WGBH Radio WGBH Radio theclassicalstation.org

Mahler: Symphony No 8 / Wit, Warsaw National Po [blu-ray Audio]


Release Date: 04/26/2011 
Label:  Naxos   Catalog #: NBD0009  
Composer:  Gustav Mahler
Performer:  Barbara Kubiak,  Izabella Klosinska,  Marta Boberska,  Jadwiga Rappé,   ... 
Conductor:  Antoni Wit
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cracow Polish Radio/TV Chorus,  Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra,  Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir,   ... 
Number of Discs: 1 
Length: 1 Hours 21 Mins. 

In Stock: Usually ships in 24 hours.  
ADD TO CART
Blu-ray Disc:  $19.99
In Stock
WISH LIST




Be the first to review this title

Notes and Editorial Reviews

This is an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players.

It is also available in standard CD format.

Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

R E V I E W:

A mandatory purchase for anyone interested in superb Mahler and even better sound.

As a recent convert to the manifold pleasures of Blu-ray video I was keen to try one of Naxos’s audio-only discs. Unfortunately my first purchase, John Corigliano’s Circus Maximus, refused to work in my player, so I was a little anxious about ordering this Wit Mahler 8, which I already have on CD. I needn’t Read more have worried, as it all worked like a dream.
 
The Symphony of a Thousand is an ideal candidate for a high-res presentation, and Naxos must be congratulated for their foresight in recording this in 24-bit/96kHz stereo and surround sound as well as the standard 16-bit/44.1kHz used for the CD. I have always admired Wit’s reading of this piece, not least for its coherence and sense of drama. Not only that, he is blessed with a well-matched team of soloists, which is surprisingly rare in this work. His choirs are pretty good as well, and the balances on CD seem entirely natural. There’s no lack of thrill and amplitude either, making this one of the best Mahler 8s in the catalogue.
 
So how does the Blu-ray version compare? I listened in PCM stereo and from the outset I knew this was going to be a real treat. The transporting cries of ‘ Veni creator spiritus’ open out as never before, the ample organ powerfully present but not overwhelming. There’s a convincing left-to-right spread – the soloists are especially well caught – and the sound has a finely etched quality that one simply doesn’t hear on the CD. But it’s the conductor’s firm grip on the music that really impresses; rarely has this first movement passed so purposefully yet still sounded so fresh and spontaneous. The rapt intensity of the singing – solos and ensembles – is a joy to hear, the pieces of this vast Mahlerian jigsaw falling into place at every turn.
 
The return of that opening chorus and the vast, phosphorescent surge that follows have seldom been captured with such fearless fidelity; indeed, the sense of peering down on to a packed stage from a seat in the balcony is remarkable. Ditto in Part II, where Wit and the Naxos engineers make Mahler’s colour palette glow with new vigour and vibrancy. I was simply astonished by the minute detail unearthed here, the plucked strings especially beautiful. That wouldn’t count for much if Wit’s reading wasn’t so compelling, each tableau knitting seamlessly with the next. This really is a graveyard movement for the unwary, but Wit traverses its valleys and scales its peaks with nary a stumble.
 
There aren’t any misjudgements among the singers either, and I’m particularly pleased that there are no wobbles and squalls. I honestly can’t remember a better bunch of soloists than that assembled here; diction is fine and there’s an almost holographic quality to their presentation that is very impressive indeed. Even the massed choirs have a discernible shape, a three-dimensionality, that one doesn’t often hear in recordings. As for the orchestra, they’re as adept in Mahler’s chamber-like passages as they are in the big set-pieces. The brass scythes through dense orchestral thickets and the timps lay down a formidable carpet of sound in the huge tuttis. And just listen to the magical harp in track 19; glorious, simply glorious.
 
As with all true Mahlerians, Wit has the finale of this sprawling symphony firmly in his sights from the first bar. The inexorable undertow, that tremble of anticipation, is keenly felt, especially in the transported singing of the finale. Goodness, I’d forgotten just how unerring Wit is here, the closing peroration arriving in a blaze of triumph, organ, bells and huge tam-tam hurled into one’s listening room as never before. I can only guess at how immersive this must sound in a properly configured multi-channel system.
 
Wit’s Mahler 8 has always been a hidden gem in the Mahler discography, and now this Blu-ray makes it shine with even more lustre than before. True, one pays a bit more for this than the CD, but the audible – and emotional – gains make this a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in superb Mahler and even better sound.
 
-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International
Read less

Works on This Recording

1. Symphony no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand" by Gustav Mahler
Performer:  Barbara Kubiak (Soprano), Izabella Klosinska (Soprano), Marta Boberska (Soprano),
Jadwiga Rappé (Alto), Ewa Marciniec (Alto), Timothy Bentch (Tenor),
Wojciech Drabowicz (Baritone), Piotr Nowacki (Bass)
Conductor:  Antoni Wit
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cracow Polish Radio/TV Chorus,  Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra,  Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir  ... 
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Vienna, Austria 
 Venue:  Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall 
Length: 80 Minutes 51 Secs. 

Customer Reviews

Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
Review This Title Share on Facebook