Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony
No 5 in C-sharp minor (1901-02) [69:48]
Symphony
No 6 in A minor (1903-04) [77:38]
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi
rec. live, Kloster Eberbach, Eltville im Rheingau, Germany, 25 & 26 June
2011 (Symphony 5), 29 & 30 June 2013 (Symphony 6)
Bonus: Introductions to both symphonies by Paavo Järvi [20:32]
Subtitles for bonus: German, Korean, Japanese
Region code: Worldwide. Video: 1080i 16:9; Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
and PCM Stereo.
C MAJOR Blu-ray 729404 [180:00]
This is the third instalment of Paavo Järvi’s Mahler
cycle. To date my acquaintance with it has been limited to the substantial
first movement of the Third Symphony which I greatly admired, both as an exciting
performance and an excellent audio-visual presentation when it was auditioned
a little while ago in the MusicWeb
International Listening Studio. Other instalments have been reviewed by
my colleague, Dave Billinge and links to his appraisals can be found at the
foot of this review.
Järvi was Music Director of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra between
2006 and 2013 – he is now their Conductor Laureate. A major project
during their years together was a Mahler symphony cycle, performed between
2007 and 2013 in association with the Rheingau Music Festival. This performance
of the Fifth Symphony was part of the inaugural concert of the 2011 Festival
while the Sixth opened proceedings two years later.
It seems to me that the Fifth takes a while to get into its stride. Another
way of putting that would be to say that I think the conductor is more at
ease with the spirit of the last three movements than with the first two movements,
which form a linked pair. The opening of the first movement is intelligently
paced by Järvi as a good, firm slow march but as the music unfolded I began
to feel that there wasn’t quite enough weight to the interpretation
– that’s not a criticism of the excellent orchestra. The faster
sections are taken very quickly indeed. The second movement is very swift
at first, the music invested with a good deal of bite. The more relaxed episodes
are also well done. Yet when the quasi-recitative passage for unison cellos
is reached I think that Järvi’s treatment of it is rather too expansive:
he makes something of a meal of it. Overall, when the end of this movement
was reached - and with it the end of Part I of the symphony – I wrote
in my notes “good but not gripping”. These two movements didn’t
quite have me on the edge of my seat as some other interpreters such as Barbirolli,
Bernstein and Tennstedt in their different ways have done.
The substantial Scherzo contains a crucial Concertante part for the orchestra’s
principal horn. Järvi brings his player out to the front as if he were a concerto
soloist. I’ve never seen this done before though I recall that Simon
Rattle did the same thing with his Berliner Philharmoniker recording, a performance
which I’ve only experienced as an audio disc (review).
Positioning the horn player in this way is something of a mixed blessing.
You lose the feel of the principal horn as a primus inter pares but
on the other hand both the eye and the ear are drawn towards the Concertante
part, giving it a refreshing prominence. On balance I like this idea and it’s
all the more welcome when the player is as fine as the soloist here, Samuel
Seidenberg. It’s in this movement that Järvi’s interpretation
begins to flower. He visibly delights in highlighting the “rough edges”
in Mahler’s scoring and his conducting is lively and vital. His orchestra
responds with alacrity, not least the tangy woodwind instruments. For my taste
some of the slower passages are milked just a bit too much but there’s
no denying that Järvi invests these episodes with character.
His account of the celebrated Adagietto is on the expansive side
but not to such an extent that the music becomes bogged down. On the contrary,
Järvi’s performance has flow and, when appropriate, no little ardour.
He affects to look surprised when the sustained horn note functions as the
bridge between the Adagietto and the Rondo-Finale. In this
finale we see once again facial expressions that evidence Järvi’s enjoyment
of the music. It’s an energetic and good-humoured performance, which
the conductor relishes. The bucolic sophistication of Mahler’s finale
is well served here. Järvi takes much of the movement at a challengingly fast
pace but doesn’t rush the music off its feet. I didn’t feel that
the shining brass chorale towards the end of the second movement made as much
impact as it does in some performances I’ve heard but when it reappears
to crown the finale it sounds very splendid and the closing pages are exultant.
The core tempo for the first movement of the Sixth is brisk; the exposition
repeat is observed. Järvi is warmly nostalgic in the slower interlude with
the cowbells. When the music picks up again it seems even more driven than
before, though I don’t believe the pulse is actually quicker than what
we heard in the exposition. There’s a very fine line between playing
this music urgently and taking it too swiftly and I have a nagging feeling
that Järvi just crosses that line. To me he seems to miss some of the music’s
grim truculence; others may disagree.
Although I accept that there are strong arguments for placing the Andante
second my own preference is to hear the Scherzo second, which is how Järvi
performs the symphony. I have to admit, though, that after Järvi’s bracing
treatment of the first movement part of me would have welcomed the relaxation
of the Andante. Järvi’s account of the Scherzo is biting and
trenchant. It’s a performance of extremes, though – or at least
of strongly contrasted tempi - and the slower passages seem to me to be rather
more pronounced than usual. The movement is certainly projected very strongly.
The Andante is an unqualified success; Järvi paces and phrases it
beautifully. As climaxes approach he moves the music forward with urgency
before relaxing back to his main tempo in a very convincing way.
The vast finale follows the Andante with a minimal gap. The introduction
is tense and as the pace gathers the tension rises incrementally. Järvi leads
an intensely dramatic, powerful reading in which the two hammer blows are
huge – and very well achieved by the percussion department. The orchestral
playing, which has been extremely fine throughout, is particularly impressive
in this movement.
If I were recommending a library choice for either symphony these Järvi performances
would not dislodge the leading versions. However, they have much to offer;
Järvi has clearly thought long and hard about both scores and his orchestra
backs him up marvellously.
I said earlier that I’d been impressed by the audio-visual side of the
excerpt that I heard from the Third Symphony. My TV is not hooked up to my
hi-fi in the way that the equipment is configured in our Listening Studio
so I couldn’t quite replicate the sound quality that I experienced in
the Third. Nonetheless I thought that in both these symphonies the sound as
heard through my Bose-enhanced TV sound was very good. The picture quality
is excellent; the images are clear and sharp and the director has used his
cameras most effectively to capture the performance. I didn’t find the
menu very easy to navigate; in fact, so far as I could see there isn’t
much of a menu: you have to select “play symphonies” and then
scroll through the tracks. That’s not desperately satisfactory given
that it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to experience the two symphonies
back-to-back. There’s a short introduction to each symphony by Paavo
Järvi. These are interesting but I’m mildly surprised that they’re
tucked away as “bonus features” at the end of the disc. Surely
it would have made more sense if each had been included as a preface to the
symphony in question.
Collectors who are following this Järvi cycle – the only cycle so far
on Blu-Ray, I believe – can invest with confidence.
John
Quinn
Paavo Järvi’s Mahler cycle reviewed on MusicWeb International
Symphonies
1 & 2
Symphonies
3 & 4
Symphonies
7 &8
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