Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 7 [73:50]
Symphony No. 8 [82:00]
Erin Wall (soprano), Ailish Tynan (soprano), Anna Lucia Richter (soprano),
Alice Coote (mezzo), Charlotte Hellekant (mezzo), Nikolai Schukoff (tenor),
Michael Nagy (baritone), Ain Anger (bass)
Limburger Domsingknaben, EuropaChorAkademie, Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno,
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi
rec. live, Friedrich von Theirsch Saal, Wiesbaden, Germany: 12 August 2011
(No.7); Großer Saal, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Germany: 24-25 May 2013 (No.8)
Bonus: Introductions to both symphonies by Paavo Järvi [20:00]
Subtitles for No.8 in German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Subtitles for bonus in English, German, Korean, Japanese
Video: 1080i 16:9 Sound DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM Stereo
The review is of the DTS-HD surround
C MAJOR Blu-ray 729604 [183:00]
Paavo Järvi is a very consistent Mahlerian. Every performance I have heard
in this nearly-complete cycle exhibits three characteristics: fast passages
are a little faster than usual, slow music is slower and wind details are
always brought out. As with all generalisations this is a rough-and-ready
characterisation of his approach, counter-examples exist galore. I have heard
hundreds of Mahler performances over the years, from Hermann Scherchen's wonderfully
eccentric recording of the Fifth and Bruno Walter's Columbia recording of
the Ninth, to Abbado's final, incomplete series with the Lucerne Festival
Orchestra. Järvi is as interesting and often as moving as any of them. Were
it not for the indifferent picture quality - there is noticeable fringing
throughout - I might have been labelling these discs as equal to the best
available on video ***. In both the Seventh and Eighth symphonies technical
standards are acceptable but not remarkable. Musically the Eighth in particular,
but also the Seventh, can be summed up with the final word on my listening
notes: "Wow!"
The first movement of the Seventh is lovingly moulded, rhythms are carefully
inflected, portamento is sensitively applied. The important baritone (B flat)
horn solos are particularly good, remarkably so considering the instrumentalist
can't get in much practice on this rare member of the brass family. The whole
of this 'wilful and dynamic' movement (De La Grange) is simply gorgeous to
hear, the beauty taking nothing away from the oddity of the music. The first
Nachtmusik has many tempo changes, all made more extreme by Järvi
and played with extraordinary unanimity by his wonderful orchestra. No wonder
he so often wears an expression of delight. The scherzo, called a 'Dance of
Death' by Mengelberg is suitably demonic, making the soulful serenade of the
second Nachtmusik still more of a contrast. The hugely complex Rondo
finale which has so divided critics is made to sound as coherent as can be
imagined.
It is with the Eighth that Järvi achieves most. This has to be the most recalcitrant
music Mahler ever wrote insofar as one can so easily lose the thread of the
argument. In the bonus talks he is at his least explicit about the Eighth.
He even hints he might not necessarily do it again. Not only is the symphony
a 'logistic nightmare' to put on as part of a concert season, it is the most
difficult work to explain. Järvi comes close to hand-waving as he searches
for explanatory phrases. The first movement expresses religious certainties,
the second is both philosophical and personal. He draws parallels between
Gretchen and Alma Mahler in Mahler's search for unconditional love. Fortunately
the conductor's skill with his huge forces never deserts him. In the absence
of an Eighth from Abbado in Lucerne this could well be as convincing a performance
as it is possible to imagine. The recorded sound benefits from not being in
the cavernous acoustic of the Kloster Eberbach, as erroneously stated in the
booklet, but in the generous but properly controlled acoustic of the Großer
Saal at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. Here the forces, though large, can all
hear each other well enough to display some of the most disciplined and beautiful
music-making one could wish for. The soloists all sing in tune and indeed
sing with power and expression. The promoters even found in Anna Lucia Richter
a suitably angelic-looking soprano for the Mater Gloriosa role which is sung
from high up behind the orchestra. The remaining soloists are placed in front
which helps the clarity of the words and allows one to enjoy the superb singing
particularly of the three male soloists who, unusually, match the high quality
of the five female singers. Well translated subtitles help here. This, the
longest of Mahler's symphonic movements, provides opportunities for all the
forces to display their best - the percussion have some large and sonorous
bells to play. I even suspected I heard the presence of a piano but could
not see it on-stage. Mahler does call for both this and a glockenspiel in
addition to the harps. The FRSO show yet again how cleanly they can perform
Mahler's complex music even at the speeds demanded by their conductor. By
contrast, in the extensive choral and vocal passages Järvi can be hugely expansive,
entirely to the benefit of the music which never loses tension or overstays
its welcome. By the time we reach the vast orchestral coda we can only be
thankful we have heard and seen such a very fine Mahler Eighth.
Dave Billinge
*** This disc has also been played on the MusicWeb Listening Toom equipment and we were unable to reproduce the colour fringing noted above. The picture quality of thecwhole series has been fine.
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