Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great performance. I think this is one of the best recordings of this work available now. Movements 1-4 are especially well done, and my only complaint about the last movement is that the tempi seem a little too slow in certain sections. Barenboim does make the finale more exciting, however, by putting an accelerando in during the last statement of the theme, which is different and also more interesting than just holding the same tempo till the end, as most conductors typically do. The Chicago Symphony plays more accurately than the Vienna Phil did for the Bernstein recording, and the brass section, in particular, sounds really spectacular.

This is my favorite Mahler 5. From Solti's two recordings I already knew that the CSO is in a class of its own in this piece. Yet, I always found Solti's tempos a bit restless and inappropriately fast, particularly in the first and fourth movements. Here with Barenboim we have a far better reading. I know no other recording that is more true to the score. The CSO has such a phenomenal sense of ensemble that you can hear every line without ever sacrificing togetherness. Add to that a range of dynamics and a palette of colors no other orchestra can match. The only thing better is to hear them live...

This recording enters a catalog full of great performances. But I can't imagine a better performance than the one presented on this disc. The first movement begins with an unaccompanied trumpet solo. As far as notes and rhythms are concerned, the solo is not difficult. But the fact that this is an unaccompanied solo and the fact that it is the first notes heard in the symphony causes even the most talented soloists to sweat. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression in a live performance. The soloist in this recording makes a great first impression. One senses a natural unfolding of the solo. The beautiful tone quality achieved by the soloist forshadows the playing of the orchestra to come. The Chicago Symphony plays so flawlessly that you won't believe it's a live recording. Just listen to the lower strings at the beginning of the second movement. They play with incredible intensity. I like the slower tempo taken by Barenboim in this movement. It makes the music sound fresh. Let's face it. This is a complicated, noisy movement that can sound muddy if played by those less capable. Under Barenboim's steady hand, the tempo never drags. The Adagietto is moving, especially the final bars. Again, the basses shine at the end of the movement. The final movement, like the second, can be mishandled. Once again, Barenboim adopts a slower tempo which allows for more intensity and clarity. Of course, the CSO is famous for it's brass section. Brass fans will not be disappointed. In spite of the bombastic nature of this symphony (that is a good thing), the clarity of the recorded sound is amazing, probably thanks to rather close microphone placement. Unfortunately, it exposes a few minor mistakes from the percussion section. Hey, nobody's perfect. The cover photo is cool too. Nice packaging. Informative notes in three languages and a roster of the CSO. I put it at the top of the catalog.

This splendid recording of Mahler's 5th Symphony is unquestionably among the best out there. Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra give a more passionate, technically perfect reading than the critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon version with Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The Chicago Symphony's brass section gives some of its most polished, lyrical playing that I've heard recorded. Yet the other sections, most notably the strings and woodwinds, play with the brass' high level of precision and passion. Barenboim's reading of Mahler's score is livelier and faster than Bernstein's, though he does opt for slower tempi in the second and fourth movements to bring forth these movements' rich textures with greater clarity than Bernstein ever did. The sound quality is impeccable; it certainly doesn't sound like a live recording. I'd venture to say that this fine recording will be remembered as one of Barenboim's great artistic triumphs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

I can say it in one sentence.....This is the all-time best recording of anything I have ever owned. Being a tubist myself, I have listened to every CSO recording I can get my hands on. This one stands out. One can hear every line, every motif. The Chicago brass puts in everything they got... Dale, Adolph, Charles Vernon and Gene Pokorny, it's just incredible. I will cherish this cd for as long as I live.

Another triumph by Barenboim and the always incredible CSO! Dale Clevinger has got to be the finest principal horn on the planet.

From beginning to end, the recording, music, conducter and orchestra are, in a word, thrilling!

I have always had trouble with the "recommended" recordings of Mahler's Fifth Symphony. After listening to this new and astounding release, I have indefinitely shelved the Wiener/Bernstein and the Berlin/Abbado recordings. To be brief, it's the accuracy and the willingness of this great orchestra to work so well with their Music Director that makes this CD so important.

You can't lose with this recording. It will freshen your Mahlerian mind.

Before I turn to the performances, a quick word about the cover of the Teldec CD: the photo is an archive photo of downtown Chicago, which led me to believe this performance must have been recorded in Chicago's Orchestra Hall, so I was surprised to read on the inside cover that the live recording had been made in Cologne, Germany. But once I read that, I knew that I just had to compare this with the Abbado, which had been recorded live in Berlin.

When I compared the Abbado with the Boulez, it was really hard to pick a winner, because both performances were so good, and both recordings sounded excellent. In the end, I expressed a slight preference for both the sound and the performance of the Boulez, but I preferred Abbado's Adagietto, and really enjoyed the disk overall, to the point that I have kept both it and the Boulez in my CD collection. It took a lot of comparative listening to reach that conclusion, and I really enjoyed going back and forth between the two recordings, finding so much delight in both of them. I looked forward to a similar experience this time, but quickly found myself disappointed by the Barenboim recording, and I did not find comparing these two disks nearly as pleasurable as comparing the two DG disks had been.

Now that I have already revealed my preference, there is not much to be gained by a detailed comparison of the two disks, but I will give a quick overview to explain my preference for the Abbado. In the opening measures, the Abbado performance is clean and clear, with excellent playing. In contrast, the opening trumpet solo sounds flubbed on the Barenboim disk, with the Chicago Symphony sounding a bit ragged throughout the opening minutes of the symphony. Perhaps the rigors of the European tour they were apparently on at the time they made this recording was taking its toll on some of the members of orchestra.

This slightly ragged feeling continued into the second movement. The music sounded a bit confused under Barenboim, but energetic and disciplined under Abbado.

In the third movement, the Chicago players seem to have finally warmed to their task. In this movement, in fact, I slightly preferred the Chicago performance, with the brass and the winds really tearing into their parts with exuberance.

But in the famous Adagietto, Barenboim leads the players in what sounds like a dirge, while Abbado and his crew seem to put much more expression into their performance.

In the final movement, Abbado's performance is clean and well-balanced, while the Barenboim performance seems bit less precise, darker and huskier in tone.

In terms of performance, then, I found the Abbado preferable overall, and by a fairly wide margin. In terms of sound quality, both recordings did a credible job, with the DG sounding slightly more naturally balanced, with a good sense of the hall; the Teldec sounding brawny and powerful, but not quite as natural. But the Teldec is heading to the used-CD store, while the Abbado goes back on my shelf next to Boulez and Barbirolli and Zander.

Well the trumpets blast at the beginning of the 1° movement; the roll of the drums is sharp but without heaviness. The Trauermarsch is so realistic that I remember when I was young and in my little town I followed a funeral. The transitions of the movements are correct and the instruments sound as in a live concert. Intense and excited the beginning of the 2° tempo which meets quickly a haven of peace and calm tinged of a traditional breath of Viennese middle classes. Atmosphere mildly troubled by moments of anguished doubts or of light-hearted expansiveness. A properly and solemn yielding into the pain is well underlined to close the 2° tempo. The 3° tempo is marked by a typical Ländler in which the CSO shows a world of fairy-tale perspectives. Well sounded the Tyrolese motives suddenly imitated by the strings. Enchanting the Trio. whose sweet melancholy reports us to some Brahm's assonances. The string pizzicato opens up to a mysterious and devilish dance until the recapitulation of the Sonata which prepares the entry of the "Adagietto" played with prudence between the strings and the harp. The melting generated is nevertheless skilfully marked by a sense of ambiguous monotony. The final Rondò is full of thematic and tonal links where the strings give emphasis in a tight politonality, besides the quotation of a Fugato form. Finale rich on vitality almost an apotheosis of the sound. Bravo Maestro Daniel Baremboin who has given back the "opera" to the symphony with the skill of a man who lives for the theatre.

Sergio Trentin

If you love Mahler, and you don't have this recording yet, BUY IT!! The Chicago Symphony Brass section play this music as if it were written for them.