MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 in D major / IVES: Central Park in t

MAHLER: Symphony No. 9 in D major / BOULEZ: Rituel / Notati

Includes aria(s) by various composers. Soloist: Eva Gustavson.
Includes song(s) by various composers. Soloist: Eva Gustavson.

We're talking major discovery here. This magnificent in-concert New York performance of Gustav Mahler's final symphony-cum-song-cycle is musical gold, putting three of the four available Bruno Walter performances of his great friend and mentor's masterpiece in the shade. This recording originates from a performance on February 22, 1953, remastered from an off-air FM radio tape. Music & Arts apologizes for some hum, but I found the sound to be remarkably full and present, vastly preferable to the conductor's studio version of a decade later, which even in the latest Bruno Walter Edition incarnation (Sony) suffers from an opaque and cloudy recording quality.

More crucially, although, like most of his late Mahler recordings, the 1960 Das Lied is appealing for its integrity and Viennese Gemütlichkeit, seven years earlier Walter was a much more energized Mahlerian, and this performance fairly crackles with electricity and tension, qualities lacking in his late Mahler recordings. Set Svanholm is a much more involved soloist than the stodgy Ernst Haefliger, who sounds listless by comparison. The Swedish tenor sings with a wonderfully hearty vigor, Svanholm's almost defiantly projected Der Trunkene in Frühling notably vibrant and full of character. Elena Nikolaidi is somewhat more problematic. Initially, I found the Greek contralto's fluttery timbre and wide vibrato off-putting; but Nikolaidi's singing improves as the performance continues, and, despite the shaky upper register, her rich-toned singing of the Abschied is quite affecting, the long farewell of the coda heartbreaking.

Yet it is Walter's dynamic conducting and the fabulous response of the New York Philharmonic (known at the time as the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra) that makes this a performance to treasure. Listen to the desolate flute, for example, at the start of the Abschied, and the firmly pointed and wonderfully expressive orchestral playing that follows. With magnificent playing by the New York musicians, Walter elicits a wider range of orchestral coloring and a richer vein of emotion, with a firmer and more incisive grip than on his other performances.

As of this writing, Schwann lists the classic 1952 Vienna performance with Ferrier and Patzak as deleted. While not quite equaling that performance, I'd have to rank this second, below the Vienna performance of the previous year, but above the 1960 studio version (despite some fine singing by Mildred Miller) and the 1936 Vienna performance with Kerstin Thorborg and Charles Kullman (available on a variety of historical labels, including Music & Arts). Indeed, I would say this is one of the very best versions ever committed to disc. Bernard Haitink's burnished performance offers unearthly singing by Janet Baker, now available on yet another unbeatable Philips Duo set of Mahler's orchestral songs. Unlike the Philips and Sony discs, Music & Arts includes full texts and translations, commendable in a historical label where the majors won't provide one. The sound is remarkably rich and focused, with orchestral detail much clearer than on the 1963 Sony or the 1936 Vienna performance. There is a two-minute gap in the source tape about thirteen minutes into the Abschied, which is filled in with an AM broadcast tape of the same performance, and while the change in acoustic is jarring, it's not that big a deal.

A wonderful performance, an essential buy for Mahlerians and Bruno Walter fans, and one of the most worthy of Music & Arts's yeoman historical excavations.

-- Lawrence A. Johnson, FANFARE [7/1997]

“With his Viennese background, Suitner brought something authentic and credible with him.” Memories are still vivid in the minds of contemporaries when asked about recordings that were made over thirty years ago. Such recordings must have made a lasting impression on those involved, including Lothar Friedrich (long-standing violinist of the Berlin Staatskapelle), who is quoted above. This 1986 double LP release by the East German label Eterna, featuring works by Gustav Mahler, is certainly no exception. The main work, the Fifth Symphony, once a groundbreaking success for the composer, is joined by songs from the anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn (the boy’s magic horn). The interpreters: baritone Siegfried Lorenz, the Staatskapelle Berlin and Otmar Suitner. Suitner, the conductor who died in Berlin in 2010, was Austrian, a fact that may be key to understanding why this record was ever made at all. Suitner was general music director of the Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden from 1974 until 1991 and thus directed the Berlin Staatskapelle at the same time. “He was very relaxed, not over-focussed – a fantastic conductor, always at ease and enthusiastic. These songs needed an orchestra that produces pure expression”, said singer Siegfried Lorenz about the recording of the “Wunderhorn” lieder with Otmar Suitner. The longtime violinist of the Berlin Staatskapelle, Lothar Friedrich, adds regarding the Fifth Symphony: “When I listen to the recording now, I feel vindicated. Suitner struck an excellent balance between his emotional side on the one hand and his intellectual approach on the other.”

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO 2 MAAZEL,

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

SYMPHONY NO. 1

SYMPHONY NO. 6

Surely one of the great Resurrections of our time.

It’s a matter of some regret that James Levine and RCA never completed their Mahler cycle, especially as this conductor is one of the finest Mahlerians around. Indeed, I’d suggest his recordings of the First and Third Symphonies - with the LSO and Chicago Symphony respectively - are among the most desirable in the catalogue. Thankfully, Sony-RCA have reissued the entire set, giving veterans the opportunity to re-evaluate these performance and new listeners the chance to discover them. And to complete the picture - well, almost - we now have this live Resurrection from Salzburg, with the incomparable Christa Ludwig in ‘Urlicht’.

From the first bars it’s clear this is going to be a tough, no-nonsense reading, made all the more visceral by the dry, close recording. Don’t expect the highest fi - editing is a little untidy, with a curious pre-echo reminiscent of LPs at the very start - but that hardly matters when the performance is as incisive as this. Levine doesn’t resort to expressive underlining, preferring instead to press ahead with astonishing clarity and precision. In many ways his approach reminds me of Jonathan Nott’s taut, propulsive version - - which was one of my picks for 2010. It couldn’t be further from the self-conscious, ill-conceived posturing of Stenz and Jurowski, two real let-downs among the recent crop of Mahler 2s.

Despite the relatively narrow soundstage, dynamics are well managed, although the timps are apt to crack like rifle shots and the cymbals are a tad reticent at times. But goodness, there’s a drive and passion to the music-making that brought an early attack of the goose-bumps, something normally reserved for the symphony’s closing pages. As for the downward figure at the end of the Allegro it’s on the slow side, but in the context of what’s gone before it sounds just right. Oddly, the engineers are slow to fade the audience noise, which continues for quite a while. As usual, the first movement is contained on a single disc.

The dance rhythms of the Andante are made to bounce and bend in a way that seems uniquely Viennese, although some listeners might want more schmalz than Levine allows. And despite the occasional imprecision, the Wiener Philharmoniker sound crisp and clean, pizzicato strings well articulated, the woodwinds and harp nicely caught; but, most important, the essential pulse is never lost. If there’s a downside, it’s that a degree of warmth and charm is sacrificed in the recording. Still, there’s a lightness of touch here, a directness of utterance, that’s hard to resist.

As for the strange Scherzo, Mahler’s danse macabre, it’s spookily done, rhythms winningly inflected and climaxes properly scaled. No empty rhetoric here, just a firm, unfussy grasp of the music’s architecture and a clear sense of its ultimate destination. And while that seismic shudder may sound a touch restrained it has a sense of proportion and rugged purpose. In that sense Levine’s is a somewhat ‘straight’, almost old-fashioned reading of this symphony, but that’s the way I like it. Indeed, it makes a refreshing change from the expressive liberties of, say, Bernstein and Tennstedt in this work.

We slide rather too quickly into ‘Urlicht’, Christa Ludwig’s distant star glowing in a vast, inky universe. At this point studio recordings tend to capture more nuance and loveliness - or an intrusive vibrato - so this swift rendition of ‘Primal light’ may seem less lustrous than most. That said, the orchestral supernova that follows is mighty, the brass and percussion emerging with a rare blend of grace and grandeur. And what a powerful sense of implacability there is in the build-up to the timp-led crescendi, what breadth in the passages that ensue. This performance simply grips me in a way that neither Stenz nor Jurowski does, Levine thrustful and thrilling at every turn.

The off-stage brass are certainly atmospheric, light vying with darkness in the prelude to that - very - hushed choral entry. There’s a shiver-inducing, ethereal quality to their singing that’s intensely moving, Levine coaxing the orchestra into some of the most radiant playing I’ve heard in ages. Battle and Ludwig are very well matched, if a little far back, but that simply adds to the otherworldly character of this unfolding drama. ‘Bereite dich’ is reverent rather than commanding, Levine gauging climactic strength to perfection. And even though the organ isn’t very prominent, this finale blossoms with a light that’s simply blinding.

This is a Resurrection of insight and honesty, eschewing all artifice and cutting to the very quick of this great symphony. It’s that rare thing, a genuinely transfiguring performance cast in the mould of Walter, Ormandy, Kubelik and Klemperer. And in a double centenary that’s yielded its fair share of disappointments, this recording will revive the spirits of those for whom it’s been a long and tiring journey.

Surely one of the great Resurrections of our time.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

Residing somewhere between symphony and song cycle, 'Das Lied' is one of Mahler's most profound and loved works, marking an important step in the composer's career, as well as in his private life. Jurowski approaches the piece as Mahler's deliberate move from a 'heroic' Beethovenian model towards a more 'lyrical', Schubertian attitude. Throughout 'Das Lied', and particularly in the contemplative last movement, 'Der Abschied' ('The Goodbye'), Mahler seems to come to terms with the mortality of man while celebrating the immortal nature of life.



REVIEW:

Many fine points emerge in the score, but this is due to a relaxed mood and space for details rather than to any attempt to be microscopic about the work. There's much more to be said about Jurowski, and much to be said in favor of tenor Robert Dean Smith, who confidently takes on the borderline singable first movement. The best of all here is Sarah Connolly's run in the epic "Der Abschied," which in its deliberate long line both fits well with Jurowski's overall concept and is just sensuously, tragically gorgeous on its own, likely destined to become one of the highlights of her later career. PentaTone's superbly clear live sound seals the deal on a very fine Das Lied von der Erde.

– AllMuscGuide.com (James Manheim)

"The Fifth is a cursed work. Nobody gets the point of it." That was Gustav Mahler's frustrated comment on the performance of his latest work in 1905 in Hamburg, where as former opera director he should have been able to count on staunch support. This is now rather surprising in view of the fact that the Fifth is today one of the most popular of all Mahler's symphonies. Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne leads his orchestra in this performance of Mahler’s grand orchestral statement of transition from the depths of funereal gloom to heights of triumphal joy.