This is rather a disappointment after Inbal's CD recording of Mahler's First Symphony which I reviewed recently (C37-7537, 12/85). Although the recording is clear enough, it has little life in it, insufficient resonance for this music. The double-basses at the start convey none of the frisson they do on Solti's (Decca) and Slatkin's (Telarc) recordings. As I wrote when reviewing the Maazel (CBS) issue, this is a symphony in which one needs to feel involved, and nowhere in Inbal's performance did I feel that. I admired the detail, rather as one admires features of the landscape from a train window, but the total effect tends to be dull. This is due in large measure to the recording but still more to Inbal's plodding tempos in all movements. Even the Day of Judgment dawns in a remarkably leisurely fashion. Compare the trills and shrills of the woodwind in Slatkin's recording. The more I play the Slatkin, the more I admire it, a really splendid performance, exciting and moving. Solti's is the best technical recording, a real knock-out, but I prefer Slatkin's interpretation. Slatkin also has the best soloists in Maureen Forrester and Kathleen Battle. Inbal has Doris Soffel, secure but dispassionate, and Helen Donath, not at her best.
There is some excellent playing for Inbal by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which is obviously first rate. How beautifully the clarinets phrase their ''Echoton'' passage at seven bars after fig. 8 in the first movement and the E flat clarinet's little joke at fig. 31 in the third movement makes its point neatly. The woodwind in general are excellent and the cello section is another strong point, relishing its big flowing tune in the second movement, truly molto espressivo. Horns and trumpets, too, are exceptionally secure in intonation and crisp in rhythm. In parts of the finale the conductor's vocal counterpoint is audible.
The choir sing well but are not well favoured by the recording, sounding too far from the scene of the action. This, too, adds to the general lack of atmosphere which worries me about this performance. I cannot imagine that those who are already pleased with the recording they possess need concern themselves over this one. A point in its favour, as I mentioned concerning the First Symphony, is that there is a generous amount of indexed entry points. The booklet relates these to cues in the score but, let me warn you, in such small type that even those with perfect eyesight will probably need to resort to a magnifying-glasS.'