I'm writing this review based on hearing this recording on the two-channel CD layer. I don't own an SACD player, so I can't comment on its multi-channel aspects.
In spite of the fact that Zinman - like Michael Tilson Thomas - starts the scherzo movement at a very fast clip, then very much takes his time during the offstage trumpet solos (also like MTT), I really like this Mahler 3 recording quite a bit. Unlike MTT, after the first sixty seconds or so of the scherzo, Zinman doesn't lose tempo when the double basses and celli enter with their chugging triplet figures (three notes to a beat). In addition, the Tonhalle Zurich (who?) woodwinds distinguish themselves so well at the start of the scherzo, that it doesn't sound the least bit breathless or hasty. And yes, the posthorn solos are very much on the slow side. Yet, those solos don't sound as though they're lasting forever either; such is the care given to balances and phrasing.
In fact, Zinman employs at least two different offstage locations for the posthorn solos. At the onset, the trumpet sounds very distant indeed. After the flutes have their little solo, the posthorn sounds a bit closer. Then, when we reach the harmonic cadence point - the spot where the harmonies begin turning homeward, and the horns join the trumpet in a sort of dialogue - the offstage trumpet sounds close to being onstage. This may seem like a petty piece of Mahlerian trivia, but it allows for exacting balances and rhythms between the trumpet and horns to actually exist. Trust me, it's very effective!
Other than the scherzo, much of this performance brings Simon Rattle's greatly underrated recording to mind. In fact, they share the same outstanding mezzo soprano: Birgirt Remmert. As should always be the case, the first movement is a wondrous, kaleidoscopic tour-de-force.
After a beautifully pharsed trombone solo (as well as sufficiently muscular), we actually get to hear the fortissimo tam-tam smash that makes the woodwinds sound like birds being shaken out of their tree by some natural cataclysmic event (unlike Haitink/CSO, where you can't hear this particular gong smash at all). Later on, the start of the development section really rocks the house, as the lowbrass do an outstanding job with their ridiculous sounding kuckoo rhythms, while the clarinets blast out their unison folk melodies. This is a real "stand up and take notice" account of this passage - very much in contrast to the relatively staid Haitink. After an even more rousing "southern storm" fantasy passage (Mahler's description) that caps the development section, Zinman judges his transition back to the recapitulation - the reiteration of the symphony's opening horn fanfare - perfectly by making the offstage snare drum solo almost the same tempo as the horn fanfare itself (as opposed to being way too fast, as it is on Haitink/CSO, and numerous others).
For me, the highlight of Zinman's "Resurrction" (Mahler 2) recording was the wonderful sounding set of deep bells, employed at the end of the symphony. In lieu of the usual suspect - a ubiquitous rolling rack of tubular chimes - those deep bells make their reappearance at the start of the "bim-bam" choral movement here (personally, I think that handbells in the lower octave would be the perfect sound). While the sound of deep bells may be a startling effect at first, they make for more sufficient contrast to the glockenspiel and triangle that help to send this joyous movement out on its merry way. Again, Zinman pays great attention to phrasing and balances. Yet, nothing sounds staid or too studied. This treatment pays great dividends in the concluding adagio movement. But unlike Simon Rattle, Zinman doesn't rush the concluding 90 seconds of the symphony, where the two sets of timpani go back forth on the tonic and dominant notes (nor is he too slow and marmoreal, like MTT/SFSO).
Well, I could go on and on with more detail, but I've already chalked up too many words here. In summary, what I can tell you is that Zinman's Mahler 3 pretty much incorporates everything that I've admired in previous outstanding efforts. That list would include Haitink (1966), Horenstein, Bernstein (1960's), Martinon/CSO; Levine/CSO; Abbado/BPO, Boulez/VPO, Ozawa/BSO, Rattle, Chailly - and a few others that I'm just not thinking of at this moment. In plain, old two-channel stereo, I can heartily recommend it.
Topic: what I wrote at Amazon Re: Zinman M3 (RCA) (Read 5468 times)