Mahler Symphony No 3
After their well-received Prom, Mahler’s Third from Pittsburgh
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gustav Mahler
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Exton
Magazine Review Date: 11/2011
Media Format: Super Audio CD
Media Runtime: 102
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: OVCL00450
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 3 |
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Gustav Mahler, Composer Manfred Honeck, Conductor Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo soprano Pittsburgh Mendelssohn Choir Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Edward Seckerson
Mahler’s flora and fauna then take centre stage, the former charming and pellucid, the latter duly robust, with ear-stretching distance for the magical offstage posthorn solos. On the controversial issue of the nocturnal cries from oboe and cor anglais in the misterioso Nietzsche setting, Honeck takes my view that Mahler’s direction ‘drawn upwards’ for the repeated semitone is intended as an expressive indication, not a literal ‘slide’ or portamento. Michelle DeYoung intones darkly.
The children’s chorus could for me be raunchier greeting the morning bells but, as their quirky bell-chime imitations fade from our hearing, the great Adagio emerges in wonderfully hushed consolation. On this point, is it not shocking that the early Bernstein account – still something of a classic – is still, I believe, only available in a packaging which splits the final two movements over two CDs, thus destroying Mahler’s dramatic segue? Does no one check these things? It is clearly marked attacca.
Honeck’s finale is reverential in the best sense, perhaps not quite achieving the highly personalised intensity of the Bernstein or the sheer luminosity of Chailly and the Concertgebouw. But he and his Pittsburgh players certainly assume the ascendancy with a series of heart-easing turns of phrase. The final pages are illuminating, not overbearing.
More than a little special, then, in marvellous sound. That could be the deciding factor for many.
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