Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a winning combination, July 3, 2000
Full marks have to be given to Philips for releasing this very logical coupling, which is essentially Mahler's last two completed symphonies in everything but name only. (Das Lied was finished after the 8th, but Mahler felt reluctant to call it his 9th Symphony due to fear of imminent death.) Haitink's reading of the 9th was arguably the best performance of his complete cycle in the 1970s; it has much incandescence, deep thought, beautiful playing, and a wonderful bloom on the sound, thanks to the acoustics of the Concertgebouw. The reading has a degree of reticence which many listeners will favour (I personally prefer a more dramatic, extroverted approach, but that is a matter of taste). Until the emergence of the two Karajan recordings in the early 1980s, this account dominated the catalog and still sounds very impressive even today. The digital remastering has been successful.Das Lied is also a great success. Dame Janet Baker's thoughtful approach is a wonderful match for Haitink and she was almost at the height of her career at the time. James King is arguably not the equal of Fritz Wunderlich in the Klemperer recording but he sings with intelligence. The orchestral playing is beautiful and the textures and instrumentation have almost a shimmering effect. This is quite a magical performance, especially in the Abschied, where Baker's control of pianissimo is quite remarkable. The documentation and overall presentation is excellent too. At medium price, this is a very generous and satisfying experience. For some listeners, this account of Das Lied will be a first choice regardless of cost. Enthusiastically recommended.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Could be the all-around best Ninth, August 11, 2002
"Balm after New York." That was how Mahler, then the music director of the apparently slipshod and untrainable New York Philharmonic, described a guest-conducting engagement with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Six decades after the composer wrote those words, the Concertgebouw's Mahler tradition was still quite strong, and helped to produce what may be the overall best Mahler Ninth on records.By "best" I don't mean the most emotionally draining; I do mean that in balancing all of the elements which make a successful performance of this musicial premonition of death, Bernard Haitink, the orchestra, and the recording engineers achieve here an almost ideal equilibrium. The result has the clarity of Pierre Boulez without the aloofness that is most noticeable in the French conductor's finale, and the poignancy that comes from not overstating the music's message of confronting and accepting the inevitable (unlike Leonard Bernstein in his Ninth with this orchestra). The total playing times of the first and final movements are closely matched without slowing down the one or speeding up the other--a problem in some other versions. And the orchestra's characteristic playing is captured in analog sound that holds up well today. As an extra added attraction, this Philips Duo release squeezes the entire work onto one CD of just under 81 minutes (the newer "50 Great Recordings" reissue splits the symphony between discs and adds a so-so performance of the "Wunderhorn" songs.) The second disc in this set is another Mahler recording by the same forces joined by soloists Janet Baker and James King, "Das Lied von der Erde." This was the recording by which I came to know Mahler's next-to-last completed work, and as sometimes happens over a period of years, its impact has diminished for me. While Haitink's accompaniment still seems excellent, both Baker and King (but especially King) are a little lacking in involvement as I hear them now. Nor does King's delivery seem as ideally matched to his songs as that of Michael Schade on the wonderful DG recording conducted by Boulez. So, a Ninth that may be the finest of all and a "Das Lied" that doesn't quite match it but is still distinguished, all at a two-for-one price. For my money, that's a hell of a bargain.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent, clear "classical" approach, April 20, 2001
... this is the interpretation for the ages, with the Concertgebouw playing their hearts out and Haitink holding rock-solid concentration and focus throughout. Rarely if ever have I heard the 9th played with this degree of intelligence and clarity. Haitink makes sense of every phrase, every dynamic, and the complete effect is stunning and exhilerating. If the work, particulaly the first movement, has ever seemed a bit too "top heavy" and bombastic, especially in the orchestration, he shows in how every element contributes to the whole of the work. Inner detail emerges from the first movement like I've never heard before, showing how the orchestration is a web of intricate sonorities that contribute to an epic picture. The contrast in the different sections makes it all apparent for the first time that this work, despite the modernism, actually has a 19th century Romantic sensibility when it comes to structure. True we don't have Bernstein's magnificent sadness and longing at the end of his great Concertgebouw recording--which I miss--but this is an impressive movement nonetheless. The second movement builds and builds in excitement while never losing its bucolic roots. The scherzo is a swirl of demon energy, surpassed only by Bernstein (who is truly unsurpassable in this movement), and the finale manages a miracle: it isn't aloof and distant a la Bruno Walter, nor is it drenches in maudlin sentimentality that undermines the tragic nature, as so many finales are. My yardsticks for comparision are all the Bernstein recordings, Rattle, both Walters, Karajan live, Barbirolli, and even the legendary 1966 Horenstein. This one tops them all, and as I said is the only one that makes "complete sense" of the work from beginning to end. The Das Lied is also excellent, though maybe not in the same stellar class. I understand when this 9th was released in 1969, it was regarded by many critics as the ultimate 9th on record. More than thirty years later, it probably still is for my money. Easily a Desert Island disc.
(Post script: In the spring of 2004 I had the pleasure of hearing Haitink conduct this symphony live with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His conception has not changed much in 30+ years. Rather, there were refinements and even greater clarity of texture. A very memorable performance and the Concertgebouw has terrific acoustics. Haitink, 75 at the time, bounded up and down the stairs to the podium like a young man.)
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