [id.]. LPO, Bátiz.

"Batiz's performance is enjoyably direct and exciting, and he secures a lively response from the LPO. It is an extrovert reading, and his control of the music's ebb and flow of tension has an attractive ardour. The recording, thougth made in a resonant hall with the orchestra set back, however, a degree of harshness on the massed violins and brass, and the brass response in not ideally expansive"

(The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, Cassettes and LPs 1986)

*TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in E minor. Op. 64. London Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique Batiz, conductor.

* * Nimbus Dig. 45 r.p.m. 45203. LPO, Bátiz.

"Batiz, a brilliant conductor of exotic Spanish and Spanish-American music, takes a surprisingly direct, even understated view of this passionate symphony. The result is attractive and the sound. . . is full and brilliant. . ."

(The Complete Penguin Stereo Record and Cassette Guide 1985)

 

"If you expect a Mexican conductor to give a heart-on-sleeve view of Tchaikovsky, that is far from true here. Both these readings are warmly expressive but marked by relative steadiness of tempo. In the first movement of No. 5 Batiz is consistently firm and purposeful. . .Generally the performances are the more compelling for this degree of restraint. In the first movement of the PathStique for example the great second-subject melody is the more moving for being understated, while the development section brings excitement without any feeling of hysteria."

(Edward Greenfield; Gramophone, August 1982)

 

"More Tchaikovsky likely to be used for hi-fi demonstration comes from the Nimbus company, which offers recordings of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, with the LPO conducted by Enrique Batiz. . .and though the forward balance of brass and woodwind will not please everyone, the sound is atmospheric as well as brilliant and the performances undistractingly direct and strong, with the heart worn in the right place, not on the sleeve."

(Edward Greenfield; Contrasts the two phils; "Question of tone"; The Guardian)

 

"Enrique Batiz. A major new talent"

"Virtuoso performances from Enrique Batiz and the LPO captured in recordings which are extraordinarily vivid and transferred to disc with greater fidelity than ever before. Batiz is an artist who exhibits a fire and depth of understanding rare in conductors of any generation."

(Gramophone, June 1982)

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique". London Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique Batiz, conductor.

* Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathetique), Op. 74. London Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique Batiz, conductor.

* * Nimbus Dig. 45 r.p.m. 45801. LTO, Batiz.

"Batiz's reading. . .is attractively fresh and direct with the great second subject melody the more telling for being understated and transitions just a little perfunctory."

(The Complete Penguin Stereo Record and Cassette Guide 1985)

 

"At first Batiz's interpretation struck me as tidy yet unexceptional, but the marvelous sound kept drawing me back (it is surely one of the two or three most beautifully realistic recordings of an orchestra I have ever heard), and I found that Batiz's straightforward, well- detailed approach wears extremely well.

"There is not the slightest hint of selfindulgence here. Batiz's knowledge of the score and his ability to draw the most diciplined playing from, a fine orchestra both seem beyond question. No distortions, no exaggerations, but everywhere the most profound respect for the. score - rather like Markevitch in general approach, though by no means a carbon copy of his performances of this work, there is always room for a version as handsomely done as this one by Batiz and Varese Sarabande, with its cogent point of view and outstanding sound. Try to hear it."

(Richard freed; "Tchaikovsky, Definitively"; Classical Recordings; The Washington Post, December 6, 1981)

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique". London Philharmonic Orchestra; Enrique B&tiz, conductor.

Varfese Sarabande digital VCDM, 1000.140, Nimbus digital 45201 45 rpm

"... Fine as Batiz's strong and extrovert new version is... at a less hectic speed allows for more swagger in the march, and the recording quality is second to none with brass blazing superbly. The LPO's playing in first rate,.. ."

(E. G.; Gramophone, January 1987)

Tchaikovsky

Enrique Batiz gives Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony a vivid, at times amazingly speedy performance. A good, dramatic reading which doesn't run aground on the work's lyricism (the Waltz is highly appealing); at one moment in the finale the sheer speed almost precipitates disaster, but Batiz hangs on by the skin of his teeth. The coupling has selections from the Nutcracker Suite (with the RPO) which are beautifuilly precise and rhythmic, with extremely clear orchestral texture [ASV Quicksilva CD QS 6097].****

Classic CD, July 1993