Wrapping up Mahler
Here I am continuing (after some months) an inventory of Mahler's symphonies, as recommended by Norman Lebrecht in his book Why Mahler?:
- No. 4 in G major: I know this one the least and don't own a recording. Lebrecht seems to favour Bruno Walter's 1945 recording with the New York Philharmonic and amateur soprano Desi Halban. "Dawn Upshaw shines" with Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra (1992). The most recent recording he recommends is David Zinman's 2006 performance with Luba Orgnonasova and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
- No. 5 in C-sharp minor: Lebrecht calls this one a "litmus test for many weaknesses," and he highlights many different interpretations. I have Leonard Bernstein (1989); the author says Berstein "drives the Vienna Philharmonic hard and slow." Two other versions that sound interesting are John Barbirolli with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (1969)-"joyous, energized, lyrical, sweet toned, and conversational"-and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie conducted by violist Rudolf Barshai-"unblushing energies of the youth orchestra, whose players had not learned to fear risk or hold anything in reserve."
- No. 6 in A minor: my favourite, with devastating outer movements separated by a bucolic, transcendant Andante. My recording with Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra receives no mention. Lebrecht recommends the grimness of George Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra (1967), but favours Klaus Tennstedt-"on instinct, gets almost everything right,"-with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, adding "EMI's Royal Festival Hall concert of November 1991 is the one to have."
- No. 7 in E minor: I find this one hard to approach. My recording: "Michael Halasz...gets an idiomatic response from the Polish Radio Orchestra (Naxos, 1994) and a superfine seond 'Night Music,' though textures elsewhere are variable." Lebrecht recommends Hermann Scherchen with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (1953) as seminal, and Leonard Bernstein (New York Phil, 1967): "a ghostly, cobwebbed search for vanished worlds...a paranormal adventure."
- No. 8 in E-flat major: "Almost unachievable in concert, the Symphony of a Thousand is seldom credible on record," says Lebrecht. He calls my Klaus Tennstedt studio recording (EMI, 1986) leaden, but recommends the live-recorded 1991 EMI DVD as epic. He points to live recordings, particularly Jascha Horenstein (1959) with the London Symphony Orchestra, amateur choruses and various soloists. And Pierre Boulez (2007) with Staatskapelle Berlin: "He lets the choruses rampage off the leash..."
- Das Lied von die Erde: "Everything hinges on the singing pair." Lebrecht does not mention my recording featuring Gary Bertini with Marjana Lipovsek and Canadian tenor Ben Heppner (1994). He recommends Bruno Walter with Kathleen Ferrier and Julius Patzak (1952, but avoid his earlier and later recordings), Otto Klemperer with Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich (1955), or Carlo Maria Giulini with Francisco Araiza and Brigitte Fassbaender (1984).
- No. 9 in D major: My recording by Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic (1984) is a "two-dimensional country walk...The beauties are sumptuous, but an important human document becomes a picture postcard." Recommended is Jascha Horenstein's 1964 BBC Prom with the London Symphony Orchestra: "gradation of orchestral dynamics is a constant suprise...just the right level of noise for each emotion, darkening as he goes." Also Karel Ancerl with the Czech Philharmonic (1966), Kurt Sanderling (1992) and Carlo Maria Giulini (1977).
- No. 10 in F-sharp minor: left unfinished at his death, patched together later, but Lebrecht says the Mahler experience is incomplete without his Tenth. I haven't heard it yet. He recommends Simon Rattle's 1980 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra recording (not 1999 with the Berlin Philharmonic), also Rudolf Barshai with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (2001), an "extrapolation, replete with such exotica as mandolins and other effects borrowed from Mahler's middle symphonies."