Mahler Symphony No 10
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 3/1988
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 110
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 421 182-2DH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 10 |
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Gustav Mahler, Composer Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
| Verklärte Nacht, 'Transfigured Night' |
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 3/1988
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 421 182-4DH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 10 |
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Gustav Mahler, Composer Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
| Verklärte Nacht, 'Transfigured Night' |
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 3/1988
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 421 182-1DH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 10 |
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Gustav Mahler, Composer Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
| Verklärte Nacht, 'Transfigured Night' |
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer
Arnold Schoenberg, Composer Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Chailly, Conductor |
Author:
There is—and I don't think I am imagining this—a subtle difference between Chailly's performance of Cooke's performing version of Mahler's Tenth and all previous recordings including Simon Rattle's superb interpretation for EMI. Chailly accepts the Tenth as a fait accompli. For him, it exists, there are no points to prove, nothing about which to be on the defensive for example, is it ethical, is it 'Mahler', and all the other questions which still, apparently, deflect most of the so-called 'leading' Mahler conductors from their bounden duty to accept this symphony, in this form, into the canon. For Cooke's really important achievement was not just the realization of the score, though that is great enough, but the fact that by giving this music to the world he altered the whole perspective of Mahler's music. The Ninth Symphony can no longer be interpreted with comprehensive understanding by a conductor who is not fully aware of the Tenth. The 'death-wish' Mahler cannot exist for those who know the Tenth.
Chailly's is a noble interpretation, slower in tempo and emotionally more relaxed than Rattle's but imbued with richness and generosity. The recording, made in the Jesus-Christus Kirche, Berlin, inclines to low-level on the LP format there is no over-highlighting of solo instruments and the balance is natural. Chailly exposes the thematic connections between movements more clearly than anyone else. Perhaps I should previously have noticed the reminiscence of the first movement on first violins and oboe in the first Scherzo (page 55 of score) but I never have till now. Nor have I been so fully aware of the reversion to Mahler's Wunderhorn style and the echoes of Das Lied von der Erde towards the end of the secondScherzo. This has often been the most problematical movement, but Chailly makes it wholly convincing, with an incisiveness at its start that carries on the mood of the Rondo Burleske from the Ninth, at any rate for a time, when charity takes over.
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra play very well, though to be hypercritical I am not entirely happy about the violas' intonation when they have the first movement's main theme to themselves. The trumpet produces a superb steady sustained note during the terrifying climax in the first and last movements, the solo flautist floats his tone beautifully in the finale and the duet for horn and trumpet in the finale (page 153) is another high spot. And Chailly achieves a real triple piano for the entry of the strings after the flute solo in the finale (page 124), one of the most touching moments not only in this symphony but in any.
Where Chailly diverges from other conductors of this symphony is in his treatment of the muffled thuds on the large military drum at the start of the finale (a change Clinton Carpenter also makes in his performing version of the symphony). Rattle and others make these into terrifying thwacks that shake one's vitals, but I am sure that what Chailly does is nearer to the sound Mahler heard as the heroic New York fireman's funeral procession passed below his hotel balcony. Either way the effect is memorable. After the symphony the strings give a lyrical performance of Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, a good choice as filler.'
Chailly's is a noble interpretation, slower in tempo and emotionally more relaxed than Rattle's but imbued with richness and generosity. The recording, made in the Jesus-Christus Kirche, Berlin, inclines to low-level on the LP format there is no over-highlighting of solo instruments and the balance is natural. Chailly exposes the thematic connections between movements more clearly than anyone else. Perhaps I should previously have noticed the reminiscence of the first movement on first violins and oboe in the first Scherzo (page 55 of score) but I never have till now. Nor have I been so fully aware of the reversion to Mahler's Wunderhorn style and the echoes of Das Lied von der Erde towards the end of the second
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra play very well, though to be hypercritical I am not entirely happy about the violas' intonation when they have the first movement's main theme to themselves. The trumpet produces a superb steady sustained note during the terrifying climax in the first and last movements, the solo flautist floats his tone beautifully in the finale and the duet for horn and trumpet in the finale (page 153) is another high spot. And Chailly achieves a real triple piano for the entry of the strings after the flute solo in the finale (page 124), one of the most touching moments not only in this symphony but in any.
Where Chailly diverges from other conductors of this symphony is in his treatment of the muffled thuds on the large military drum at the start of the finale (a change Clinton Carpenter also makes in his performing version of the symphony). Rattle and others make these into terrifying thwacks that shake one's vitals, but I am sure that what Chailly does is nearer to the sound Mahler heard as the heroic New York fireman's funeral procession passed below his hotel balcony. Either way the effect is memorable. After the symphony the strings give a lyrical performance of Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, a good choice as filler.'
Mahler Symphony No 10
Mahler Symphony No 10
Mahler Symphony No 10
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.