Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

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

 

 

The CD bin for Mahler's 5th Symphony is usually very large and it can be tough to make a good selection from so many choices. That said, this recording is one that can be chosen with confidence. The brass playing in the first movement is thrilling without being overdone. Phil Smith's opening solo is the best I've heard, Joe Alessi's trombones are rock-solid throughout, and in short I would buy this one for the brass alone.

The string sound, especially in the 4th movement, is full and beautiful. Mehta may be criticized for not being the most "romantic" conductor of his day, but I can't find anything wrong with his handling of this piece. The recording quality is excellent throughout, as well. Look no further than this CD for an outstanding Mahler 5th .

This recording proves once and for all, that this orchestra's brass section is the finest of its kind. One after the other, the principals countless exposed passages are flawlessly executed. (Principal Hornist Philip Meyers does an exceptional job with the scherzo) FF Tutti sections are massive and appropriate, while intonation never seems to suffer. Truly a model recording for the aspiring orchestral brass instrumentalist.

Zubin Mehta leaves most of the trumpet line interperatations to Phil Smith. If anybody knows how to play the lines of this work, it is Phil Smith. This recording has extremely exaggerated dinamics and tempo fluctuations. I was personally refferred to this recording by the brass players at new york phil. There is no recording currently available that even comes close to competing with the extremely high quality of this recording.

Zubin Mehta leaves most of the trumpet line interperatations to Phil Smith. If anybody knows how to play the lines of this work, it is Phil Smith. This recording has extremely exaggerated dinamics and tempo fluctuations. I was personally refferred to this recording by the brass players at new york phil. There is no recording currently available that even comes close to competing with the extremely high quality of this recording.

I agree that this performance is a well kept secret in the host of Mahler 5 recordings. The brass section does an incredible job in all the movements. The performance does not deserve 5 stars because Zubin Mehta's interpretation lacks some of the intense emotion that I think is necessary in this peice. For example, in the first movement, the trumpet doesen't make as much of the double dotted figure as I would. Also, after the fanfare, I would put more rubato in the string melody.

I have listened to Mahler for 25 years now, and thought I was getting kind of tired of the Fifth. But I have found renewed awe of this Symphonywith this performance, and I can't stop listening to this recording. The second movement in particular is phenomenal in its turbulence, tumult, and range of emotion. The brass playing is extraordinary. (Do the strings play in the Finale's final chorale? Oh well, no reason to tear your ears away from brass playing like this anyway...)

(I don't believe in doublng up on the same review, but I am posting this one twice--for Metha's Mahler Fifth and Mahler Second--for the purpose of comparison.)

How did Zubin Mehta move from the highly promising conductor of the Mahler Second heard on Decca with the Vienna Phil. to the veteran hack we hear on the Mahler Fifth from New York? As a student Mehta studied in Vienna, and he fully desrved to lead the Philharmonic when he recorded this "Resurrection," at the height of his populairty in L.A. But from the moment he took over the New York Phil., succeeding the controversial Pierre Boulez, he started on a deline into slick, routine, uninvolved conducting that has few highlights.

His NY Phil. recordings for CBS are essentially forgotten, and with good reason. Listen to this return engagement condcuting the Mahler Fifth, and what do you hear? Impatient, rushed tempi, blatant phrasing that dumbs down Mahler's musical intent, indifference to emotion and inner meaning, apparent ignorance of Mahler style. None of those defects exist in the excellent and idiomatic reading of the Ressurection. The gaudy brass playing in the Fifth sticks out musically like a sore thumb, a far remove from the brilliant and musically satisfying brass on the Vienna recording.

The saddest decline in conducting talent must be Mehta's and Lorin Maazel's, whose superficiality and apprent boredom are equal to his. It's too bad the NY Phil. is burdened with Maazel now--no doubt they are headed into a totally forgettabel era to mirror the one Mehta reigned over thirty years ago.

Zubin Mehta tiene grandes grabaciones de la Sinfonías de Gustav Mahler, por ejemplo la Resurrección con la Wiener Philharmoniker o la Tercera con Los Angeles Philharmonic. Pero creo que esta Quinta no es precisamente algo que me satisfaga plenamente, no se me entienda mal, la interpretación en general es buena, sobretodo el trabajo del primer Corno de la New York Philharmonic en el Scherzo y el Finale de la Sinfonía en la cual Mehta logra un gran efecto orquestal, en el resto simplemente cumple. Versiones que yo recomendaría son: Sir Georg Solti / CHSO, Boulez / Wiener Phil., Bernstein / Wiener Phil. La elección es suya.