Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 9

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I write about music, including Mahler, for American Record Guide and have known this music for more than 30 years. Yet, when I heard this recording, it was like hearing the piece for the first time. Karajan gets the spirit and life of this symphony onto discs like nobody before or since. The playing -- though not note-perfect, it was recorded in concert -- is full of intensity and beauty and the range of the piece is all there, from the halting exploration of the opening, through the wit and nostalgia of the second movement and the biting fury of the third. The finale, though, is the jewel of the performance, gorgeous and heartfelt with a fiery bridge into the closing pages, played here with a transfigured peace and deep love and optimism instead of the pathos or sentimentality of lesser performances. If you think of Mahler as a Woody Allen composer, weak and vulnerable and passive, this is not the reading for you, but if you see him as a strong, sensitive, but heroic creator, don't miss this recording.

Mahler's Ninth Symphony is arguably both his most deeply moving and his most enigmatic. It is as if Mahler was looking back on his own life through a distorting musical mirror, seeing moments of peace and struggle along the way. (The first movement of the Ninth is all about that struggle, with peace eventually winning out.) But then, as the final quiet notes slowly die away, Mahler seems to have looked forward and accepted his impending death. In death, he finally finds a kind of spiritual peace.

Lest that sound a bit too self-consciously poetic for some, I defy you to come away from this classic recording of Mahler's Ninth and not see it in a similar way---and not be deeply moved.

At the very least, Herbert von Karajan, in this live 1982 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, shows that the Ninth is not merely a tragic utterance. Leonard Bernstein often interpreted this valedictory symphony as personal tragedy; thus, in his final Royal Concertgebouw recording of the Ninth, he stretched that final Adagissimo nearly to the breaking point, as if he felt Mahler could not bear to let those notes go. As usual with the charismatic Bernstein, the sheer intensity of the performance---and that Concertgebouw Ninth sure was intense, especially the drawn-out concluding Adagio---disarms criticism. But, as Herbert von Karajan convincingly proves with this performance, it may not be the whole story as far as Mahler's Ninth is concerned. In Karajan's interpretation of the Adagio, there is nobility to go along with the sadness, and, as performed gloriously by the Berlin Philharmonic, it is equally moving.

Karajan may not be everybody's idea of the ideal Mahler conductor. Those who learned Mahler's Ninth through Bernstein's numerous recordings might miss the expressive freedom Bernstein brought to his performances. Karajan is more content on securing beauty of sound and maintaining the musical line than necessarily transforming lives through music. But while Bernstein perhaps is a little insistent on presenting the music in a certain way, Karajan allows the music and its underlying emotions to speak for itself. And while some might argue that Mahler was never much of a subtle composer---and I wouldn't wholly disagree with that---Karajan's more modest approach still manages to pay dividends in this performance. It may not always sound like Mahler (or, at least, Bernstein's popular supercharged vision of Mahler), but it is hardly as emotionally sterile as some of its critics have made it out to be. Listen, for example, to the bitter intensity the Berlin Philharmonic brings to the work's demonic third movement; surprisingly, for all its technical perfection, it never sounds merely careful. And those strings in the final Adagio---what heartbreaking beauty!

This 1982 recording of Mahler's Ninth may not be the only one you'll want to hear---Bernstein is almost never easily dismissed in Mahler, especially in his recording of the Ninth, which he saw as one of Mahler's central works, a work for our troubled times. But Karajan's noble interpretation is just as valid as Bernstein's tragic view; it is, indeed, powerful in its own way. Recommended.

I own this recording since several years, and have continuously compared against others: Bernstein, Zander, Abbado, Walter, Barbirolli, to name a few. And man, no matter how I twist and turn it, I ALWAYS come back to this one. And each time just to realize: This IS the BEST out there. Period.

I have reviewed this recording already before ("For eternity", see below), and it is unusual for me to write a second review (actually, it is the first time). But this recording is different, and demands an exception.
I once heard Sir Simon Rattle say that everything about Mahler should be seen as being totally Viennese. And here I re-listen to this recording, only to suddeny realize: This IS the difference. Sir Simon is right! This recording, it's energy, it's rhythms, it's movements, the underlying "waltzing", it's entire style and attitude, it's fragility (1st movement), burleske (Laendler, 3rd movement) and shining optimism (4th movement) (Karajan was Austrian anyway) ARE totally Viennese, from the first bar to the last. It is as if Karajan listened to Rattle (How is that possible?), or vice versa?

Anyway, as mentioned. Now, with some more experience,"for Viennese eternity".

In terms of value, this famous 1982 live performance of the Mahler Ninth is no bargain compared to the studio version Karajan made just two years previously. Not only is the studio version part of a bargain two-fer, but it includes as filler some excellent mid-Seventies performances of Mahler songs with the wonderful Christa Ludwig.

Critics have gravitated to this live Ninth, despite its high price, as the better of the two, although the Gramophone awarded both the same prize when they came out. So the Amazon reviewer's comment that the studio version was "so-so" is ridiculous--the Gramophone itself declares that it is difficult to pick between the two. Karajan didn't change his basic tempos (mostly quite broad) or his somewhat detached Apollonian view of the score--detached, that is, compared to the totally involving and emotionally untempered Bernstein, also with Berlin, from 1979. What other orchestra can claim to have made three great Mahler Ninths in the space of three years!

What Bernstein misses that Karajan abundantly supplies is astonishing clarity, virtuosic orchestral playing that stands above any other version on CD, and a total command of line and balance. Those qualities count for a lot, and they are present in both sets. I do think, listening to them side by side, that Karajan got more of everything from the Berlin Phil. under live concert conditions--the whole thing feels more spontaneous, spacious, and alert on the musicians' part. But here we are comparing two superlative accounts. In terms of recorded sound, the digital 1982, as remastered here, is excellent in every way, while the earlier analog recording is a bit studio bound with less air and space around the individual instruments.

All in all, these readings are so stupendous in their musicality and virtuosity that it's worth buying them both.

Karajan made two recordings of the 9th in the early 80s: this live digital one and an analog one prior to it. The analog recording is akin to a ship preparing to sail. This live performance is the final full-mast departure. What makes it preferable? Well, just to start I think of it as a triple swan-song, in that it is 1) one of Mahler's last works, 2) one of Karajan's last performances, and 3) in Bernstein's and my own estimation, one of the major works that put closure to the Romantic Era (albeit in the early part of the 20th century.)

It would indeed be a shame if, after all that, it were a bad performance. Fortunately, it shines on all fronts. There are moments of pure magic throughout. Woodwinds give rise to the fleeting gusts of spring and autumn. The brass sounds manifest shifting inward passions. The strings speak alternately of joy, sorrow, yearning for things lost, and resignation. And everywhere the music echoes the impermanence of all things.

It has been said again and again that this is a symphony about death. I disagree. I think of it as a supreme affirmation of life, which incorporates serenity, celebration, nostalgia, anger, and sadness, among other feelings. Part of the whole celebration is an acknowledgment and acceptance of death.

One achievement that sets this performance apart from others is the delivery of the final movement. The gradual acknowledgment and acceptance of death here is the closest representation of achieving Zen Buddhist clarity in the Western symphonic tradition. This final movement has its gusts of passion, longing for beauty, and pain, but in the end what it achieves is a supreme detachment from all things. It leaves you cold.

I tend to be wary of "legendary recordings", because all too often I've indeed found their qualities to be more legend than reality. Nor do I particularly seek out live recordings; I don't like extraneous noise, and don't give two cents for the theory that music recorded live in front of an audience has some mysterious kind of additional "frisson". Reason enough to approach this, Karajan's second recording of Mahler's Ninth, with some reserve. Only to find that it blows me off my feet and goes straight to the top of the list. If you want only one single recording of this endlessly fascinating, deeply moving work, this one would be extremely recommendable.

Its qualities are so manifold that I hardly know where to begin. Things that are instantly striking are the beauty of the playing all round; the exemplary blending and balancing of instruments; the thorough faithfulness to the score; the utter precision and clarity of articulation; the precise execution of the full dynamic range, with true ppp's. On closer acquaintance, these felicities are subsumed by something even greater: Karajan's supreme grip of the architecture, his purposeful handling of ebb and flow, an overarching sense of something awesomely majestic, yet deeply intimate at the same time. He truly lays bare the soul of this symphony, and has an unerring sense for the mystery inherent in many passages.

The result is always controlled - too often, as with Bernstein or Abbado conducting this same orchestra, the first movement errs on the side of rough-and-tumble wildness; but Karajan projects its dense polyphony clearly and purposely even in the busiest bars. Which does in no way reduce, but rather increases the power of such moments as the devastating fff statement of the opening motif at the climax. The middle movements are richly characterised and the Rondo is executed with heartstopping virtuosity. The crowning glory is then the final Adagio, which has a searing intensity second to none, its warm emotionality offset by the second theme's cooler musings, the Lied von der Erde atmosphere tellingly invoked.

Very compelling stuff indeed. Better still, the only thing betraying that this is a live recording are one or two minor lapses by horns and strings towards the end; you won't hear a trace of any audience. The sound is very pleasing, natural, and well-focussed, if maybe a tad light in the bass. In all, no matter how many recordings of this work you have, you should not pass this one by.

When this set was orgininally released, it was criticized for have a very thin and metallic, almost edgy sound to the strings, for this was a very early digital recording, and among the first of the digital live recordings. (DG's first digital recording was Karajan's Die Zauberflote recording from 1980, a studio recording.) Well, the new (relatively) remastering has removed that, making the sound quality infalliable. So now we can discuss a performance which will come through your speakers to you in pure, clean sound. (The fact that this was recorded live does not impact the sound quality at all, and the audience is only very rarely heard, if ever. Rest assured, the closing is not covered in coughs, probably due to the fact that DG had taped the previous day's rehersals just in case they needed them for small patches.)
Karajan turns in one of the performances of his life here. A late comer to Mahler, he first started playing (and therefore recording) Mahler in the early 1970s, though he had become acquainted with his music much earlier in life. The reason he had thus far avoided Mahler was that he felt he didn't have the time or energy for enough rehersals to do him justice. Well, as you can see from all his Mahler recordings (studio recordings of symphonies number 4, 5, 6, and 9, plus this live recording of the 9th) that he did indeed do him justice. The performance is extremely well thought out and executed. Karajan judges all tempos perfectly and balances the orchestra correctly. It doesn't sound like it is "interpreted" or exaggerated, it just sounds like Karajan is giving it to you how it is. He keeps his eye on the long line, the structure, while still maintaining a high level of detail and texture, finding the perfect balance between being a "line guy" and a "chord guy".
There is only one reason why you should hesitate to purchase this recording for even one moment. That reason is that you are paying for two full-priced discs, with just the 9th symphony on them, for a total of 84 minutes, just barely (by about 3-4 minutes) too long to fit onto one CD. Karajan's studio recording, however, while definately inferior interpretively (and in analogue, rather than digital, sound, if that makes a difference) is on a two disc two-fer (two discs for the price of one) along with Karajan's recording of Kindertotenlieder and Ruckert Lieder with Christa Ludwig. I would still go with this version, but if you are on a budget, and you must have Karajan, the alternative is not bad. If you are on a budget and want a 9th symphony, but don't need Karajan, definately go with Haitink's two-fer coupled with his Das Lied von der Erde, another splendid performance. Well, whichever set you choose, happy listening!

You wouldn't know it to read some of these "reviews", but this is about sublime art, not a talent contest.

I am no Mahlerite. My half-century of avid listening has tended to avoid the late Romantics in favour of the Baroque, the Classical, the early Romantic, Impressionism and beyond, including non-European music. I can think of one important exception. In my youth I owned a copy of the Mengelberg/Concertgebouw Mahler's fourth to which I often turned for consolation when the world was closing in. As it does.

But let me get to the point. This Karajan/Berlin Mahler's ninth is as powerful and astonishing as any recording I've ever owned.

I have seen a review of this 1982 program (albeit from a different evening) from the contemporaneous issue of New York magazine. The reviewer, incredibly, opined that, as impressive as the live performance was from every imaginable technical aspect, it somehow failed to "touch the heart."

God knows where the reviewer's heart was that evening, that it remained untouchable. To be fair, perhaps the orchestra had a sub-par evening. Such things happen to traveling orchestras.

But speaking for myself, I have been playing this CD every morning and evening for three days now, and it keeps unfolding and drawing from me new feelings of pity, joy, tragedy, ecstasy, resignation and transcendance.

Please ignore if possible all the irrelevant gossip about Karajan's arrogance, or the silly games about "the best" this, that or the other, and open your heart and intellect to this astonishing music, that speaks to us (in Karajan's words) "from another world".

Based on past recordings from DG and from von Karajan DG recordings especially, I believe that I have extremely high expectations when I purchanse another one. It has rarely, if ever, happened that a recording has far surpassed them the way this particular one did.

It takes a lot of effort, skill, and to some extent, luck to be able to pull off a superb performance of any of Mahler's symphonies, and I believe the second, third, and the ninth are some of the hardest pieces of classical music to orchestrate. The way von Karajan leads the Berlin symphony in this recording however is simply stunning. The changes of mood illustrated from movement to movement, are Im sure, exactly the way Mahler envisaged them. As varied as the movements are, the transitions feel remarkable natural, and almost seem to be telling a story, though you are never really sure what the conclusion to this majestic musical tale is about to be until you approach the end, and then its simply breathtaking and wholly unexpected. The percussion and the horns are extravagant and every bit as glorius as they can possibly be at the end.

DG should be commended for releasing such a wonderful high quality recording, albeit at a slightly inflated price, but soemthing that dosent feel too unreasonable given the quality of the experience you'll have listening to this piece.

This is the first recording of Mahler's music I ever heard. I was a relative newcomer to classical music at the time and thankfully had no idea the "experts" had christened this the greatest of all Mahler ninths. Well, years later I can see why they say that; this is assuredly one of the most beautifully played performances, but is it really the best?

Maybe the Karajan worshippers think so, but let's not delude ourselves -- they loved everything karajan did, even his laughable baroque recordings. Yes, Karajan gave us a good -- at moments great -- interpretation here, but it is not the best, or the "ultimate Mahler 9." All of the great symphonies demand alternative views, and we would be cheating ourselves by locking into just one vision of a work.

So, may I suggest Leonard Bernstein's Mahler Ninth, also a live recording, and also with the Berlin Philharmonic. Karajan may have introduced me to Mahler's Ninth, but Bernstein helped me make it my own. Whereas Karajan is more aesthetically pleasing to behold, and lays out the logic of the piece, Bernstein's is a more dramatic, visceral, and apocalyptic experience. Bernstein's performance really burns in the soul, while Karajan is just a bit cooler, and seeks to smooth over the jagged edges of the music. Karajan wants to cure Mahler of his neurosis while Berstein is suffering with him.

The ensemble is not immaculate as with Karajan, but Mahler is not Mozart, and if you are a stickler for precision, then Mahler's probably not your man anyway. Caution: Avoid Bernstein's dreary Concertgebouw reading on DG -- his Berlin recording is the one to get.

Unfortunaltely the folks at DG are still charging top dollar for both the Karajan and Bernstein versions. Bruno Walter on Sony is great for those on a budget, and I've heard good things about Bernstein's earlier New York version, also on Sony at midprice. David Hurwitz recommends Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic on Supraphon, and I trust him over the Penguin Guide any day.