Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 3; Schubert: "Rosamunde;" Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra / Gielen, SWR Sinfonieorchester

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If you are familiar with Michael Gielen's Mahler, this live recording of the Third Sym. won't come as a drastic surprise. It is relatively objective and emotionally neutral, contrary to the Amazon reviewer's belief -- but, then, he thinks a middling-good radio orchestra from Baden-Baden is the equal of its international rivals (notify the managers of the Chicago Sym. and the philharmonics of Vienna, New York, and Berlin -- I'd love to hear their reactions). In fact, the SWR SO does seem to be fully committed here, perhaps inspired by a concert setting.

Other cool, modernist interpretations of the Third are already on hand from Salonen and Boulez, if that's your preference, and both readings are outstanding for execution and recorded sound. What can Gielen offer? First, he has his own ideas, and in the broad prospect of his entire Mahler cycle, this is one of the most exciting installments. The woodwind and brass are allowed to play with rustic abandon, a nice touch. As with Gielen's Mahler Second, the first movement displays a wide grasp of Mahler's many contrasts, and they aren't smoothed over (as Boulez and Chailly are wont to do) or vulgarized (as Solti cannot resist doing).

I expected a falling off into neutrality in the Scherzo, actually a refined minuet, which needs the right rubato and dancing lilt to come off properly. Surprsie, Gielen supplies both, which reminded me that one of his strengths is a flexible beat rather than Szell's stern precision, a trait that ruins the latter's Mahler for me. The third movement, whose rapt fantasy and recollected innocence are at the heart of this work, starts off blandly. But Gielen soon wakes up and begins to ring some changes in mood and timbre. The woodwind playing is tangy, a smart substitute for first-rate playing of the kind the big-boy orchestras provide. The offstage posthorn solo is evocative and touching. Not that we are given haunting mystery, as with Bernstein and Abbado.

The two vocal movements feature Cornelia Kallisch, Gielen's favored alto in his Mahler cycle (the voice sounds more like a plummy mezzo to me). I want the fourth movement to rise to the level of tragic regret, as Nietzsche's poem does, and Gielen obliges, even if Kallisch lacks the intensity heard from Jessye Norman and Christa Ludwig. As a curiosity, the oboe plays true glissandi in his solos, an innovation introduced by Simon Rattle in his EMI recording -- I find it neither here nor there. The fifth movement is rather low in contrasting mood, and the boys' chorus is a bit cautious. Gielen hears this music as a pendant to the child-like naivete of the Fourth Symphony's finale, which is far from Bernstein's more dramatic punch but convincing in its own right.

Gielen takes the finale broadly at 24 min., which I think is the right choice for a movement marked "slow, restful." I worried that he'd lose tension and let the line go slack (a habit I've noticed elsewhere in Gielen's Mahler -- he's not alone here, either), but in fact the phrasing is nuanced enough to keep the melody aloft over a long span. If we're using "objective" to denote the dryness of Leinsdorf and Boulez in this movment, then Gielen is actually highly personal and expressive, if not the last word in intensity, which Bernstein is.

For fillers, Gielen had the novel idea of interspersing exceprts from Schubert's incidental music to 'Rosamunde' with Webern's Six Pieces. Op. 6 so that the two composers could talk to each other (and arond their fellow Viennese master, Mahler). Since he's a noted modernist, I thought Gielen would be better in Webern than in Schubert, but both are played with engaging elan and crispness.

In all, I've now heard five installments in Gielen's Mahler cycle, and this Third is the prize. For execution it doesn't rival Bernstein, Abbado, and Levine (to name three personal favorites), but for ideas it's competitive, and the fillers are a valuable bonus.

Gielen may be a very good Mahler conductor, but I don't think the orchestra is up the challenge of this symphony. The strings sound relatively good, but lack a certain amount of depth. The woodwinds are quite good here, but only the higher-pitched player's voices are readily heard. The french horns sound nice and strong, but also strangely sweet throughout, lacking a sense of edge and harshness that Mahler brass playing requires. The trumpets, especially the principal trumpet are played with such hesitation that entrances and exists are often weak, high pitches are often out of tune, and vibrato is poorly controlled. The low brass typically sound out of control. Now maybe this is all largely secondary to the recording, but I doubt it. Gielen does brings some interesting points out, especially during the first movement: voices and lines typically buried are brought out and offer great contribution. The filler music is just that, filler, and lets face it, one is purchasing this CD for the Mahler and at more than $35, this filler doesn't add anything of substance except extra cost.