Gustav MAHLER ( 1860 -1911)
Symphony No 5
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton(cond)
Recorded Live in Concert Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, Texas.
September 1993 DDD
Dorian DOR-90193
[71.00]
Crotchet
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USA
This recording of Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is from
a live performance in September 1993. At the time Litton had not yet taken
over the full-time conductorship of the DSO - that dated from the beginning
of the 1994/95 Season. It was his first recording with the Orchestra. This
lack of unfamiliarity with each other shows in a release that is something
of a curate's egg and may partly reflect the absence at that stage of a Mahler
performing tradition. Only today I read elsewhere a favourable review of
a more recent Mahler recording from 1998 with the same forces that would
point to later performances being altogether more convincing.
This is a live recording but one would not be aware of this at all. There
are no tiresome nuisance noises to bother about and only with the applause
is the audience heard. Remarkable editing or the paying customers must have
been threatened with something terrible if they misbehaved. I wish some other
concert halls had the secret. The recording itself is transparently clear,
the clarity too much for the big drum that sounds over-miked on my speakers.
The reservations about the performance are mainly to do with the lack of
dynamism and confidence, the tentativeness that one senses from the orchestra
- the strings especially - that point to the early stages of a relationship
that has not yet become established.. The result is a blandness, a lack of
character. Everything is reasonable and nothing is too obviously wrong -
just something lacking. The strings sacrifice weight for clarity and accuracy
and there are reservations too about some of the tempi chosen. This lack
of confidence is apparent from the outset in the Funeral Music. Over sweet
strings fail to capture the tragedy inherent in the score and instead we
have a plodding over-smooth plaintiveness without any great depth of emotion
and the gear change in the movement lacks emphasis. A word of praise here
for some fine solo trumpet playing - the brass sections throughout the entire
work were consistently impressive. The second movement builds well but individual
passages lack the right balance and emphasis. The Scherzo was allowed
to drift and at the pizzicato passage almost stopped., while the
Adagietto sagged part-way through. The Finale generated enough excitement
to please the audience who clearly enjoyed the performance. Perhaps it was
decent enough and an ageing misanthrope of a reviewer is wrong. We all know
how reactions can vary at a live event. Ah, well, back to my Barbirolli Mahler
5 I think.
A pedestrian and uninspiring recording that lacks much of what a good performance
of Mahler needs.
Reviewer.
Harry Downey
See also Tony Duggan's review of this
recording
Tony Duggan's comparative review of
recordings of this symphony
Tony Duggan's comparative review of
Mahler recordings
