Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven & Tchaikovsky: 'Pathétique' (1998)

Barenboim takes the helm for an incredible look at Tchaikovsky's 6th and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8. These works, linked by their shared subtitle "Pathetique", find a surprisingly comfortable place side by side.
Barenboim starts at the piano, and his approach to the Beethoven is smooth and relaxed. So many pianists, when confronted with the "Pathetique", pound away, believing probably that the music needs real aggressiveness and certainly that it can be difficult to keep up with the fast tempo they feel necessary to create the aggressiveness. Our hero, however, knows otherwise. The result is a moving, exciting approach to a piece that frequently gets the rushed, underconsidered "classical warhorse" treatment.
Tchaikovsky's B minor symphony is another piece that is performed frequently, and whose performances frequently are identical, fluffy and overwrought. Barenboim's fresh approach to the score, however, means the tempos are considered with regard to the score itself, not everyone else's performance.
I have conducted the Sixth with a pick-up orchestra, heard it several times in concert and a hundred times on record, and studied the score with devotion. Daniel Barenboim and the CSO's performance on this disc is the most exciting, most original version I've ever encountered.