Mahler Symphony No 9
Instinct and intellect combine perfectly in Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s perceptive reading
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gustav Mahler
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Profil
Magazine Review Date: 3/2011
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: PH10035

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 9 |
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Gustav Mahler, Composer Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Conductor WDR Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Edward Seckerson
Saraste’s acute sense of the music’s flux throughout this first movement makes for a series of frenzied climaxes, the first opening a gaping wound in unison clarinets before stopped horns and reptilian bass clarinet lead us deeper into the unknown. Saraste creates great atmosphere in these “lost” moments, time and pulse suspended like an out-of-body experience. Impressive horn playing makes the open-to-stopped colour particularly unsettling and the balmy transition into the coda deeply reassuring. Nothing could be further removed from the unforgiving glare of Salonen’s recent account (Signum, 9/10). With Saraste there is always hope.
The inner movements kick in with a suitably lumpen Ländler, deliciously wonky horn trills suggesting the dodgy footwork of the uncouth putting on airs. The fast waltz abandons all pretence and draws us all in to an exhilarating knees-up. The Rondo-Burleske is exhilarating, too – biting and quick of reflex – but shows its teeth in the cruel E flat clarinet parody of the poignant middle section, foreshadowing as it does the great finale.
And it is here that Saraste and his excellent WDR Symphony Orchestra convey an almost startling defiance, with violins digging deep to convey a truly Bernsteinian full-throatedness. This burgeoning hymn has cantorial roots, make no mistake. But it’s the tension between defiance and resignation that really shows Saraste’s perception and understanding. Mahler’s life passes before him in aching slow motion – not literally, as with Bernstein, but through the delicate balance of what is outwardly said and inwardly felt.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.