Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphonie Nr. 5

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your local record store, along comes yet another Mahler 5th. It seems like every conductor and every orchestra on the planet has recorded the 5th at least once. But strangely enough, Mahler's 5th hasn't been all that lucky in recent times. Several conductors have decided that it's somehow a good idea to slow down waaaay before Mahler indicates to do so when approaching the reprise of the big brass chorale tune, located near the end of the finale. Mariss Jansons even chose to replace a perfectly logical bass drum stroke with a forte cymbal crash. Where do these people get these brilliant ideas? If the kind of nonsense that conductors routinely pour upon Mahler were to be done to Bruckner or Beethoven as well, every critic and expert on earth would be up in arms. So why Mahler? Fortunately, no such monkey business goes on here.

In fact, this is Marcus Stenz's second professional recording of Mahler 5. His first one, performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orch. for ABC Classics, was a true sleeper albeit an expensive import as well. One critic even dubbed it, "the best Mahler 5th you've never heard". Since his stint in Australia, Stenz has been named music director for the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne, Germany - the orchestra that premiered Mahler 5 in 1904 (with R. Strauss' "Sinfonia Domestica" on the second half!). To say that Stenz has made a specialty out of Mahler 5 would not be an exaggeration, as this recorded performance is thoroughly exciting and idiomatic sounding from start to finish. In general, Stenz takes the work a tad on the fast side, but without sounding breathless in the process - the way that Bruno Walter and Hermann Scherchen could sometimes sound with it.

I've never been convinced previously of taking the first movement at a relatively quick pace; until now, that is. Mahler's own piano roll takes about 12:30 for the first movement, and Stenz clocks in just beyond 12 minutes. Yet, Stenz always sounds flexible, not straightjacketed. Perhaps that's the key. For me, this has always been one of Mahler's weakest movements from a purely technical standpoint. It simply doesn't sound that way here. And from here, it only gets better.

The second, third, and fifth movements all possess plenty of excitement and drama, but without making mush out of Mahler's elaborate contrapuntal writing (he made a big study of Bach's "Well Tempered Klavier" before embarking on his 5th). Neither does Stenz put a foot wrong anyplace. If I can find anything to fuss about, it's that the some of the horn solos in the third movement could be a bit bigger sounding for my taste (I do like the recent habit of having the horn soloist placed near the front of the stage for the third movement).

The one movement that might not be to everyone's taste is the famous Adagietto (fourth movement). Stenz brings this baby in at less than 9 minutes. However, yet again, there's plenty of rubato and flexibility in Stenz's approach to tempo relationships and phrasing. No straightjackets. One must also keep in mind that both Bruno Walter and W. Mengelberg did the Adagietto in less than 8 minutes, so Stenz is not wrong. Most important, he pegs the major climaxes in every movement.

Well, our maker and keeper knows that the last thing we need on earth is yet another Mahler symphony cycle. And yes, Stenz and Oehms Classics are doing a full cycle. But if this first release is any indication of things to come, nobody is going to be too sorry about it: so far, so good. Did I mention that the sound quality is near excellent?

I had given up hope! "Maybe the great Mahler conductors are (or conducting like they are) dead?" The two cycles in progress at the moment--Zinman/Tonhalle and Gergiev/LSO: the first, Mahler-meets-the-Osmonds, and the second, like a blindfolded child flailing at a piñata--have been, well, major disappointments. Other recent headless and uncooked turkeys from the likes of Jansons, Tilson Thomas, Rattle, Chailly, and Nott--all the orchestras involved, however, are excellent-to-great--further diminished the hopes of dispelling the statement above.

Thank God that there are so many--Bertini, Tennstedt, Bernstein (2), Abbado (thankfully, very much with us still), Solti, and Karajan (nos. 4, 5, 6, 9)--to seek refuge with. Even cycles by Maazel (both Vienna and NYP), Inbal, Segerstam, De Waart, Haitink (the Concertgebouw cycle and NOT his recent single-issues CSO embalments), Ozawa, and Boulez, for all the near-misses, still delivered much intellectual and/or emotional pleasure.

The present recording by Mr. Stenz with the magnificent Cologne orchestra is something to welcome with open hearts and minds! His is an interpretation that satisfies on both levels; recreating the Mahler who, himself, always strove for the communion of humanity and intellectual rigor in all his compositions. For a further blow-by-blow description of this recording, I defer to Mr. Guerrero's review which is quite detailed and (as always with him) informative. I must add that, the "Adagietto" under Stenz' direction does not sound fast to me either (ordinarily, I happen to prefer it on the slow side). Even though the timing appears fast, "it doesn't feel or sound" fast due to Stenz' subtle direction and the orchestra's beauty of sound. The interpretation retains all the yearning and passion one could desire in this movement without resorting to indulgent overstatement. Also, the sound that the Oehms recording team captured is demonstration quality. It offers the listener a wide and deep musical picture, with excellent instrumental timbre and no digital glare.

THIS is the bunch to do a Mahler cycle. Finally! Absolutely worth the price of admission.

[from Classical WETA's Mahler Survey]

Markus Stenz (Oehms) is the latest conductor to have thrown his hat into the Mahler-cycle ring. Acknowledging the currently ongoing Mahler cycles in the booklet, Oehms does everything to avoid competitive disadvantage and provides SACD surround sound and fine liner notes. Still, there is a problem of conductors taking up the cause of Mahler nowadays, only because it is expected of them; because it is en vogue. What is Stenz' case? Well, he is the new Kapellmeister (that's the title, not a judgement) of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, an orchestra shaped by Hermann Abendroth (1915-1934), Günter Wand (1945-1974), and James Conlon (1990-2002). He opens his cycle with the 5th presumably because it was the Gürzenich Orchestra that premiered the symphony in 1904. (Conlon has a fine Fifth with the same band on EMI.) Together with the Krefeld players, the orchestra also premiered the Third Symphony barely two years prior, and made Mahler's premieres enjoyable experiences for the composer, both times.

When I don't (tediously) compare Mahler symphonies side-by-side, I run through them `in the background', to see if the interpretation can gain, and then keep, my attention and interest. Here David Zinman (RCA,), who, movement for movement, delivers one of the finest new accounts of the Fifth, doesn't grab me in the same way Stenz immediately does. Stenz generates brawny excitement without falling off on the side crudeness. The sound is clear, present, every bit as good and more direct than Zinman's, which ads to the in-your-face quality especially of Stenz' second movement. The Adagietto with Stenz is wonderfully unsentimental; eight minutes and 42 seconds of bliss, and none of that carefully crafted lullaby feeling that, for better or worse, Zinman achieves.

Altogether the most successful Mahler 5th on SACD I've yet heard.

Mahler Symphony #5.-The beginning of a new cycle

The Cologne orchestra premiered Mahler's fifth symphony during its 1904/05 season. Mahler liked this orchestra and"stole" its first trombonist for his Vienna Court Opera Orchestra.
From a compositional standpoint, the fifth was Mahler's nemesis. He was revising it for the fourth time (!) at his death. It was a clear compositional break from the first four " Wunderhorn " symphonies. It broke new ground for Mahler in many creative ways - orchestration, movement configuration, overall structure- just to name a few. His comments over the last six years of his life regarding the work and its interpretation were changeable in the extreme. His exhortations were mainly about tempo and interpretive insight.
Bruno Walter's early and late performances were, by today's standards, quite quick in tempo. Markus Stenz and the current Cologne orchestra (the Gurzenich ) adhere to this approach. In fact, as quick as Stenz' performance is, Walter's Sony recording from 1945 is seven minutes shorter!!Rhetorically, have all performances from the 1960's on been too slow?? I personally don't think so.
In general, Stenz' performance is taut, controlled, and yet fairly dramatic. I liked his 1st and 5th movements best. While movements two through four ( including the famous Adagietto ) are well played, they are lacking in penetrating involvement . Mahler may have "liked" the Scherzo quick, but it is still marked Kraftig, nicht zu schnell !!!
I have heard many live and recorded performances of this great work since 1961 and it has become one of my favorite Mahler symphonies. I may not return to this recording very often, but I am now curious about Stenz' future Mahler recordings.
The sound is quite good overall but I only heard the CD layer. The SACD layer may bring out better string placement. The soloists are fine (trumpet and horn) as are all the orchestral ensembles throughout the performance. The Gurzenich takes no back seat to any orchestra playing this music.
Notes and bio are sufficient and the package comes with a complete 2010 Oehms Classics catalogue.