Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6
Jonathon Nott
Bavarian State Philharmonic (Bamberger Symphoniker)
Tudor 7196
Jonathan Nott’s Mahler cycle with the Bamberger Symphoniker
(A.K.A. the Bavarian State Philharmonic) is now complete. The cycle has been
well received by critics and audiences – with considerable justice, on the
strength of this recording which, like the others, is put out in a SACD hybrid
format. Nott is a very fine Mahler conductor, not to my ear quite the equal of
greats such as Walter, Klemperer, Bernstein, and Abbado, but definitely towards
the front of the next cohort.
One controversy in performing Mahler 6 is the relative order
of the Andante and the Scherzo. Mahler himself wavered. His original ordering,
as reflected in the 1963 edition, placed the slow movement second (which is the
ordering that we find in, for example, Beethoven’s 9 and
Bruckner’s 8 symphonies). At the premiere in Essen on 27 May 1906,
with Mahler himself at the podium, the order was reversed. This is followed in
the latest (2010) critical edition. Nott reverts to Mahler’s original thought
and plays the Scherzo before the Andante. Obviously there are no right answers
here, but Nott makes a good case for his version of the architecture. His
interpretation brings out both the contrasts and the continuity between the disintegrating
nachtmusik of the Adagio and the huge sprawling Finale, whioch is Mahler’s longest
movement, after the first movement of the third symphony.
Nott’s great strength as a Mahler conductor is his ability
to maintain momentum and focus while clearly articulating the large-scale
structure. He has a keen eye for detail, but never loses sight of the overall
architecture. This comes across particularly clearly in the outer movements. Where
lesser conductors simply drift past the landmarks in Mahler’s symphonic river,
Nott is definitely steering the ship. At the same time Nott is sensitive to
Mahler’s mood-painting, capturing well the sinister nature of the Scherzo, even
in its more bucolic moments. He also delivers a ravishing performance of the
elegiac and melancholy Adagio.
