“Transfiguration” courts controversy. How are we to take a performance recorded in bold, upfront digital sound that claims at least in part to be an ‘authentic’ re-creation of Mengelberg’s Mahler? In the booklet accompanying the disc, Kenneth Slowik is at pains to present his historically aware credentials, acknowledging the profound influence of Mengelberg’s 1926 recording of the Adagietto, a snippet of which is included on the CD. Writing about the disappearance of “an entire school of playing rooted in the 19th century”, he seems reluctant to recognize the implications of this: Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw were working within an evolving performance tradition that must have felt entirely natural to them, compared to which this musicologically correct semi-reconstruction cannot help sounding contrived. If the results don’t entirely convince that may have something to do with the character of the Smithsonian Chamber Players.
Whatever Mahler wanted in terms of phrasing, articulation and tempo (and, at only 7'25'', the movement needs far more tenderness than it gets here if it is not to sound rushed) he surely expected a string section of more than 26 players. Or is Slowik ironically juxtaposing large-scale versions of chamber works with a small-scale version of an orchestral work? Moreover, given the group’s extremely sparing use of vibrato, the ear registers discrepancies of intonation within each section. This is especially problematic in the Mahler and the Beethoven (though the spirited coda of the last movement of Op. 95 comes off well). The Schoenberg receives a more committed, sometimes fascinating performance, despite the intonation problems (as at 4'04''ff.). Even if the famous shift into D major (14'37'') doesn’t quite send tingles down the spine as it should, the playing has an intensity lacking in the other pieces (listen to the eerie combination of minimal vibrato and gut strings am Steg from 17'25'').
It is not unilluminating to have Schoenberg’s own programme-note read out by an erstwhile associate (with interpolated musical examples). But the text was intended to go with the expanded Hollywood Quartet recording (now on Testament, 4/94) and I know which of the two shall be referring to more often. The notes to the present issue are opinionated by design and not many listeners will be impressed by the assertion that, after Mengelberg’s, Walter’s Mahler Adagietto “seems almost sterile by comparison”. He uses less portamento (as did Mengelberg himself when he was away from the Concertgebouw) but the intensity is there in both. For me it is this emotional authenticity that counts. Unfashionable or not, I would recommend Karajan’s Verklarte Nacht (if it’s big-band Schoenberg you’re after why not go the whole hog?), while the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s all-Schoenberg disc offers the most satisfying programme. The present collection is in a class of its own.'