Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5; “Hamlet.” Orchestre Symphonique...

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5; “Hamlet.” Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal conducted by Charles Dutoit. London 425 503-2. Dutoit’s Montrealers sound as alert as ever (the winds merit special commendation), but the conductor’s acknowledged finesse in the Gallic repertory seems an unexportable commodity here. The expansive tempos for the symphony do not yield a notably long-breathed performance, just a slow, turgid one. And Dutoit’s temperament seems much too dapper to stoop to heart-on-sleeve emotionalism. The febrile programmatic content of the Shakespeare-inspired tone poem reaps a more engaging reading.