Mahler - Symphony no.7
£11.35
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Label: Testament
Cat No: SBT1480
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 1st July 2013
Contents
Artists
Berliner PhilharmonikerConductor
Michael GielenAbout
In his memoirs entitled Unbedingt Musik, published in Frankfurt in 2005, Gielen states of his work with the Berlin Philharmonic: “I became acquainted with the Berlin Philharmonic with modern programmes. I could achieve good performances, for example, of Hallelujah II by Berio or the Requiem by Zimmermann. People were cooperative. Karajan himself occasionally played works of the Schoenberg school. It was more difficult when I once stood in for Haitink and the First Symphony of Brahms was on the programme. When I wanted to have some things played in a way they weren’t accustomed to, a discussion ensued. There was also some agreement. But what sort of attitude is that? Then, in the general rehearsal, everything ended up being done as I had asked. During the concert this was no longer possible; the musical current found its way back to its usual riverbed. Things changed completely with the new generation and Karajan’s death. During a performance of the Seventh Symphony by Mahler a couple of years ago, the cooperation was exemplary.”
The present recording documents the special quality of Gielen’s cooperation with the Philharmonic – and more than that: it is also a testimonial to the orchestra’s rich Mahler tradition.
Excerpts from the booklet note: © Helge Grünewald, 2013
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Mahler - Symphony no.7: I.Langsam
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2Mahler - Symphony no.7: II.Nachtmusik: Allegro moderato
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3Mahler - Symphony no.7: III.Scherzo: Schattenhaft - Trio
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4Mahler - Symphony no.7: IV.Nachtmusik: Andante amoroso
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5Mahler - Symphony no.7: V.Rondo - Finale
Europadisc Review
This newly-released live recording of the Seventh was made in the Philharmonie, Berlin on 21 September 1994, not long after Gielen had set down the work for his SWR cycle on Hänssler Classics. To the latter’s many virtues, including its level-headed but never detached transparency, this Berlin account adds the peerless, lustrous playing of the Berlin Philharmonic and the unmistakable frisson of a live performance (though the audience itself is immaculately behaved).
Mahler’s Seventh is often described as a ‘problematic’ work: enigmatic it may be, but in Gielen’s hands it is the endless fascination of the music’s details that registers most strongly. This performance places the music not just in the context of Mahler’s Second Viennese School successors, but also in that of subsequent developments in European musical modernism and postmodernism. There is no shying away from the music’s rough, unsettling edges, yet at the same time the large-scale outer movements have a sweep and pace that ensures structural cogency and flow. At the Symphony’s very opening, Gielen’s way with the string figuration (tautly articulated demisemiquavers rather than the usual tremolos) is characteristic of his overall approach; in the more lyrical passages of the central section, he brings out mystical pre-echoes of the Eighth Symphony.
Mahler’s idiosyncratic percussion scoring is particularly vividly captured, with startling results in the middle movements – not least the shifting, almost pointillist perspectives of the central Scherzo, whose macabre humour comes across with unusual potency. The two Nachtmusik movements are nicely contrasted, with outstanding instrumental solos and the sort of characterful woodwind playing which is a Berlin hallmark.
The Finale may lack the reckless (some would say hectic) abandon of Kubelík or Kondrashin, but it is still a notably bracing and urgent affair, stopping just the right side of bombast, its quieter passages beautifully pointed and poised, the closing pages as thrilling and jubilant as on any rival version.
The recording itself, taken from the archives of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, is remarkable for its presence and atmosphere. There is a useful booklet note by Helge Grünewald on Gielen’s long but sporadic relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic itself, although it does talk about the conductor exclusively in the past tense. Happily, he is still very much with us, and scheduled to conduct Mahler’s Sixth Symphony at the 2013 Salzburg Festival.
A must for Mahlerians everywhere, this new disc from Testament would also be an excellent investment for anyone who has found the Seventh a tough nut to crack: it will surely surprise and delight them!
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