The last time I reviewed
a recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony
I stated again my belief that in this
work above all of Mahler’s we must look
to a group of recordings made over thirty
years ago. Only there can we reach into
what I believe to be the real soul of
this amazing piece. It is surprising
that two of those recordings I consider
indispensable were not even made for
commercial release but for radio broadcasting.
Sir John Barbirolli’s recording on BBC
Legends (BBCL
4004-7), the recording I find I
return to most often, was made for broadcast
albeit under studio conditions; likewise
a superb concert recording by Jean Martinon
and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from
1967, only available in a commemorative
box and crying out for single release.
Among the commercial studio recordings
from that time Jascha Horenstein (Unicorn
UKCD20067) still shines out with Rafael
Kubelik’s (only available now as part
of a complete cycle from DG) running
it very close. If you add Leonard Bernstein’s
first version from the same era (Sony
SM2K61831) you have a profile of recordings
that musically will last you for a lifetime
and which, for me, have yet to be equalled
in true understanding of what makes
this crazy work tick. The dedicated
audiophile will, of course, need to
purchase more up to date recordings
but music making surely comes first.
It takes a particular
kind of conductor to turn in a great
Mahler Third. No place for the tentative,
or the sophisticated, particularly in
the first movement which will dominate
how the rest of the symphony comes to
sound no matter how good the rest is.
No place for apologies in that first
movement especially. No conductor should
underplay the full implications of this
music’s ugliness for fear of offending
sensibilities. The lighter and lyrical
passages will largely take care of themselves.
It’s the "dirty end" of the
music - low brass and percussion, shrieking
woodwinds, growling basses, flatulent
trombone solos - that the conductor
must really immerse himself in. A regrettable
trait of musical "political correctness"
seems to have crept into more recent
performances and recordings and that
is to be deplored. If you want an example
of this listen to Andrew Litton’s ever-so-polite
Dallas recording. There is much to admire
in some recent recordings by Tilson
Thomas, Abbado and Rattle to name just
three from recent digital years. However
they don’t approach their older colleagues
in laying bare the full implications
of the unique sound-world Mahler created
in the way that I think it should be
heard. The edges need to be sharp, the
drama challenging, Mahler’s gestalt
shrieking, marching, surging, seething
and, at key moments, hitting the proverbial
fan.
Rafael Kubelik’s superb
DG recording had one drawback in that
the recorded balance was, like the rest
of his Munich studio cycle, rather close-miked
and somewhat lacking in atmosphere.
It never bothered me that much, as you
can probably imagine, but just occasionally
I felt the need for a little more space.
As luck would have it, this Audite release
in the series of "live" Mahler
performances from Kubelik’s Munich years
comes from the same week as that DG
studio version and must have been the
concert performance mounted to give
the players the chance to perform the
work prior to recording in the empty
hall. It goes some way to addressing
the problem of recorded balance in that
there is a degree more space and atmosphere,
more separation across the stereo arc
especially. It thus offers an even more
satisfying experience whilst still delivering
Kubelik’s gripping and involving interpretation
with the added tensions of "live"
performance. There is a little background
tape hiss but nothing that the true
music lover need fear. So here is another
"not originally for release"
broadcast recording of Mahler’s Third
for the list of top recommendations.
Like all great Mahler
Thirds this reading has a fierce unity
and a striking sense of purpose across
the whole six movements, lifting it
above so many versions that miss this
crucial aspect among so many others.
Tempi are faster than you may be used
to. It also pays as much attention to
the inner movements as it does the outer
with playing of poetry, charm and that
hard-to-pin-down aspect, wonderment.
In the first movement Kubelik echoes
Schoenberg’s belief that this is a struggle
between good and evil, generating the
real tension needed to mark this. Listen
to the gathering together of all the
threads for the central storms section,
for example. Kubelik also comes close
to Barbirolli’s raucous, unforgettable
"grand day out up North" march
spectacle and shares his British colleague’s
(and Leonard Bernstein’s) sense of the
sheer wackiness of it all. Listen
to the wonderful Bavarian basses and
cellos rocking the world with their
uprushes and those raw, rude trombone
solos, as black as an undertaker’s hat
and about as delicate as a Bronx cheer
or an East End Raspberry. Kubelik also
manages to give the impression of the
movement as a living organism, growling
and purring in passages of repose particularly,
fur bristling like a cat in a thunderstorm.
Too often you have the feeling in this
movement that conductors cannot get
over how long it is and so they want
to make it sound big by making it last
for ever. In fact it is a superbly organised
piece that benefits from the firm hand
of a conductor prepared to "put
a bit of stick about" and hurry
it along like Kubelik.
In the second movement
there is a superb mixture of nostalgia
and repose with the spiky, tart aspects
of nature juxtaposing the scents and
the pastels. Only Horenstein surpasses
in the rhythmic pointing of the following
Scherzo but Kubelik comes close as his
sense of purpose seems to extend the
chain of events that was begun at the
very start, still pulling us on in one
great procession. The pressing tempi
help in this but above all there is
the innate feel for the whole picture
that only a master Mahlerian can pull
off and frequently only in "live"
performance. Marjorie Thomas is an excellent
soloist and the two choirs are everything
you would wish for, though Barbirolli’s
Manchester boys - all urban cheekiness
straight off the terraces at Old Trafford
or Main Road - are just wonderful. In
the last movement no one offers a more
convincing tempo than Kubelik, flowing
and involving, never dragging or over-sentimentalised.
Like Barbirolli, though warm of heart,
he refuses to indulge the music and
the movement wins out as the crowning
climax is as satisfying as could be
wished.
This is a firm recommendation
for Mahler’s Third and another gem in
Audite’s Kubelik releases.
Tony Duggan
Tony
Duggan's comparative reviews of the
Mahler Symphonies
Marjorie Thomas (Contralto)