Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 4

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

 

 

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

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.

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.

I'm no expert at this symphony, but I have heard several versions and this one certainly does more than stand on its own. Playing is excellent, Barbara Hendricks's singing is lovely, recorded sound is great, and although there might be more exciting or insightful performances available, Salonen really sells his interpretation. This disc, along with Salonen's versions of Mahler's Third symphony and Das Lied von der Erde makes Salonen's emerging Mahler cycle look very promising indeed.

This is the most beautiful performance of the Mahler 4th I have ever heard. Salonen's phrasing and tempo are perfect, and he allows the wind instruments to have equal emphasis with the strings. It is absolutely exquitite.

I have two other recordings of the 4th: Bernstein and the NYPO, and Solti and the Chicago. Both are lovely, but neither equals Salonen's performance. Any Mahler enthusiast will be most happy to have this CD.

Based on the evidence of this recording, Salonen and his LA players have good instincts for Mahler and are well-suited in maximizing the symphony's raw feeling. At the same time, however, Salonen seems reluctant to dive headfirst into the score and as a result, the work's overall musical architecture appears weak and unsteady. Contrast this recording with that of Christoph von Dohnanyi & Dawn Upshaw with The Cleveland Orchestra (London/Decca), and you'll find there a much clearer, more persuasive idea of what Mahler sought to achieve with the Fourth.