Notes and Editorial Reviews
Michael Gielen's Mahler cycle is now complete, and as predicted it moves straight to the top of the list as the most idiomatic and consistent single set currently available. You probably could put together a slightly more magnetic cycle from Bernstein's two, but if you're looking for one box with practically no weaknesses, this is it. To recapitulate briefly: only two of these performances previously enjoyed wide currency--the Seventh, which is one of the great ones, and the Fourth, which is good but not great (it is, in fact, the weakest performance in the set). Everything else is wonderful, the two new performances (the Fifth and the Ninth) especially so. Gielen turns in a performance of the Fifth
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very similar (surprisingly) to Kubelik's. Without stinting on the emotional intensity of the first two movements, he keeps the music moving swiftly with no sentimental lingering at all. The scherzo swings merrily along, the Adagietto adopts a flowing tempo in keeping with current thought as to how it should be played, and the finale goes as if self-propelled.
The Ninth is even finer: a first movement of exceptional organic unity with impressive climaxes and exceptionally clear polyphonic lines; a second movement that generously observes Mahler's tempo indication to speed up the crazy waltz each time it returns (there is no finer version available); an aptly nasty Rondo: Burleske that puts on a striking burst of speed toward the finish; and a finale that flows purposefully forward before evaporating in the most ethereal of codas. If you've been collecting the other symphonies, you already know that Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8 rank with the very best available. They are all beautifully recorded and are played with uninhibited virtuosity by the SWR orchestra. Spread over 13 discs, and absent the often strange and silly (but equally well done) couplings by various contemporary composers, this isn't the most economically laid out set: it's just the best. Nothing more need be said. [6/29/2004]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 1 in D major "Titan" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896
Notes: Composition written: Leipzig, Germany (1888).
Composition revised: Germany (1896).
2.
Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" by Gustav Mahler
Performer:
Cornelia Kallisch (Alto),
Juliane Banse (Soprano)
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra,
European Soloists Academy
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896; Germany
Language: German
3.
Symphony no 3 in D minor by Gustav Mahler
Performer:
Cornelia Kallisch (Alto)
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra,
European Soloists Academy
Period: Romantic
Written: 1893-1896; Hamburg, Germany
Language: German
4.
Symphony no 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler
Performer:
Christine Whittlesey (Soprano),
Wolfgang Hock (Violin)
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892-1900; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 02/1988
Venue: Stadthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany
Length: 56 Minutes 23 Secs.
Language: German
5.
Symphony no 5 in C sharp minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
6.
Symphony no 6 in A minor "Tragic" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904/1906; Austria
Date of Recording: 09/1999
Venue: Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Germany
7.
Symphony no 7 in E minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904-1905; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 04/1993
Venue: Hans Rosbaud Studio, Baden-Baden
Length: 79 Minutes 23 Secs.
8.
Symphony no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand" by Gustav Mahler
Performer:
Margaret Jane Wray (Soprano),
Christiane Boesiger (Soprano),
Anthony Michaels-Moore (Baritone),
Peter Lika (Bass),
Glenn Winslade (Tenor),
Eugenie Grunewald (Mezzo Soprano),
Alessandra Marc (Soprano),
Dagmar Pecková (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Europa Chorakademie,
Aurelius Boys Choir of Calw
Period: Romantic
Written: 1906; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 12/1998
Venue: Konzerthaus, Freiburg, Germany
Length: 83 Minutes 30 Secs.
Notes: This selection is sung in German and Latin.
9.
Symphony no 9 in D major by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1908-1909; Austria
Date of Recording: 1990
Venue: Hans Rosbaud Studio, Baden-Baden
10.
Symphony no 10 in F sharp minor/major: 1st movement, Adagio by Gustav Mahler
Conductor:
Michael Gielen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910; Austria
Date of Recording: 1989
Venue: Hans Rosbaud Studio, Baden-Baden
Length: 22 Minutes 14 Secs.
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