This release is the fourth volume in Adam Fischer’s fabulous survey of Mahler’s symphonies. His previous volumes in the cycle have garnered widespread critical acclaim, including two Editor’s Choices by Gramophone. The Fifth Symphony is one of Mahler’s most loved works. Composed during the summer months of 1901 and 1902 at Mahler’s holiday cottage at Maiernigg, the 5th Symphony features a trumpet solo that opens the work with the same rhythmic motive as the famous opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The scope of the work is huge, lasting over an hour and requiring a large number of musicians. The fourth movement, Adagietto, is said to represent Mahler’s love song to his wife, Alma, and is probably the composer’s most performed piece of music.

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REVIEWS:

Fischer’s elastic sense of tempo can be stretched to extremes in the Adagietto. What remains outstanding is the textural clarity and what is among the clearest renderings on disc of the finale’s teeming fugues. A peerless trumpet rides the first-movement welters impressively, too. The strings may not be the weightiest in the business, but every phrase is beautifully detailed and projected.

– BBC Music Magazine

Adam Fischer’s kinship with this music seems to grow exponentially with each successive instalment of what is already proving an exceptional Mahler cycle. There’s a stylistic and emotional understanding which goes beyond the precisely annotated scores. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this account of the Fifth Symphony is the ‘in the moment’ feeling it engenders from first to last.

– Gramophone