If Pierre Boulez's Mahler series has had its highs and lows, to what extent are these more properly attributable to the strengths and weaknesses of the disparate orchestras employed? The Clevelanders, so crystalline and affectionate in a work like Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales (DG, 2/99), turned disquietingly faceless in Mahler's Seventh (DG, 6/96). And yet their account of No 4 succeeds for many of the same reasons that the Seventh failed. Here, Boulez's refusal to engage with the music's theatricality emerges as a virtue rather than a weakness. The opening is controversially brisk, with no more than a hint at the fashionable discontinuity embraced by Chailly and Gatti. The quick tempo and concern for textural clarity give the symphony a neo-classical focus (rather as if Mahler had written Pulcinella) and, although this approach may not be to all tastes, it works well enough. Only at the visionary high points can Boulez seem prosaic.
The recording is spacious, and yet I thought I noticed a degree of congestion at climaxes. This may be partly attributable to the style of orchestral playing. The first trumpet's vibrato struck me as rather crude, and - more worryingly - the first horn and strings are audibly not in tune with each other from 13'52''. Surprisingly, intonation is something of a problem throughout. The semiquaver figuration of the second movement doesn't always feel entirely secure (though it's good to hear the leader actually sounding re-tuned and acidulous), while the second violins and violas in the third movement are weak as recorded. In the circumstances, Boulez was probably right to group all his violins together. And he deserves credit for insisting on Mahler's portamentos, which register more strongly here than in many otherwise more demonstrative modern performances. The conductor and/or his production team do not segue into the finale. They do, however, notice that the return of first- movement material is initially only mezzo forte: the effect is less hectic than usual.
In the end, the occasional lack of orchestral finesse must temper what would otherwise be a strong recommendation. The standard of playing is certainly no better than that of the RPO for Gatti. Nor is it quite enough that Juliane Banse trumps Barbara Bonney (though not Ruth Ziesak) in the finale, making no attempt to sound like a boy, and eschewing any yodelling effects on 'himmlischen'. Rival companies provide extra songs to showcase their sopranos' talents. It's now 35 years since the Cleveland Orchestra gave us the classic LP version of this symphony under Szell. He may not be turning in his grave, but he would, I think, have insisted on a few retakes. Instead DG offers us uncommonly attractive cover artwork and authoritative insert-notes by Henry-Louis de La Grange.'