Yep. I got this yesterday, and the Mahler is fabulous. I didn't bother to look at the Beethoven concerto. But for me, this was my best encounter with the Mahler first in a long, long time. Even though I didn't agree with every interpretive decision that Fabio Luisi made, he knew exactly what he wanted, and exactly how to express what he wanted to the Dresdeners via his hands, eyes, and face. The guy is amazing.
As such, this is my third encounter with Luisi. The first two were the Bruckner 9th and Richard Strauss' "Alpine" symphony; both on Sony, and both of those are excellent. But then again, the Staatskapelle has had a long history with both Bruckner and Strauss. But I think this orchestra was also born to play the Mahler 1st. In fact, they've already made two very good commercial recordings of M1: one with Otmar Suitner in 1962 (sans expo repeat), and one with Hiroshi Wakasugi in 1986 (I own that one). Let's cover some specifics.
You see, Mahler 1 is basically two symphonies in one. First, there's the obvious stuff: the whooping horns and tricky timpani rhythms at the end of the first movement; the sherzo at full sail; the blustering brass and percussion at both ends of the finale. But then there's plenty of music that's a total opposite to all that: the woodwind fanfare figures near the start of the first movement (which get recapitulated in the finale); the "cozy to the point of sounding lazy" - yet totally playful - middle section of the scherzo; the beautiful "Lindenbaum" melody for soft strings and harps in the third movement; the gentle moments of refrain and reflection in the finale. These moments provide the greatest possible contrast to the music that one normally associates with Mahler: tons of brass and percussion. In this performance, the Staatskapelle cover both Mahlers thoroughly, and terrifically at that. Their strings, woodwinds, brass (not overbearing), and percussion - all four of these departments are excellent throughout the performance. Luisi focuses on these contrasts, and thus drives the point of this schism within the symphony. This is the youthful and impetuous Mahler, but fully capable of self reflection when called for. There are a pair of slightly controversial decisions on Luisi's part, and I may as well cover those now.
At the start of the slow movement, Luisi has the double bass solo - or what used to be considered a solo - played "soli" (the entire bass section). This is becoming more common now, as some evidence has surfaced for its justification. For me, this is a total non-issue, as I've never been a big fan of the "creeky" sounding solo bass anyway. It doesn't make that passage sound louder, just "smoother". Some may wince at that idea, but I find it less distracting. And the other choice I'm singling out will probably be more bothersome to some folks: in the slow movement, Luisi conducts the East European village band passages (they're brief), far faster than usual. Thus, once again, making a big contrast to the slow and soft music that surrounds it, and making those passages sound even more Klezmer-like than usual. It's different, and I wouldn't want to hear it done that way every time. But for a change, it was quite interesting, and worked quite well. By the way, in the final few bars of the finale, the timpani and bass drum rolls sound nice and fat - just as they should (and often times don't).
I'm beginning to ramble, so the bottom line is this: this is a terrific one-off of the Mahler first, captured on tour in the new concert hall in Munich (am Gasteig). As for the Beethoven first piano concerto, I'll get around to that some other day. I'm sure it's fine too. The sound and picture are both excellent on this DVD, with good camera work decisions in the Mahler (very important).
Topic: F. Luisi/Staatskapelle Dresden M1 on dvd (Medici Arts) (Read 7115 times)