This release celebrates the tenth anniversary of Tahra.
They couldn’t have chosen better to celebrate such a milestone in a
short history that has established them at the forefront of archive
releases. Though if you’re thinking this is one of those recordings
where you have to listen through painfully inferior audio to a performance
from a time when standards of playing were less accurate than now you
couldn’t be more wrong. What we have here is a superb stereo recording
from 1979 with one of the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors.
Indeed, so good is the sound and playing that this qualifies as a straightforward
new recording of Mahler’s Seventh to be considered alongside any other
version in the catalogue. In keeping with Tahra’s strict policy of only
releasing material with the permission of the original artists and from
master tapes or discs this is no bootleg or "air-check" either.
There is one aspect that does mark this recording out
from other releases, though. It too goes to the heart of Tahra’s philosophy
as outlined in the notes. "When too much music-making appears "cold",
the product of antiseptic recording studios, and the technical wizardry
of microphone placement and digital mixing, it’s perhaps healthy to
discover, or rediscover, the "truth" of a concert." I
certainly agree with that. What you will hear on this CD is a real concert
hall balance, as if you are in a good seat in the centre of the hall
surrounded by a well-behaved and attentive audience. The hall in question
is, of course, also possessed of one of the finest acoustics in the
world which has had a great influence in shaping the sound of the orchestra
that bears its name. Mahler himself conducted the orchestra in this
hall and from then on they have taken special pride in playing his music.
So it’s thrilling to hear the Concertgebouw Orchestra of 1979 in this
work in this hall and in an interpretation so distinguished and distinctive
as this.
A good example can be heard at the start of the second
movement (Nachtmusik I) where the solo horns call to each other, embroidering
the air with their strange harmonies. If you are only used to studio
recordings you will be used to hearing the horns close in and you might,
on first hearing this recording, be a little disappointed that they
sound more distant than usual. But this is how you would hear them in
a concert hall and it is how Mahler himself would have expected you
to hear them too. Bear that in mind when you read criticism of
a conductor departing from Mahler’s score markings in a studio recording.
Mahler knew nothing of "re-mixing", "spot-miking"
and balance engineers. He, the conductor, was his own balance engineer
and in this case the real balance engineer is Kondrashin with those
credited on the record sleeve apparently there to make sure that is
what we get.
The liner notes give a good summary of the life of
Kirill Kondrashin. One point in particular relates directly to the question
of recording balance that I have just dealt with too. ‘…he could alter
the sound of any orchestra by his control of orchestral dynamics and
shades of sound. He was famous for his pianissimi, which then
allowed him to then produce the most expansive fortissimi. Orchestras
knew he would ask them to produce these extremes of sound and tone."
This aspect is much in evidence right through but especially in the
first movement where extremes of dynamics are most called for. Kondrashin
saves up his real fortissimi for precisely when they are needed
to press home the symphonic argument of a movement that can, under lesser
hands sprawl rather, and this sets all the careful other gradations
of dynamics so much more in context. I would suggest that a recording
that was not balanced in quite this way would not have shown this to
such stunning effect. I don’t worship at the shrine of hi-fidelity for
its own sake. My view is that music making comes first and that whilst
good audio can certainly enhance a recording’s worth it is not the "be
all and end all". However, when the quality or the particular nature
of the audio actively assists in the quality of the music making, as
I believe it does here, I think it should be celebrated and I do so
gladly.
There are performances of Mahler’s Seventh where the
conductor clearly sees the work from a 20th century viewpoint.
Precursor of revolutions still to come in Schoenberg and his circle,
and so accentuates the diversity, even the deformity, that can be heard
in the music and made to dominate it. That the work is a parade of sounds
that were new and revolutionary is without doubt. But some conductors
then go on to accentuate this aspect to a more radical degree than others
do. Gielen (Hänssler 93030HV), Rosbaud and Zender (CPO 999 478-2)
spring to mind. Kondrashin is not in that camp. Rather he lets the particular
quality of Mahler’s extraordinary sound palette emerge naturally, without
unduly highlighting those radical elements. In that sense this is a
very central performance, more in the tradition of Bernstein (Sony SMK
60564), Horenstein (BBC Legends BBCL 4051-2), Rattle (EMI CDC 7 54344
2) and Tilson Thomas (BMG 09026 63510-2) and just as brilliantly delivered
as theirs. What he certainly does appreciate, as all great interpreters
of this work should, is the crucial aspect of illustrating the contrast
of day with night that is at the very core of this symphony and provides
its fulcrum of tension right through.
The three central movements explore the various aspects
of night and our attitudes towards them in detail. Such is the alertness
that Kondrashin has to every twist of melody, every catch of rhythm,
every juxtaposition of sound, that you never feel he is weighing the
music down with too much gloom, which can happen when the conductor
misunderstands Mahler’s overall aim. Night does not have to equal tragedy.
He is greatly helped by having in front of him an orchestra that clearly
knows the music well and so can feel secure in what they deliver. Listen
to the close of the second movement and the way that the woodwind choir
cluck and chatter their way to the close, every line clear and yet clearly
listening to each other like the best chamber players. The third movement
is more like a series of bad dreams rather than full-blown nightmare
it can be made to be and is how I think it should be played. The waltz
passages here flit across our imaginations like half-forgotten memories
but the sudden obstacles that Mahler throws in do not jar too much.
The fourth movement is quite quick (and even has a hint of Shostakovich
in the night about it when the solo violin strikes up) but Kondrashin
is still affectionate and warm, aware especially of the melodic line.
Framing the three wholly nocturnal central movements
are a first and a last that are compelling and moving. The first conveys
perfectly the kaleidoscopic quality of day mixing to night and also
a real elegiac feel, especially in the magical central episodes where
the music takes flight and Mahler’s excels himself exploring newly found
sounds. The last movement at 15:24 is easily the fastest performance
of the movement I have ever heard. Even the brilliant Hermann Scherchen
(Music and Arts CD695) is over a minute slower than this in his Toronto
recording. But such is the superb playing of the orchestra for Kondrashin
that it never once appears to be rushed. This is mainly due to the fact
that the orchestra manages to make every note tell and remain under
firm control. But the movement certainly goes like a rocket and the
result is very exhilarating and refreshingly light-hearted: very different
to how you may be used to hearing it. Not for Kondrashin the ceremonial
swagger and grandeur of Rattle or Abaddo, for example, this is witty
and cheeky too, so you do crucially still get the kind of contrast with
what has gone before that the movement needs to crown the work with
the return of day. I wonder if a tempo like this would have been tried
in the studio or is this one of those cases where orchestra and conductor
agree to "go for broke" on the spur of the moment? I suspect
this movement will be the main talking point among Mahlerians when this
recording gets better known and I loved it.
Kondrashin was certainly no stranger to Mahler. His
previous Mahler recordings made in Russia are quite hard to find and
the orchestral playing out of the Mahler tradition. But here is a performance
played by one of the great Mahler ensembles that is easy to find and
should be heard by all Mahlerians and anyone convinced by the need to
hear music played "live", as I am. The notes mention a recording
of the First Symphony in the Dutch radio archives so let us hope Tahra
can lay hands on that one too.
A superb performance of Mahler’s Seventh to be ranked
with the finest but carrying an extra magic only "live" performance
with realistic concert hall recording balance can bring.
Tony Duggan
Amsterdam Concertgebouw
Orchestra/Kirill Kondrashin