Mahler: Symphony No. 4

Barbara Hendricks (Artist), Gustav Mahler (Composer), Esa-Pekka Salonen (Conductor), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic
• Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
• Composer: Gustav Mahler
• Audio CD (September 29, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony Classical
• ASIN: B0000027ZU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,512 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Symphony No. 4 in G major: Bedächtig, nicht eilen

2. Symphony No. 4 in G major: In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast

3. Symphony No. 4 in G major: Ruhevoll, poco adagio

4. Symphony No. 4 in G major: Sehr behaglich

Editorial Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 4

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Recording Weathering Time Well, January 28, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Audio CD)

Of all of the Mahler 4th Symphony recordings, this one with Esa-Pekka Salonen and his Los Angeles Philharmonic remains the closest to being perfect of any of the recordings available. Strong words? Just listen to the way Salonen allows the symphony to sound as though it is playing itself: Mahler would have definitely approved. Where there are fearsome attack potentials or lyrical breathings and sighs or just sprightly childlike visions, Salonen is fully in command of the nuances and the overall scope of this work while making it seem as though he is completely relaxed.

The contrasts between the hurried approaches to a little melody and the tender abandon of the goal are apparent throughout. In some hands the 4th symphony can feel episodic, disjointed. But here the work is delivered in a grand arc that ends with the song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn lyrically sung by Barbara Hendricks.

Though this recording was made in 1992 (now 13 years ago), it still stands high even in the progressive growth of Salonen and his orchestra as one of the premiere sources of Mahler performances. It has weathered well. Grady Harp, January 2005

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite, May 5, 2003

By 

George Grella "Urbane citizen" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Audio CD)

A beautiful recording of the Mahler 4, the best I've heard [which in comparison includes Szell, Maazel, Klemperer, Gielen, Inbal, Solti w/NYPO, Watler, Bernstein w/NYPO, Horenstein]. This is as exquisitely played and recorded as Salonen's highly-regarded Mahler 3rd, but so much more idiomatic; Mahler is here!

Salonen's attention to phrasing and tempo relationships sounds ideal; he does exaggerate modulations in tempo more than most, yet his choices are so judicious and musical that the effect is of hearing this played properly for the first time. I've previously praised the Rattle recording, and Salonen follows the same general guidelines, but while Rattle is satisfied to be idiosyncractic only in spots, especially the opening bars, Salonen is consistent throughtout the performance, and this is much better. He has the whole orchestra playing with a certain bit of articulation and rhythm, and it's ideal.

The first movement is lively, sprightly, and still digs down intensely into the darker passages. The scherzo has Mephistophelean qualities this listener expects in the movement but has found so infrequently in performances. The slow movementis rich and gorgeous. The superb quality of the recordings tells here, as the strings both seem to float in the air and still have a fulness of sound which is perfect for the music. And finally Roberta Alexander sings the finest finale. Her pure voice is on par with Kathleen Battle's for the appropriate tonal quality, but she sings with so much more expression and humanity that there is really no comparison.

This is the one shining recording of this symphony to which all others must now be compared.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A middle-of-the-pack Mahler Fourth that's fairly chilly, August 18, 2006

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Audio CD)

Salonen won me over with his Mahler Third becasue of its precise detail and excellent sonics, among the best in the industry when Sony released it in 96/24 digital sound. This Mahler Fourth is from 1992, almost a decade earlier, and we still get the clean, rather coolly expressed details, but the sound is not spectacular, only very good. It's a bit wieghtless and miked fairly far back.

As to timings, Salonen is on the slow side in the first movement (17 min.) and considerably sow in the slow movement (22 min. compared to Klemperer at 18 min. and Bernstein with the NY Phil. at 20 min.). In the interests of a modern update, Salonen clearly wants to avoid Viennese tradition, including any hint of shmaltz. But Mahler was Viennese, and raw emotional is part of his expressive core. There have been other chilly Fourths from Reiner and Szell, for example, and this recording joins them. The mis-tuned violin in the second movement is chirpy and cheerful rather than devilish. Barbara Hendricks has the perfect voice for the childlike solo in the finale, and she is totally charming, lacking only a deep communicaiton of the poetry (but precoius few sopranos accomplish that).

In all, I am mystified by reviews calling this interpretation 'nearly perfect,' but it's very listenable without being personal.