As the timing for this
recording shows, this is one of the
fleetest Mahler Fifths that I know,
though Bruno Walter is swifter still
in his celebrated 1947 recording, which
takes an astonishing 61:04. However,
it’s not just the duration of the performance,
occasioned by some fairly swift tempi,
that is remarkable. Taken from concerts
last October (2004), this is the clearest
Mahler 5 that I can recall hearing.
Sakari Oramo seems to be engaging with
Mahler at present for the 2005/6 season
will see him conducting the CBSO in
the first two symphonies as well as
Das Lied von der Erde. It will
be interesting to see if he brings to
these scores something of the same transparency
and clarity that he achieves here.
And that clarity is
important. Writing of this very symphony,
Michael Steinberg has pointed out that
around the time that he was composing
the work Mahler acquired a complete
edition of Bach and was deeply impressed
by the contents. Intriguingly, Steinberg
relates that on the one occasion that
Mahler conducted the Fifth in Vienna
he prefaced the performance with Bach’s
motet, Singet dem Herrn ein neues
Lied, BWV 225, a fascinating juxtaposition.
Steinberg argues that from this point
on Mahler’s music became more polyphonic,
influenced, in part at least, by the
composer’s appreciation of Bach. In
this present performance Oramo, aided
and abetted by his players, certainly
achieves an impressive degree of clarity
and a significant amount of detail is
revealed.
In this the recording
engineers must have played their part
too. I found that, in comparison with
some other recordings of the work that
I own, I had to set the volume level
a bit higher. But once I’d done that
the recording has a pleasing natural
ambience. The recording and performance
bring out many little details I hadn’t
quite noticed before. The soft percussion
around 4:18 into the first movement
is tellingly, but not ostentatiously,
reproduced. Indeed, the capture of quiet
percussion playing throughout the performance
is a delight. Another example of this
that particularly caught my ear was
the soft bass drum roll 12:04 into the
third movement. Small, even pedantic,
details you may think, but they attest
to the care with which both performance
and recording have been prepared.
But what of the performance
itself? Some listeners may well find
the first of the work’s three parts
(movements I and II) a trifle cool.
The opening funeral march, for example,
doesn’t have the weight and emotion
that Barbirolli offers, let alone the
angst we hear from Bernstein
in his live DG recording with the VPO.
In terms of comparisons, once I’d heard
just a couple of minutes of Oramo’s
reading I knew there was no point in
even getting out of the jewel cases
either of Klaus Tennstedt’s live recordings;
the performances are just too differently
conceived! Oramo impresses through his
refusal to be too emotional and to overplay
his hand too soon. However, if one listens
to Barbirolli or Bernstein in the opening
measures of this work one is conscious
of Great Events being launched. You
don’t get that with Oramo and I rather
miss that. That said, it’s a finely
detailed reading of the movement and
the CBSO play excellently throughout.
There’s ample thrust
at the start of the second movement.
Oramo takes the fast music, which predominates
in this movement, very fast indeed.
Despite his challenging tempi, however,
the CBSO cope very well (e.g. around
8:00). Yet, though there’s excitement
– of a certain kind – I’m not sure that
the music has sufficient weight or bite.
Bernstein, for example, makes the VPO
fairly snarl in places and by contrast
Oramo seems to miss some of the malevolence
that Mahler wrote into some of these
pages. When the chorale occurs near
the end of the movement there’s an appropriate
grandeur though a slightly broader tempo
might have delivered even more.
The substantial scherzo
that lies at the heart of the work is
particularly suited to Oramo’s relatively
light touch. Actually, in this movement
his pacing is much closer to what I’d
expect. I enjoyed the performance and
the CBSO’s principal horn player, Elspeth
Dutch, plays her vital part very well
indeed, though she’s not as forward
in the aural picture as I’ve heard on
some other recordings. I suspect Oramo
did not replicate the experiment of
his predecessor, Sir Simon Rattle, who,
in his Berlin recording had the horn
player placed at the front of the orchestra.
Having given us three
pretty brisk movements Oramo springs
something of a surprise by adopting
a traditionally broad speed for the
celebrated Adagietto. Where Bruno
Walter (1947) eased through the music
in just 7:35 and Rudolph Barshai (1997)
was scarcely slower at 8:17, Oramo’s
performance plays for 10:01. Oddly,
in terms of tempo at least, he’s closest
to the ripe, emotional conception of
Barbirolli here though he doesn’t encourage
the same ripeness of tone that Barbirolli
drew from the New Philharmonia. Yet
again he keeps the textures admirably
clear and the CBSO strings play beautifully
for him. At the final climax of the
movement (9:00) the first violins in
alt sound perhaps just a bit thin
but, by contrast, the descending bass
line as the climax passes is projected
very strongly indeed, though not to
the music’s detriment.
In the finale we’re
back to bracing, indeed challenging
tempi. The string-led fugue not long
after the start of the movement is taken
at a real lick. It was in this movement,
however, that I had my most serious
reservations. It just seemed to me that
the music was being pressed too much
and for all their individual and corporate
skill the CBSO do sound under pressure
at times. Worse still, at the extremely
brisk basic tempo several key phrases
fail to make the necessary impact. Frankly,
I thought the music was being rushed
unnecessarily. The apotheosis of the
second movement’s chorale is a disappointment
because it isn’t allowed to blossom
and flower, as it should. It’s worth
noting that though the track timing
for this movement is 14:42 the music
only plays for 14:05, the rest being
given over to enthusiastic applause.
For me, the slightly less frenetic overall
approaches of Bernstein (15:00) or Barshai
(16:18) are more rewarding.
So, there’s a good
deal to admire in this performance and
I found the clarity of Oramo’s performance
very refreshing. I’m sure that in the
concert hall, as a one-off experience,
I’d have been as delighted as the Symphony
Hall audience clearly was. However,
I’m not sure how well this version,
despite its many merits, will stand
up to repeated listening. In the last
analysis, this is a reading that I admire
in many respects but it doesn’t stir
me in the way that Barbirolli, Barshai
or Bernstein do.
In summary, this is
a very well played performance, presented
in very good sound - though you may
need to adjust the playback level. It’s
a very enjoyable recording but I don’t
think it disturbs existing recommendations
as a library choice.
John Quinn
see also review
by Patrick Waller
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
