Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 7

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This is Michael Tilson Thomas's second recording of the Mahler Symphony No. 7, sometimes called "Symphony of the Night" for its two sections marked night music (nachtmusik). MTT's first recording, with the London Symphony Orchestra, was received very well and holds a place of high honor in both the current Penguin Guide and American Record Guide's most recent (2001) Mahler overview. This production won MTT a Grammy as best clasical recording of 2006.

At 81 minutes, MTT's older recording put it about in the middle of the universe of well-considerd Mahler 7s, which range from about 77-84 minutes. This time, MTT skittered through the score in about 77 minutes, making this account speedy by contrast.

While musical pundits have considered this a song for the night because of its two sections of nachtmusik, Michael Steinberg's notes to this issue suggest it is more likely four sections of night music followed by the sunshine of day, announced by the drum roll that kicks off the final movement. "Few here will fail to be reminded of Die Meistersinger," Steinberg wrote about the opening notes of the finale.

I've not heard MTT's earlier recording so I don't know where he skips time or space to cut four minutes. This recording, made in concert in San Francsisco's Davies Hall and recorded in somewhat spotlighted SACD sound, may have gained time by way of the energy created in a live performance. The annotation says this was recorded during March 9-12, 2005 but fails to disclose the number of performances given during that span.

MTT's opening is wonderful, in my opinion. It is echt-Mahlerian -- martial, booming with oomph and heart, all the qualities that make up this philosophically confused and emotional strained composer. During the first Nachtmusik section, conductor and band seem to lighten the reins a bit and perhaps slacken. The third movement begins to sound like spotlighted sound. How does a tuba stick out like that in the orchestral morass of a Mahler symphony, anyway?

The fourth movement -- the second Nachtmusik section -- is makred Andante amoroso and Tilson Thomas plays this for every inch of its amorous nature. A spirit of quiet warmth and good humor permeate the section, which is a marked contrast to everything that came before it. In the episodic finale, where a conductor is most challenged to keep it all together, MTT reminds me of tactics he used in his recording of the Mahler Symphony No. 6, especially his tendency to speed up and slow down the motion of the orchestra in interceding sections of the score. It closes is flames of glory, carrying off MTT's overall message of humanity and ecstasy.

I wouldn't call this my favorite version of the Mahler 7 but it's certianly a good one. The hybrid SACD recording is very good -- marked by clarity, depth and projection of a very good on pitch orchestra -- but it would also fall victim to claims that the engineers spotlighted certain sections for added effect. While a fabulous sounding CD, it is not always a very natural sounding performance.

I'm not one to dawdle when listening to Mahler and I don't like conductors that drag out the music beyond its capacity to breathe and live. At 77 minutes, this version is on pace with my favorite recording of the score, the one by Vaclav Neumann and the Gewandhaus Orchestra recorded for Berlin Classics in 1970. I enjoy Neumann's overall conception more than MTT's, which is more literal and less atmospheric. Many Mahlerites believe the Symphony No. 7 is nothing but atmosphere; I do not hold membership in that sect.

And, for all the wonder of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on display in this magnificent sounding CD, I believe the German orchestra did them one better three and one-half decades earlier, especially the fruitier sounding horns. I also appreciate the more natural sound of the older CD.

These preferences aside, this new MTT version should be a contender for everyone except those that must wring every ounce of angst out of the score, and it should become the preferred version for audiophiles willing to pay $27 for a single CD performance of this music.

As a classical percussionist who bought this disc, and spent the whole night repeating the experience, who then found that another classical musician friend had done the same with his new copy, both of us floored by what we were hearing and nearly brought to tears by this extraordinary performance, it was educational to read the following statement a couple of weeks later in an Amazon customer review:

"The seventh, Mahler's most enigmatic, complex, and orchestrally astounding symphony sounds here, in the hands of Michael Tilson Thomas and his San Francisco Symphony, commonplace, unoriginal, and boring."

Commonplace. Unoriginal. Boring.

Amazing.

There you have it. That's how different people's ears are.

This is why, in the end, if you are a musician, conductor, or composer, you can give up on asking audiences what to play. You have only your own well-trained instincts and interests as your guide. You must therefore damn the torpedoes, just like Mahler, and just like MTT and the SFSO do on this jaw-dropping disc.

I will not, however, tell you that you will be thrilled and grateful on every listen, as we musicians were that night, giddily wearing out our repeat buttons. I've learned my lesson.

You might instead have indigestion, or perhaps an earphone on the fritz, so you'll find it irritating.

Perhaps you are a Mahlerian interpretive genius, and Tilson Thomas is a pipsqueak and an ingrate who never calls anymore, so you'll find it arrogant and presumptuous.

Or perhaps, you don't like Mahler at all, in which case, you've done a very strange thing by purchasing this album.

But I will warn you (in my role as your therapist): it's not going to get any better than this, and you are doomed to disappointment for the rest of your life, so you might as well start the drinking now.

No orchestra has never been more attached to the conductor's cerebral cortex, no brass section more laserlike, no woodwinds more eerie, no timpanist more brilliant, no string section tighter, nor any conductor more poised within the prismatic structures, technical demands, and sheer loony energy of Mahler than this one.

Personally, I have a rehearsal to go to, and after that I shall go home, where there's a certain orange and cream colored album, and a repeat button that's got my name on it.


Bravi a tutti,

Ian Shields

I read with great interest one reviewer's critique who found this performance "sadly disappointing." I have been collecting the whole MTT/SFS Mahler cycle and being a native of the San Francisco Bay Area (but living in St. Paul, MN) I always try to show loyatly by waiting to buy the next Mahler cd when I am actually in the city on vacation. After reading the scathing critique of this performance I decided to break "tradition" and buy it here in Minnesota. I was puzzled because all the reviews I had heard of the actual concert perforamnces by friends in San Francisco were total opposite from what was being written. So after hearing a stunning performance of Mahler Symphony No. 3 with Andrew Litton and the Minnesota Orchestra, I ventured to my local record store and was able to find it.
I arrived home and took out my study score to follow along. From the very beginning opening rhythmic figure this performance had me hooked. I think the tempos are just right. In contrast to MTT's very fine perforamnce with the LSO on RCA, this one took my breath away from the very beginning. Because MTT recorded it just about 6 years previous, how can you expect it to be the same performance. It's a different orchestra, different space, etc, and plus the work is large enough that can take several interpretations. I do think those three minutes add to an even BETTER performance. While I love the previous MTT performance, I felt the tempos were just a bit earth-bound. This current perforance really takes flight and has a sense of forward momentum that I find bracing and electrifying. The sense of timing and the tempo relationships within the same movements are superbly executed. I evntually ended up listening to this cd 3 times in a row before I eventually went to bed! The orchestra sounds sensational and I didn't hear any of the intonation problems that the previous reviewer spoke of. I do wish the percucssion had a bit more presence, but other than I think this is the best the SF Symphony has sounded on the Mahler cycle so far. I didn't think it was possible, but this MTT performance has replaced the classic older CBS Bernstein performance as my favorite. I think the MTT/Mahler/SFS cycle has been very exciting. I am not as taken with the 4th Symphony becuase I feel that MTT maybe micro-managed things a bit much in that performance that it really does not take flight. Only two more symphonies to go, the 5th, which they just taped, and the 8th which comes around in performance in late May early June, along wtih the 10th of the Adagio and the Ruckert-Lieder will complete a very sensational, stunning and superbly executed Mahler cycle that will not be challenged for the foreseeable future! Way to go, MTT and the San Francisco Symphony!!

In committing to a full cycle of all of the Mahler Symphonies Michael Tilson Thomas has kept the variables at a minimum - all are recordings made by the San Francisco Symphony, all are consolidated from a season series of live performances (three to four performances in as many days' time), all are recorded in the same space (here Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco), and all are in Hybrid SACD format. The results are as keenly cohesive as any conductor has been able to achieve and while not every entry in the cycle is penultimate, every entry IS superb.

The Symphony No. 7, at times referred to as the Symphony of the Night because of the inclusion of the two nachtmusik movements, is one of the more difficult of Mahler's symphonies to program. It is lengthy and it is episodic. It doesn't have the angst of the 6th or the vast adoration and vocal splendor of the 8th, but is does happen to contain some of Mahler's most creative writing.

Michael Tilson Thomas has Mahler circulating in his veins, and if his interpretations of each o these works vary a bit from performance from one year to the next, it is because he senses the spirit of Mahler and follows it. Only recently he changed the order of the movements in the 6th from his recording to a different order in the next season's performance in Los Angeles. Does this mean he is unsure about the works - or does it simply mean that he is attuned to Mahler's own doubts and idiosyncrasies he found in both writing and altering and performing his own works? I think it is the latter.

Yes, the tempi in this 7th are different than in his previous recording with the London Symphony Orchestra. Yes, the first movement yearns for a bit more cohesion. But take the entire work as performed by Tilson Thomas' own orchestra and the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is a treasureable recording and one that stands proudly in the great Mahler Cycle we are fortunate to be receiving on recordings. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

Mahler's 7th was the first Mahler symphony I ever heard, more than 40 years ago. I fell in love with the music and it remains one of my all time favorites. I heard MTT conduct the 7th here in Miami about 10 years ago with the New World Symphony, a orchestra made up of recent conservatory graduates. That was a great performance. The reading here is a very good one but has many weaknesses. First of all, the tenor horn solos are not really that well played. Compared to the Haitink DVD with the Berlin Philharmonic, this player's tone is very weak. Then in many key moments in the first movement, the intensity of the music is simply not there. The 2nd and 3rd movements are much better but the lovely fourth movement lacks poetry. The finale is played extremely fast and again the drama is lacking, although it is very exciting. If you have SACD and really good equipment, you might want this recording for its outstanding sound but I would purchase the Haitink DVD and get the picture and a truly great performance at the same time. If you want a single CD version, Abbado/Chicago Symphony is excellent in every single movement.

I live in S.F. bay area, and I've become quite disappointed in this series. The 7th is one of MTT's stronger ones, along with the 9th. Here, the finale is quite good, although no better than on the recent Barenboim/Berlin Staatskapelle (Warner) M7. For me, the two Nachtmusik movements really lack atmosphere. The first one, in particular, is really prosaic - capturing little if any of the mystery implied. The second Nachtmusik is better, but the guitar and mandolin are slightly too distant (far closer sounding on the more "serenade"-like Barenboim). Equally bothersome for me, is that the allegro (fast) passages of the first movement are just absurdly fast - almost to the breaking point. Wouldn't it have been better to save some of that breathless rushing for the finale? It's difficult to fully digest the first movement at such a lickity-split tempo, as both the harmony and counterpoint are fairly advanced and "rich"-sounding in this movement. I feel that Pierre Boulez's 23 minutes works far better for the first movement (MTT is closer to 20). Worse yet, there's little atmosphere to the centrally placed, "moonlit" episode that provides much needed relief from all that busy rushing about. Fortunately, things do get better from the scherzo on. However, I just feel that MTT's earlier LSO effort was more consistant from begining to end. I also think that it was somewhat better recorded. But among recent releases of the Mahler 7th, it's hard to top the Barenboim - one of the best ones ever.

This performance does take a little getting used to, when compared to the ones I preferably listen to, namely those by Bernard Haitink (1982 & 1985), Claudio Abbado (2001) or even Michael Tilson Thomas' own 1997 recording with the LSO. So please allow me to get to grips with this (somewhat) different approach by maestro Tilson Thomas by comparing it with another approach by another conductor, mainly Haitink.
Of Bernard Haitink I would here again (see my other reviews) like to stress both his 1982 studio recording (astounding - sometimes almost heavenly - beauty of playing and recorded sound), and the phenomenal, very intense 1985 live Christmas Matinee recording (maybe even better: aside from playing and recording - which are great - more emotional intensity). This Christmas Matinee recording of the Seventh deserves a much, much wider hearing, it is that good, but it can nowadays only be procured via internet from Holland, and then only as part of a set of 9 CD's with all of the Christmas Matinee recordings of Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 (Six and Eight were not performed). But for Mahler-completists, it is certainly worth the effort and the money.
Generally, the interpretations by these conductors (Haitink and especially Abbado) could be described as more flowing or more dramatically sustained. But the 1985 Haitink Seventh stands out in that it has the same kind of energy and control as Tilson Thomas, but IMHO being even better: while just as energetic, he sounds even more 'natural' and - yes - more emotionally charged and with more 'raw' power - more 'free'.
IMHO, the way Bernard Haitink and Claudio Abbado have with this music sounds less 'mannered' (or should I better say: less 'surgically' (?) attentive to the score) than Michael Tilson Thomas does in this recording. But in all three recordings, the sound-picture as well as the playing itself is just great, I believe. These are (now) my three favorite Mahler Sevenths, with Haitink 1982 and Claudio Abbado (2001) coming in very, very close on third and fourth place. But I do think that Sir Simon Rattle's (1991) high-strung, fiercely energetic approach is as legitimate as any other (see my review).
But what tremendous colours and (nervous) energy here, with Michael Tilson Thomas! This conductor really relishes all of the different musical colorations and inventions to the full, but with taste, intelligence and with style. Orchestral forces are always, note for note, kept under tight control and neatly balanced by maestro Tilson Thomas. This does indeed count for something with this outrageous music. Maybe that is it: Michael Tilson Thomas here first of all wants to stress the outrageous, new, expressionistic character of this most colorful music by Mahler. In this he does succeed amazingly, I think, helped by playing that is as technically astute as it is beautiful. And the overall faster speeds don't bother me when control is as tight as it is here.
In the end it could be said that maybe, by keeping everything in such a tight grip and under such tight control, and keeping to the score as faithfully as he does here (??? - I wouldn't know, though: I can't read music ...) Michael Tilson Thomas does lose some of the more 'emotional' depth (if one could call it thus) which we do find/feel more with Haitink (1985). But at the same time, something could have been gained as well, namely a strict sence of balance and a clear, unclouded view of this strange, enigmatic, gorgeous and ever renewing music. I for one love this recording, which to my ears only keeps getting better and better after each hearing, and I believe it is a beautiful addition to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas Mahler Cycle.

This is a decent Mahler 7 but not as good as MTT's earlier one. I don't like the trumpet playing on this recording. I attended a Mahler 7 with MTT a few years after this recording and it sounded much more coherent than this recording. The orchestra was more comfortable with it. I find Gielen and Bertini a better choice.

Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony used to be dismissed as among his lesser efforts but it has, in recent years, come to be better appreciated. The music was composed during 1904 - 1905 and was first performed in 1908. The title that has been applied to this symphony - Song of the Night - did not originate with Mahler but it is an apt description of the music.

The drama of the opening movement is superb and continues to the ending bars. The San Francisco Symphony beautifully phrases the music with careful attention to the colors and shadings. The first of the two Nachtmusik movements, the first ones to be composed, are marvelously played. The first Nachtmusik owes its light-and-dark atmosphere to the Sixth Symphony, which was composed immediately before. The music mixes lyrical passages with a more sinister march theme and the use of cow bells also places it with the darker Sixth. The ghostly Scherzo is played with a things-that-go-bump in the night quality and is perhaps not a sinister as some performances but is effectively played. The second Nachtmusik is a nocturne, with its part for mandolin, reminds me of a day spent on a northern Italian lake - it is placid and calming. The boisterous Finale is great fun with its mix of melodies lifted form other composers transformed by Mahler into a humorous pastiche.

As the CD notes state, the Seventh is a journey from night to daylight. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony make this a memorable journey. The orchestra plays performs magnificently and Tilson Thomas provides a steady hand letting the music flow. I can't recall a more exciting Finale; you are left wanting to start the disc all over again. It is no mistake that this performance was awarded a Grammy.

Mahler's 7th is my favorite Mahler. The moodiness that pervades the symphony is astonishing in melodic expressions. Michael Tilson Thomas has two versions, an earlier one in 1999 with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), and this later cycle with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (SFSO). Both are fine, but, overall, I prefer the SFSO version. Tilson Thomas made some conscious choices that are marginal improvements - in emphasis, in mix, in conveyance of mood. The clarity in both is wonderful, but SFSO has an even finer detailing. SFSO is faster paced, about a minute per movement, than the LSO, but to no detriment. The SFSO fourth movement is only six seconds faster than the LSO, but it seems to have more punch, and Tilson Thomas uses speed in those punchy passages to achieve that. The engineering on all of Tilson Thomas' SFSO work is superb.

My two other favorites 7ths are Abbado, and, of course, Bernstein.

Bernstein is the standard, and there's no taking away his versions are excellently conducted and superbly played, both on Sony and DG. Bernstein's Sony sound is a bit aged, though the detail is remarkable. His horns sound a bit brittle, compared to Tilson Thomas' warm brass. And Bernstein's horn blasts almost always drown the strings, which bothers me. Bernie likes his bass too, though it's not nearly as noticeable in his Sony recordings as his later DG.

Abbado in Chicago on DG is darker, more diabolical, though in some sections withdrawn. The moods are pronounced. A good thing. The depth of his sound provides a luxurious setting, yet his Nachtmusik passages are delicate. One thing that Tilson Thomas does not convey as well is the "haunted ballroom" sense, but only after listening to Abbado does that point come home. Tilson Thomas' sound has more detail than Abbado, as does Bernstein for that matter, though the difference is slight. It just depends on your flavor preference.

So, Tilson Thomas on the 7th - emphatically yes. SFSO or LSO, you won't go wrong, though SFSO is my slight preference. His rethinking bore fruit. Abbado for contrast, and Bernstein for the benchmark. If you love this symphony, you don't want just one version.

As to price point, Tilson Thomas is, as Oregonians are wont to say, spendy. You can start with A & B on a budget, but you won't want to miss the double T.