Mahler 5 and the Kindertotenleider – live performances from Tenstedtand the NDR in 1980 (Profil Hänssler)

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5

Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder (*)

(*) Brigitte FassBaender
NDR Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Klaus Tennstedt

Profil Hänssler PH13058 (2 CDs)

Profil Hüanssler have given us a fine live recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 from Klaus Tennstedt and the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra (NDR Sinfonieorchester), with a live performance of the Kindertotenlieder sung by Brigitte Fassbaender on a second disc. The performances date from 1980 (May 18 and November 11 respectively), towards the end of Tennstedt’s 2 year stint as principal conductor of the NDR orchestra, shortly before he handed over the reins to Gunter Wänd.

Mahler’s Fifth can present challenges to the unwary. The symphony has a complex tripartite structure with two pairs of outer movements surrounding the Scherzo that is the true heart of the symphony. It has some wonderful opportunities for soloists (particularly for solo horn in the Scherzo), and the well-known Adagio can side-track conductors who slip into playing it as a standalone piece. Although the symphony is more conventional than the Second, Third, and Fourth, it has complex orchestration and internal structure, particularly in the second and final movements.

The very assertive trumpet fanfare that opens the first movement sets the tone for the rest of the performance. Tennstedt and the NDR give a forceful and assured reading. Conductor and orchestra are both clearly at home with Mahler’s musical idiom and, more intangibly, with his musical temperament. In the opening movement the multiple voices come out clearly, with the dominant funeral march adroitly juxtaposed with the two trios. The NDR brass section has a very clear sound. Tennstedt and the NDR live up to the indication for the second movement, which is “moving stormily, with the greatest vehemence”. They tread with assurance and energy through the complex development, bringing out thematic contrasts and juxtapositions. The brass section continues to shine in the Scherzo, which is played as the centerpiece that it is. The Adagio is played with luscious string sound and great emotion, but also maintaining the forceful momentum characteristic of the performance as a whole. In the final Rondo conductor and orchestra display a sure-footed sense of direction through a very complex movement full of allusions  and sudden shifts of mood and tempo. Tennstedt brings the movement and symphony to a decisive close.

All in all the Fifth is a very strong performance. Turning to the second disc, Brigitte Fassbaender was an exceptional singer at the height of her powers in 1980. However, I found the performance of the Kindertotenlieder less compelling. There aren’t any obvious identifiable flaws in singing or playing, but the performance doesn’t quite catch the atmosphere of complete despair in the 5 poems that Mahler selected from the 428 that Rückert wrote in 1833-4 following the death of two of his children from scarlet fever. It is a shame that including the Kindertotenlieder on a separate disc only adds 26 minutes of music but effectively doubles the price. The sound quality on both performances is high, but I think that Profil would have been better advised to issue the performance of the Fifth on its own.  

Nagano on Bruckner 9 at GSOplay.

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Sweden's national orchestra) has an excellent streaming/VOD site. It's completely free and features a selection of past concerts as well as the opportunity to stream live. It also has some excellent interviews. I particularly enjoyed this one with Kent Nagano, the Principal Guest Conductor for the GSO, talking about Bruckner's 9th Symphony.

http://www.gsoplay.se/sv/video/just-leave-piece-alone-nagano-bruckner-9

Tannhauser Overture: Georg Solti in Rehearsal and Performance

Richard Wagner, Overture to Tannhauser

(Georg Solti in Rehearsal and Performance)

Südfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Conducted by Georg Solti

Euroarts 2052038 (DVD)

This is the latest DVD in EuroArts series of archive recordings of eminent conductors in rehearsal and performance. Previous issues include Erich Leinsdorf, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, and Sergiu Celibidache. The Solti recording captured here dates from  a concert in1966 (no further details are available either in the liner notes or on the website), a year after Solti finished his celebrated recording of Das Ring des Nibelungen with the Vienna Philharmonic. The orchestra is the Südfunk-Sinfonieorchester, a fine orchestra better known now under its current name of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Compared to other issues in the series the offering here is a little sparse. We are given two rehearsals, totaling just over 40 minutes, and a 17 minute performance. The Karajan DVD, in contrast, offers rehearsals and performances of Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. It runs for 2 hours 20 minutes with over 90 minutes of rehearsal time. An earlier DVD issue (from Arthaus in 2003) also included the Hungarian march from Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust. Still, one advantage of focusing on a relatively short work is that we are able to hear and watch almost every bar being rehearsed.

  
The key word here is ‘rehearsed”, as opposed to ‘played in rehearsal’. Solti lives up to his reputation for perfectionism and attention to detail. He gets to work without much idle chat and works methodically through the piece, frequently stopping to work with individual sections and individual musicians. Solti places enormous emphasis on the musicality of the overture and the quality of the sound (to the point of asking the percussion to stand before their entry). His knowledge of the entire work is very deep and he often explains how he wants a section or instrument to sound with reference to how the thematic material is developed later on in the opera – e.g. to the clarinetist playing the Venus theme.

I was curious to observe the dynamics between conductor and ensemble, given Solti’s well-known and well-documented reputation as a martinet – as the booklet remarks, he was known at the Royal Opera House as Georg the Terrible and the Prussian (ironic really, for a Hungarian Jew who spent the war years in exile in Switzerland). Of course he may have been on his best behavior in front of the TV cameras, but the Solti that emerges here is very respectful of the players and (almost) as free with his praise as his criticism. Instructions are given politely and it is quite plainly just about the music. The impression that I came away with was of rigor not ferocity.

For those of us who rarely if ever see the work that goes into a performance it is salutary to be reminded of the depth of thought and preparation (and also rather humbling, particularly for a reviewer). The actual performance is marvelous and having seen the rehearsal in advance helps the listener pick out subtle details they might otherwise have missed. The audio and video quality are extremely good for the date and the booklet includes a nice biographical sketch. This is well worth a look, for Wagnerians, Solti enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates fine conducting.

Janowski's Bruckner cycle for Pentatone

Anton Bruckner, The Symphonies

Bruckner, Symphony No. 1 (1866, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 (1877, Carragan edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 3 (1889, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 (1878-1890, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 5 (1875-1878, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 6 (1879-1881, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 (1881-1883, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 (1890, Nowak edition)

Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 (Nowak edition)
 Bruckner, Mass No. 3 in F minor (1867-1893)*

Lenneke Ruiten, Soprano*

Iris Vermillion, Mezzo-Soprano* 
Shawn Mathey, Tenor*
 Franz Josef Selig, Bass*

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conducted by Marek Janowski

Pentatone 12686 (10 hybrid CD/SACDs)

This is an unusual Bruckner cycle in a couple of respects. First, the performances all appear to be studio-recorded, bucking the trend for live performances of Bruckner symphonies. In fact, the 10 discs are not just CD/SACD hybrids but also offer (PCM) stereo and (DSD) multichannel options. Pentatone have clearly made a very significant investment in Janowski’s Bruckner cycle, even though (and this is the second unusual feature) the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande was hardly known as a Bruckner orchestra when the cycle began with No. 9, released in January 2008. Based in Geneva, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande was led for nearly fifty years by Ernest Ansermet and is much more closely associated with the twentieth century French and Russian repertoire. As with almost every Bruckner cycle there is some unevenness, but Janowki and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande repay the confidence shown in them.

Janowski is relatively conventional in his choice of versions. The liner notes describe No. 1 was being played in the 1866 Linz version, but it is really the revised Linz version that we have here (not the original one, which has been recorded only by Georg Tintner). No. 2 is in the 1877 version (although in the Carragan edition, rather than the more frequently recorded Nowak and Haas versions). The original 1873 version of No. 3 is being increasingly heard, but Janowski plays the more familiar 1889 version. Likewise in No. 4, where he sticks with the 1878-1880 Nowak edition, rather than returning to the original. Nos. 5-7 were not as extensively revised as the other symphonies. In No. 8 Janowski performs the 1890 version – unlike, say, Simone Young whose recent recording follows the original 1887 version. There has been increasing interest in recording No. 9 with a “recomposed” finale. Janowski prefers the familiar (unfinished) three movement symphony that Bruckner actually left us. Thankfully!

All this is to say that Janowski’s cycle has to sell itself on the quality of the music-making. There is no “novelty factor” in the versions he plays. And nor does Janowski have any major ideological problems with dominant trends in Bruckner performance, in the manner of, for example, Mario Venzago. That may be no bad thing, however (see my reviews of Venzago’s No. 8 and No. 5).

Janowski and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande do have a distinctive voice in Bruckner. The performances here typically reveal brisk and steady tempi. This can be refreshing. The Andante of No. 4 is a good example. Here Janowski respects the “quasi allegretto” designation and highlights the dance elements over the solemnities (or at least – these are the ones that make the greatest impression). Similarly in the Adagio of No. 3, which Bruckner qualifies as “quasi andante”.

Where Janowski is less strong is when Bruckner is weaving together very disparate thematic material. In the first movement of No. 5, for example, the momentum and the architecture are all there, but he doesn’t quite succeed in bringing out the individuality of the three principal thematic threads. He does this much more successfully in the last movement of No. 5 where he has the help of Bruckner’s strict counterpoint. And the movements that are more thematically homogenous, as it were, are where Janowski really shines. Listening to the Adagio of No. 8 it is hard not to think that this is where conductor and orchestra feel most at home. The slow movements certainly suit the strengths of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande’s fine string section.

There are some very strong performances here. I particularly appreciated the first two symphonies and the last two (No. 8 and No. 9). Janowski makes a good case for Nos. 1 and 2, with particular success in the slow movements. The finale of No. 8 is dramatic and intense, and the first movement has a sense of urgency that is lacking from some of the middle symphonies. We get an old school interpretation of No. 9, with the Adagio definitely played as a finale. Both of these two very complex symphonies are well-paced throughout and Janowski communicates a clear sense of structure through Bruckner’s waves of sound. I personally found Nos. 4 and 7 a little disappointing (perhaps this is because they are Bruckner’s most recorded symphonies and so something really special is needed to stand out). The finale of No. 4 was curiously unsatisfying and both performances suffer from a degree of “flatness” – the peaks are lower and the troughs less deep than at the hands of a Wand or a Thielemann, for example.

Overall the sound quality is excellent (I listened in SACD stereo). The orchestration emerges with great clarity and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande’s strings sound rich and luscious. The very attractively packaged box includes a bonus disc of the Mass in F minor (which, particularly in the Benedictus and the Agnus Dei, sounds rather more symphonic than liturgical). The liner notes are intelligent (although sadly not as detailed as on the discs issued separately). And, as another pleasant bonus, Pentatone have included a voucher for a free download at their website. Despite some reservations this set is recommended, particularly to anyone wanting an audiophile Bruckner cycle.  

Paavo Järvi's Blu-ray/DVD Mahler cycle with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan” and Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, “Resurrection” [C major: Blu-ray 718104]

 Camilla Tilling, soprano
Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo-soprano

Bavarian Radio Chorus
North German Radio Chorus
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 3 in D Minor and Symphony No. 4 in G Major [C major: Blu-ray 719204]

Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano
Genia Kühmeier, soprano

Limburger Cathedral Boys Choir
Leipzig MDR Radio Choir
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor and Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, “Tragic” [C major: Blu-ray 729404]

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 7 in E Minor and Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand” [C major: Blu-ray 7296004]

Erin Wall, soprano
Ailish Tynan, soprano
Anna Lucia Richter, soprano
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff, tenor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Ain Anger, bass

Limburger Cathedral Boys Choir
Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno
Europa Chor Akademie
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 9 in D Major and Symphony No. 10 in F-Sharp Minor: I. Adagio [C major: Blu-ray 72980404]

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

With these five discs C Major and Unitel Classica have given us the first complete Mahler cycle on Blu-ray/DVD with Paavo Järvi conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. All of the symphonies were recorded live at the Rheingau Festival between 2007 and 2013. The majority of the performances took place in the magnificent church at Kloster Eberbach, a former Cistercian monastery, with the First, Seventh, and Eighth recorded in the art nouveau surroundings of the concert hall in the Kurhaus Wiesbaden.

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony (more properly known as the HR-sinfonieorchester) has a long tradition of Mahler playing, going back to its first principal conductor Hans Rosbaud. In 1988, under the direction of then principal conductor Eliahu Inbal, the orchestra played the first complete digital Mahler cycle. There is no question in my mind, after listening to this cycle, that it is in the front rank of Mahler orchestras.

The orchestra has a rich string sound, complemented by wind and brass sections that play with great assurance and are temperamentally attuned to Mahler’s multiple moods and styles. Mahler makes heavy demands upon solo musicians and the principals respond extremely well. The only solost credited by name is Samuel Seidenberg, whose horn solo is outstanding in the scherzo of the Fifth. But the standard is very high throughout the whole cycle. Highlights include the deliberately clumsy frère Jacques played by the double bass in the third movement of the First; the solos from the trombone and posthorn in the first and third movements of the Third; the horn solo in the second Nachtmusik from the Seventh (Seidenberg again); and the solo viola in the second and third movements of the Ninth.

Mahler was a great orchestrator and one of the real strengths of Paavo Järvi’s conducting is his skill in bringing out the complex texture of Mahler’s orchestral sound and striking a balance between the different voices. The slow movements display this skill to best effect. The first and last movements of the Ninth and the Adagio of the Tenth are particularly memorable. But the luscious adagios are, in a sense, the low-hanging fruit. The real test of a Mahler conductor is how they let the orchestra speak in the movements that are less “musicianly” – the movements where Mahler’s taste for country dances, for the grotesque, and for the ironic comes to the fore. In this context Järvi does particularly well in the scherzo centerpiece of the Fifth.

In the best perfomances in the cycle Järvi combines his ability to bring out the Mahler’s complicated orchestral textures with a sure sense of the overall architecture and what one could call the dramatic direction of the symphony. Drama and architecture seem to work best for Järvi in the middle and later period instrumental symphonies – the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth. These are, not coincidentally, the symphonies where we see the least of the Mahler “trademarks”. My impression from listening to the cycle is that Järvi is least comfortable in those movements where the music constantly seems to be going through drastic personality shifts and mood swings. He lacks the conviction with which a conductor like Leonard Bernstein, for example, would throw himself into Mahler’s exaggerated waltzes or grotesque funeral marches.  

Nor is Järvi always comfortable with the vocal symphonies. The Third is an unqualified success, particularly in the first and last movements where Järvi communicates a compelling vision of the overall structure of these two massive pieces of music. The Eighth, however, is probably the least successful performance in the cycle. This is definitely a piece where the conductor needs to go in full bore in order to harness Mahler’s massive forces, but Järvi comes across as lacking conviction. This is a shame because the choirs are first-rate and so too are the soloists, particularly Anna Lucia Richter’s Mater Gloriosa. In fact, the quality oif singing is very high throughout the cycle. The only vocal soloist who seems out of place is Waltraute Meier in the Fourth. Meier’s intonation is more reminiscent of the Ring Cycle’s Erda than the movement can sustain.

It is a shame that the liner notes are rather sketchy, with perfunctory comments on the symphonies and no information at all about the conductor, the orchestra, or the soloists. This is par for the course from Unitel Classica/C Major. They really need to get their act together. However, the sound and video quality are extremely good. The sound comes with in two-channel PCM or multichannel DTS-HD 5.1. I listened in two-channel and was pleasantly surprised by the acoustics at Kloster Eberbach. Only in the Eighth was I curious about how surround sound would work. Michael Ciniselli is the video director throughout.

My principal quibble with the videography is that there are too many instrumental close-ups and not enough use made of the fine surroundings in Kloster Eberbach and the Kurhaus Wiesbaden. (Tbe Adagio of the Tenth is an honorable exception.) This is not just a visual point. The videography can affect how one listens to the movement. It is very difficult not to attend predominantly to the music line being filmed. This can be a barrier to appreciating Mahler’s contrapuntal complexity – definitely a shame, given how good Järvi is at bringing that complexity out. 

In conclusion, no Mahler cycles are uniformly excellent, and there is no doubt but that this is a fine cycle. If you are in the market for a complete cycle on DVD or Blu-ray then this is the only game in town. But even leaving that aside five of the performances are very good (the Third, the three middle instrumental symphonies, and the Ninth), with the Third and the Ninth warmly recommended.

Amadeus Quartet RIAS recordings 1950-1956: Modernism (Bartok, Britten, Seiber, Tippett - and Purcell)

The RIAS Amadeus Quartet Recordings Vol. IV: Modernism

Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 2 in C major

Michael Tippett, String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp major

Henry Purcell, Chacony in G minor

Henry Purcell, Fantasia No. 4

Henry Purcell, Fantasia No. 6

Mátyás Seiber, String Quartet No. 3 (Quartetto Lirico)

Béla Bartók, String Quartet No. 4

Béla Bartók, String Quartet No. 6

Amadeus Quartet

Live recordings, Berlin 1950–1956

Audite 21.429 (2 CDs)

This two-CD set is a fascinating historical document with some very fine string playing indeed. The legendary Amadeus Quartet , whose four players played together for four decades from July 1947 to the death of violist Peter Schidlof in August 1987, are best known as custodians of the eighteenth and nineteenth century repertoire, providing touchstone performances of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and the other great classical and romantic quartet composers. As this collection of recordings reveals, they also had a deep empathy with the modernist repertoire.

The members of the Amadeus Quartet made a number of visits in the early years of the quartet to Morley College, an adult education college in London where Michael Tippett was the musical director until 1951. Mátyás Seiber taught composition at Morley College. Both composers are represented in the RIAS recordings, Tippett by his second quartet and Seiber by his third. The Tippett quartet is an attractive, lyrical piece, somewhat removed from the more avant garde directions of twentieth century music. Seiber’s third quartet is loosely serial in construction, but looking more to Berg than to Webern or Schoenberg. Neither quartet is frequently performed or recorded, but both are well worth listening to.

The other quartets in the set are much more firmly established in the repertoire. Britten’s second quartet is the only piece here that the Amadeus Quartet recorded commercially (for Decca in 1963). Its most striking feature is the magnificent third movement, which Britten entitled ‘Chacony’ (chaconne), in explicit reference and tribute to Henry Purcell, in whose music he immersed himself in the late 1940’s. This interest in Purcell was shared by Norbert Brainin (first violinist and founder of the Amadeus), who worked with Michael Tippett on editing Purcell. Three of Purcell’s string works are included here – the Chacony in G minor and the 4^th and 6^th Fantasias. The Amadeus Quartet’s approach, lushly played with plenty of vibrato, would not win favor with the historically informed performance movement. But it provides a very interesting counterpoint to their fine performance of the Britten quartet.

The Amadeus Quartet regularly programmed the last three Bártók quartets (4, 5, and 6). The Fourth and Sixth are represented here, recorded in 1955 and 1956 respectively. The Amadeus seem more at home in the Sixth than the Fourth (where the playing in the first two movements is a little uneven). The Mesto passages that open each movement are played with great depth and the musicians bring out the grotesque and ironic elements in the middle movements before the final movement’s melancholy close.

This set is the fourth in a six volume series with 25 CDs in total. The recordings all come from studio performances recorded in the post-war period by the RIAS radio station. RIAS stands for Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor (Broadcasting in the American Sector). The engineers at Audite have remastered the original studio tapes to produce first-rate sound quality. The Tippett recording is slightly worse quality than the others, but still perfectly acceptable. And, as is typical for Audite, the liner notes (by Rüdiger Albrecht) are detailed and informative. This is an exceptionally well-produced set, highly recommended for historical and musical value.

Maxim Ruysanov plays Martinu's music for viola

Maxim Rysanov Plays Martinu

Bohuslav Martinu

Rhapsody-Concerto (*)

Three Madrigals (Duo No. 1 for Viola and Violin) (**)

Duo No. 2 for Viola and Violin (***)

Sonata for Viola and Piano (****)

Maxim Rysanov, Viola

BBC Symphony Orchestra, conduced by Jiri Belohavlek (*)

Alexander Sitkovetsky, Violin (** and ***)

Katya Apekisheva, Violin (****)

BIS 2030 Hybrid SACD/CD

All of the pieces in this very welcome disc from BIS were written in the United States during the later stages of Martinu’s career– the first three during Martinu’s long period of exile (1941-1953) and the fourth during a seven month stay in New York in 1955-6. Martinu had started out as a violinist and his empathy for the violin appears to have carried over the viola. These four pieces, wonderfully played by Maxim Rysanov on a Guadignini viola from 1780, do great justice both to Martinu’s inventiveness as a composer and to the distinctive sound of the viola, surely the most undeservedly neglected instrument in the orchestra.

The viola’s distinctive texture and depth of sound comes across particularly clear in the two Duos for viola and violin – an unusual pairing for which the repertoire is rather thin. The first, confusingly titled Three Madrigals, is relatively well known. In the middle of its three movements Rysanov displays the viola’s rich sound to excellent effect, interwoven very lyrically with Sitkovetsky’s violin. The second Duo is also very appealing, as is the two movement Sonata for Viola and Piano.

The Rhapsody-Concerto is striking and definitely one of the high points of the concertante viola repertoire, along with Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and Walton’s Viola Concerto. It is unusually constructed. The second of its two movements has four distinct sections, the second of which is a cadenza for the soloist. Within this structure Martinu combines deep lyricism, harmonic innovation, and lengthy stretches of counterpoint with a distinctly baroque feel – all brought out very ably by the BBC Symphony under the Czech Jiri Belohavlek who at the time was still the Principal Conductor before moving in 2012 to the Czech Philharmonic.

The playing from all participants is of an extremely high standard and BIS’s production values on this disc are very high. I listened in both CD and SACD and was favorably impressed by the sound quality. The disc also offers the option of 5.0 surround sound. The liner notes are excellent. Highly recommended.