Temirkanov's love for Tchaikovsky is evident throughout this performance. The droplets of the Alpine waterfall which Temirkanov can be seen emphasising with absolute precision of his hyper-expressive, batonless hands, surround another lovely vision: the Alpine fairy, this time dynamically shaded beyond the expectations of the score. With its echoes of the individual's despair in a rustic landscape more lightly worn in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, the slightly abbreviated pastoral third movment has an ideal volatility and another beautiful detailed coda.
The three encores serve as little masterclasses of Temirkanov's art. The Nutcracker Pas de deux, complete with those elongated brass chords, shows again a freedom in the descending cello phrases which can't be learned, only felt, creative conducting at its greatest.
Temirkanov knows he only need to provide the broadest thrust and gestures to get the right result, and the climactic funeral march, the unmistakable Russian brass rampant, is more expansive and more thrilling than you'll ever hear it elsewhere.
