Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 6

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

 

 

Having a handful of versions of each Mahler symphony, I wanted to acquire an additional modern recording of the 6th to expand my collection. Reviews of the Sanderling reading were uniformly great (excepting the few who complained that he conducted Mahler as if it were Shostakovich). I placed that order on Amazon -- and waited-- month after month -- and the delivery date kept getting pushed out farther. As a stopgap measure, I decided to try the Jansons version with the LSO (having been VERY impressed with his reading of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances), and found this live recording to be an overwhelming experience in all particulars. I decisively cancelled the Sanderling order with a clear conscience. As a deeply powerful reading of Mahler's Sixth that traverses its entire arc of nuances, one can only say of this LSO Live release, "Game over, man!" FYI, there should be a "Woofer Advisory" sticker on the CD: the first hammerblow knocks your teeth out.

I should declare my knowledge of Mahler 6 recordings:Vaclav Neumann (excellent)and George Szell(dry and cursory)
i'm very happy with this latest addition to my collection:Jansons has a keen ear for detail but this never impedes the momentum,or a sense of the bigger picture.As for lightweight....i don't hear it myself....but Kubelik was always accused of the same thing,and look how his marvellous,glowing cycle has stood the test of time.The LSO may not be as colourful in timbre as Kubelik's Bavarian RSO but they appear to be at full tilt on this very special occasion.

A rendering of "the only sixth" in the classical repertoire worth more than five stars. Wao, I am speechless, what a feeling of vastness, infinitude; I am finally beginning to get it. A "bravo" and another for Jansons, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite conductors, alongside Klemperer and Celibidache.

Janson's live M6 is a decent performance that is fairly competitive, but the dry and brittle sound quality turns me off. I shouldn't be surprised; all of these LSO releases have terrible sound due to the super dry acoustics of the Barbican. The violins have no depth and there's precious little air around the orchestra. Fisher, Eschenbach, Herbig and Bertini are the best M6 I've heard.

We here have a classical and straightforward and somewhat 'light' (as opposed to 'heavy-handed') and 'fresh' account of this maybe greatest of Mahler's symphonies. The soundpicture is nicely direct without being too much in your face or constricting. All in all a success, when we consider the not so flattering acoustics of this recording venue. The technicians must surely have taken this into account here, when the result is so naturally beautiful-sounding.
However classical or 'light' his approach might be, Mariss Jansons - who now blesses us with his presence as chief conductor of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest - from the start just takes us by the throat and drags us through this world at an almost unrelenting pace, which makes the inevitability of fate which looms larger than life over the whole symphony seem all the more immediate. There is for me here a constant uneasy feeling (which I believe is just what Mahler would want me to feel) of a constant pressing on towards the end, not wanting to delay but take fate head-on, as it were. Although there are more expanded views of this symphony, this recording is very rewarding on all fronts. Bravo to all involved. We now cannot but eagerly await Mariss Jansons' Mahler 6 with the Concertgebouworkest.

It's heartening to see that Mariss Jansons is turning his attention to Mahler, and it's quite likely that he'll be performing this composer's music often with his new orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, where the Mahler tradition dates back to guest-conducting engagements by the composer himself. I bought this set thinking it would be an in-concert equivalent of the Thomas Sanderling set, and in fact there are similarities. Each conductor takes a leaner, more classical approach to this frequently sprawling symphony (e.g., no stretching out the Andante to 17-and-a-half minutes) and each gets powerful and committed playing from his orchestra (in fact, the London Symphony is far more experienced in this composer's music than the St. Petersburg Philharmonic of the Sanderling CD). Both conductors have a sharp ear for Mahler's frequently dense textures, an approach that's enhanced with closely balanced recorded sound.

There are also differences, though. Jansons puts the Andante before the Scherzo, in accordance with the current "revisionist" vogue--although unlike the Sanderling, where Scherzo and Andante are on two separate CDs, listeners to the Jansons can program these movements in whichever order they prefer. (For me, Scherzo-Andante and Andante-Scherzo are equally valid.) There's also a disparity in the overall success of these two performances. Sanderling's grimmer approach is more convincing and more sustained; Jansons doesn't quite convey the sense of life-and-death struggle in the symphony's closing pages. His focus slips during this portion of the work (or perhaps it's TOO sharp, too matter-of-fact), and that ends up being a major blot on an otherwise formidable performance. I also found Jansons' speeding-up in the latter part of the Andante a little eccentric.

For what it's worth, this live recording has no obtrusive audience noise (the applause has been edited out), although Jansons' Barbirolli-like grunts are quite audible.

Mariss Jansons must be the only conductor to have recorded the Mahler Sixth live not once but twice. Besides this LSO Live reading there's a new SACD performance with Jansons' current orchestra, the Concertgebouw. Since it's British, this CD got a good review in the Gramophone, but in actuality it's a very odd, even perplexing performance. Why Jansons views Mahler's "Tragic" symphony as a lightweight affair is beyond me. Textures are glib and glossy throughout. The Scherzo sounds perky and clipped. The moving Andante, which is basically foolproof, glides by inconsequentially. The LSO seems lackluster as well, which isn't surprising--they aren't asked to stretch at all.

If this profound music means so little to Janosons, why does he keep recording it? The two outer movements, which are the heart and viscera of the Sixth, find him willing to dig in a little more, but the opening march in the finale feels completely limp--maybe Jansons is trying to correct Bernstein's excessive passion (as he sees it). In all, if you happen to want a breezy Mahler Sixth, this CD is as close as you'll ever get, I imagine.

Mariss Jansons is my favourite conductor alive but this cd clearly shows why he waited this long to record Mahler.He approaches music knowing exactly what to say with the work as he always do but in my opinion this is not the way for Mahler.He gives no space for fantasy or imagination and goes straight-forward.Opening march and finale are energetic but they do not sound like the huge struggle i think they express.The slow movement which Jansons takes second is really strange,almost like a parody.In my opinion 6th is the most suitable symphony of Mahlers for purposeful readings like this one but unfortunately Jansons takes purpose in music to a whole new level.