Gustav
Mahler
Symphony No.7 in E minor
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Saarbrücken
Conducted by Hans Zender
CPO 999 478-2
[78.40]
Crotchet
Amazon
US
You somehow know when a conductor has the measure of a Mahler Symphony. There
is a feeling of confidence running right through his performance, a feeling
he and his players have penetrated to the core of the work, that is deeply
satisfying. You may find yourself disagreeing with certain conclusions the
conductor has reached, or you may not, but you do feel he has covered everything
he intended to and the effect of this is palpable. You haven't had to worry
about anything. There have been no passages where the conductor is only marking
time, something that happens more often than you might think. This is very
much the feeling I have with this superb performance of the one Mahler Symphony
that many listeners and interpreters have problems with and that makes it
a remarkable version. It comes from 1982 and the archives of Saarbrücken
Radio by the little-known German Composer Conductor Hans Zender.
There are no hard conclusions to be reached about what Mahler was doing in
this work so there is room for quite a wide variety of interpretations, some
looking back some looking forward. On that aspect the scholar Peter Revers
wrote: "Mahler's Seventh is in some ways a study in the extreme diversity
of what music might be - a multiplicity of sounds which occupies a spectrum
from the sublimely romantic to the grotesquely deformed. It is hardly surprising
that performance interpretations (such as Michael Gielen's) that focus strictly
on these aspects of colouring highlight the modern and progressive approach
to Mahler's Seventh." Revers might have chosen Hermann Scherchen's Toronto
recording on Music and Arts as an even better example of this kind of approach,
but his point is well made. It is into this tradition I believe Hans Zender's
recording of Mahler's exploration of a journey from darkness to light falls,
stressing diversity, multiplicity and, in some cases, deformity. Not as extreme
as Scherchen's, but still meriting the epithet "modern and progressive".
The Arioso with funeral march rhythm that opens the work is superbly delivered,
slow as marked, but not so slow the sense of line that must develop fails
to get underway. The strings are a little more precise than usual also. When
the tempo picks up at bar 19 there is just enough variation to count and
again at 27 where the tempo should fall back again. There are certainly benefits
to be had from a sharper dilineation of these important tempo shifts but
Zender's seamless approach, which must have taken careful preparation, is
valid as it perhaps involves the listener more. Notice how the sound of the
orchestra really fills out too. Right through this is an excellent acoustic
for this work with enough air around the sound to beguile the ear but not
too much that detail is dissipated. There is no extra lingering over details
in the beautiful development with its exotic plumage and this leads to a
recapitulation that is remarkable for generating tension. Zender never becomes
distracted or allows his performance to drift into flabbiness, as some can.
Indeed, passages where he makes his brass, trumpets particularly, stand out
accentuate some hard edges.
Zender's adeptness in the first movement of opening out the remarkable textures
is continued in the second, the first of the two Nachtmusik. From the very
distinctive horns at the start, not the mellow, open sound we are used to,
to the excellent balance of cowbells and soft tam-tam in bars 122-140, this
adds up to a surprisingly uncomfortable interpretation, quite edgy and
foreboding. But it's in the third movement Scherzo that the real surprise
comes. It's clear Zender sees this as the pivot of the whole work which,
structurally, it has claims to be. Many interpreters stress the bizarre and
nightmarish quality of the movement with quick tempo. Anything too much on
the slow side and the special character of the music is dissipated as with
Haitink in his second Amsterdam version or the infamous Klemperer. Zender
goes for the slower option (10.40 as opposed to Abbado's 8.53) but with his
continuing keen ear for detail the interest never flags once. In fact, the
whole effect is more surreal than is often the case with the textures again
really exposed for our scrutiny. The effect is quite hypnotic and I'm sure
Mahlerites will find it surprising.
The fourth movement, the second Nachtmusik, has a wonderful old-world charm
among the exotica: warm nights and feeling characterise and it shows Zender
is well aware of the warmth Mahler writes into this work and shows himself
aware of every aspect of its nature. It's an approach that prepares the ground
well for the finale in that the burst of light and energy that comes upon
us here doesn't seem to come out of nowhere. Mahlerites will argue until
the end of time as to what this last movement "means" both in itself and
in context. Is it a straightforward celebratory carnival: sheer optimism
with no qualification? Or is Mahler giving only pretence of optimism,
his aim ironic and sarcastic? Or is this a portrait of a world dancing itself
to oblivion? Much depends on the type of performance. Scherchen in Toronto
unquestionably fits in with the last interpretation and I think Zender is
of the optimistic camp, the movement the final, joyous emergence into daylight
with all our problems behind us. He narrates the ebb and flow of the movement
well, knows when to press forward and when to hold back. His orchestra copes
well though without the last few ounces of virtuoso panache the players of
New York or Chicago bring to it. However, I did just get the feeling at the
very end that the smile Zender's performance wears has the hint of the rictus
grin about it: smiling in spite of contrary feelings. You can discern this
in the way he seems to keep the rythms tight, the music stiff and controlled
in the closing pages. It's an interesting "sign off" to this fascinating,
madding, perplexing work that is still crucial to understanding the whole
life's work of Mahler.
A superb performance full of fascinating things. One which is excellently
played and recorded and deserves to be considered alongside the very best
versions such as those by Bernstein, Horenstein, Gielen, Scherchen and Abbado.
Zender's Mahler Seventh is that good and I recommend it enthusiastically.
Reviewer
Tony Duggan
Performance:
Recording:
See Tony's comparative review
of this symphony
