There was a time when the Soviet Union sent its premier musical organizations abroad as a demonstration of the superior standards of pedagogy and performance cultivated in the Marxist-Leninist workers’ paradise. Even in the uncertain sociology of post-Soviet Russia, touring orchestras such as Vladimir Spivikov’s Moscow Virtuosi and the esteemed St. Petersburg Philharmonic have demonstrated the grandeur and polish of Russian musicianship.

But anyone who thinks that Russian provenance is a guarantee of excellence has not heard the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, which played Copley Symphony Hall Sunday (March 14). Their all-Tchaikovsky program plagued by poor intonation, careless ensemble, flat dynamics and doggedly superficial interpretation made numerous community orchestras I have encountered sound quite repectable by

Moscow State Radio Symphony.

^{Courtesy photo}

comparison.

I should not have been shocked by the ragged state of the orchestra, since the New York Times had already published (May 4) an exposé of the demeaning conditions to which the poor musicians were subjected on their grueling trek of 53 concerts in 67 days. According to the Times, there is even some question as to how many of the touring musicians are actually a regular part of the Moscow State Radio Symphony roster. While the orchestra’s management stated that only half a dozen extra musicians were invited to play the tour, a bassist in the orchestra claimed that only one-third of the 90-member touring ensemble were actual orchestra members.

The program-opening “Romeo and Juliet” Overture Fantasy proved the most painful event of the afternoon, with feeble woodwind choirs counter-attacked by piercing trumpets, only to be parted by listless strings. Having the harmonious echoes of San Diego Opera’s glistening Romeo and Juliet (Gounod’s version, of course) still ringing in my ears from the previous evening, I would have prefered to leave the hall and keep my musical memory unsullied by the raucous activity swelling up from the Copley Hall stage. But I was on duty, so I stayed for every last out-of-tune note.

The Moscow ensemble chose to show off pianist Alexander Sinchuk in the familiar Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto. The wet-behind-the-ears 21-year-old Russian had taken first prize in Moscow’s Fourth International Rachmaninov Competition, held in 2008, and Sunday he showed all the shortcomings of competition judging. Although Sinchuk revealed a fierce technical mastery that allowed him to play both startling octave flourishes and massive chord iterations at fantastic tempos, his approach to the music itself sounded coarse and uncaring. It did not help matters that he and conductor Alexei Kornienko were at times out of synchronization, a basic musical challenge which one expects a tour—in which the piece is frequently performed—to have resolved early on.

Kornienko saved Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony (“Polish”) for the program’s second half. One of the less frequently played of his six symphonies, the five-movement Third Symphony, and in particular the grandiose finale, can easily overstay its welcome. Fortunately, Kornienko managed to find some grace-filled moments contrasted in neatly-terraced dynamics during the gentle Allegro moderato, and his Scherzo rippled with effervescent, Mendelssohnian textures. In this symphony, the Moscow orchestra showed some improvement in intonation and focus, although the five horns remained blessedly contrary throughout.

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