Impressions - Mahler, Sym 7, Jansons, BRSO

[sperlsco]

This is probably the best modern recording of M7 on SACD.  It has ideal timings {21.40, 15.13, 9.58, 13.13, 16.45 (w/o applause)}, excellent sound, and I love the overall conception.  The orchestra has sharp, well-accented playing -- which is good in all Mahler, and especially M7.  The brass section is glorious throughout.  There is a bit of grunting by Jansons here and there. 

Jansons takes a fairly aggressive approach in both outer movements.  The first movement is one of the best I’ve heard, featuring a beautifully done moonlit interlude (although I’d like the harp to be a bit more differentiated).  Jansons does an exceptional job of building and releasing tension.  It is particularly noteworthy at the end of the movement, which is as dramatic as any I’ve heard. 

The middle movements also have very sharp accents.  Movement 2 is very musical, mysterious, and flowing – it also has excellent cowbells.  Movement 3 is appropriately chilly and uneasy, with some excellent Timpani.  Movement 4 is romantic – Jansons takes it at a perfect mid-tempo, getting slightly faster as it progresses.  Guitar and Mandolin are superbly captured.  I especially love the way the mandolin is strummed (I know there’s a term for how it is played, featuring a type of rapid vibrato/strum as opposed to a slow pick).

The final movement is brisk and exciting.  Jansons seems to minimize the changes in tempi in the first 2/3’s of the movement, but is much more flexible towards the end.  The Timpani seems out of sorts at one point (just past 8:00 or so IIRC), but it may be my imagination.  The Coda is severely lacking in deep bells, although the cowbells are there.   I’d prefer that the deep bells be fairly dominant at the coda (Tennstedt live, Lennie/DG, any Abbado, MTT/LSO).  So this is my one major disappointment, but there is far too much excellence to let that detract from my overall favorable impression. 

I give this recording an enthusiastic recommendation. 

[John Kim]

Scott, thanks for the heads up .

Your review is just as I thought ... I'd really love to hear the BRSO in this piece.

Jansons's live RCO M7th had a longer 1st movt. at around 23.5 min, but the other movts. in both performances seem to be in the same ball park.

Where did you order it?

John,

[barry guerrero]

So John, does this mean that there's also an RCOA Mahler 7 on the way as well?

I too got to hear this Jansons/BRSO one. I like it very much from the third movement on. I would prefer for the first two movements to be a bit slower than they are here. However, I agree that the BRSO plays very well on this recording. For my taste, the woodwinds could be just a tad more forward. But the BRSO timpanist does about the best job I've ever heard on the opening flourishes that begin the finale. I also like Jansons' tempi for the finale, but I would have also liked just a tad more from the deep bells and cowbells at the very end. In that regard alone, Zinman is better. I also like Zinman better in the first two movements. That said, however, Jansons does slow down for the two measures of "funeral dirge" material near the end of the first movement, just before the finale peroration. MTT was equally fast with his first movement, but failed to slow down significantly for these two bars (in his defense, I believe that they're only marked "pesante").

It would be hard for me to rate recent M7 recordings because there's been a slough of good ones. I think that I still like the Barenboim the best, even though I would have preferred that his first movement be a bit slower as well. It's a shame that Nagano has yet to record the 7th because he does the piece about the best of anyone I've yet to hear.

Bottom line, this is yet another good one, and Jansons sounds quite different here than how he normally does with the RCOA - much more lively and spontaneous than usual.

[Zoltan]

[...] and I love the overall conception.  The orchestra has sharp, well-accented playing -- which is good in all Mahler, and especially M7. 

Indeed, that's what I have come to expect from Jansons! His Rachmaninoff recordings with the St.Petersburgers are fantastic in that regard (especially noticeable in the "3rd Symphony" and the "Symphonic Dances", where he doesn't feel rushed, but exciting, contrary to Ashkenazy) and his Shostakovich is just as much (hell, he even gets the Wiener Philharmoniker to play snappy in DSCH5). Interesting to note then, that he is different with the Concertgebouw. Is that simply the orchestra's style that they don't "allow" to change fully?

I recorded a TV-Broadcast of Mahler's 1st which I enjoyed and I also enjoy his Sixth with the London SO.

I have to be in an "exploratory" mood to listen to M7, but it should be a fascinating one now with Jansons' and Zinman's M7! There will be at least one major drawback for me though: Jansons doesn't have split violins anymore like in his St.Petersburg days, contrary to Zinman.

[John Kim]

So John, does this mean that there's also an RCOA Mahler 7 on the way as well?

No, I don't know. I was referring to a live concert recording I heard on radio. It is from 2002 or 2003. The first two movts are well over 23 min. and 17 min., respectively. So, you might have liked it more than the BRSO one. This is, in my book, the best M7th I ever heard, along with two Bernstein's, Kobayashi, Barenboim, and Schwarz.

John,

[sperlsco]

Where did you order it?

John,

I put in a large order from JPC: 

M7, Jansons, BRSO
M5, Stenz, Gurzienich
M5, Mehta, Bavarian State O
M9, Nott

I think that most of these are now available from Amazon though. 

[John Kim]

Scott,

I don't think the Nott M9th is available in the States.

John,

[sperlsco]

[...] and I love the overall conception.  The orchestra has sharp, well-accented playing -- which is good in all Mahler, and especially M7. 

Indeed, that's what I have come to expect from Jansons! His Rachmaninoff recordings with the St.Petersburgers are fantastic in that regard (especially noticeable in the "3rd Symphony" and the "Symphonic Dances", where he doesn't feel rushed, but exciting, contrary to Ashkenazy) and his Shostakovich is just as much (hell, he even gets the Wiener Philharmoniker to play snappy in DSCH5). Interesting to note then, that he is different with the Concertgebouw. Is that simply the orchestra's style that they don't "allow" to change fully?

I'm not sure if he's trying to be all that different.  Look at his two Symphonic Dances.  There's not THAT much of a difference between his St. Pete and RCOA ones.  The St. Peter's playing is more sharply accented than the RCOA, but from an interpretation standpoint the performances are fairly similar. 

BTW, I absolutely love Ashkenazy's R3 and Symphonic Dances.  His Dances finale is thrilling beyond compare -- too bad he chooses to not let the tam tam ring on. 

[barry guerrero]

"BTW, I absolutely love Ashkenazy's R3 and Symphonic Dances.  His Dances finale is thrilling beyond compare -- too bad he chooses to not let the tam tam ring on."

I agree with every aspect of Scott's comment here. Ashkenazy's "S.D." is terrific. Therefore, it is indeed a pity that he didn't observe the marking to allow the tam-tam to ring on at the very end. On the other hand, the tam-tam is absolutely spectacular on Ashkenazy's "Rachy" 1.

[barry guerrero]

I've gone back and listened to some of the Barenboim M7. I prefer it to most other M7's because it captures such a wide range of moods and emotions. Let me translate that into something more objective.

In the first movement, I find Barenboim to also be a bit fast (I like Boulez's 23 minutes). However, I think Barenoboim does a slightly better job with the central, slow, "moonlit" episode than Jansons (Zinman is terrific through this passage). As I mentioned before, I do like it that Jansons slows down significantly for the two measures just before the first movement's final peroration (launched by a big cymbal crash).

I greatly prefer Barenboim's 16 minutes for the first Nachtmusik (I've also liked Abbado in this movement as well). I really feel that the first two movements should wallow around in the darkness a wee bit. Personally, I view the 7th as yet another "darkness to light" symphony. Zinman is excellent with the offstage cowbells at the spot where the two solo horns play their "night patrol" signals to each other.

Third movement: Like Abbado, Barenboim eschews Mahler's "not too fast" marking. In other words, they're both very fast with the scherzo. But combined with Barenboim's 16 minute first Nachtmusik, I think that the contrast works quite well. Abbado does the very same thing. That said, both Jansons and Zinman do a good job of keeping the middle movement scherzo from sounding boring, while also observing Mahler's request for not too much speed.

2nd Nachtmusik. Even though BOTH the guitar and mandolin are very audible on the new Jansons, I prefer Barenboim's even zippier tempo for this movement. It seems like all conductors now do a good job with the climax to this very erudite movement.

Finale: I do enjoy Jansons' rapid tempo for the finale. But I think that Barenboim does just a slightly better job of making it sound a bit "nutzoid" and - at the risk of crossing the line here - sound just a tad incoherent in the process. In other words, I'm not convinced that making a fully coherent reading of the finale is in the best interest of the piece itself. I think it should sound a bit like the work of a true madman. Anyway, it really doesn't matter because they're both very good. For me, Zinman is just a tad too safe and sane with the finale, but he also does an excellent job of nailing the final peroration (lots of bells!).

My final point: we're lucky with all these great choices. Indeed, the BRSO play very well and very idiomatically. However, don't forget the Gerard Schwarz M7 either.

[Zoltan]

Personally, I view the 7th as yet another "darkness to light" symphony.
[...]
I'm not convinced that making a fully coherent reading of the finale is in the best interest of the piece itself. I think it should sound a bit like the work of a true madman.

Hm, you gave me an idea here: perhaps it's a symphony from darkness to crazyness?

(joking )

[mike bosworth]

I'm not convinced that making a fully coherent reading of the finale is in the best interest of the piece itself. I think it should sound a bit like the work of a true madman.

I agree with Barry, especially as regards the closing pages.  I think that a 'crazy cacophony', pulling out all the stops, was exactly what Mahler was aiming at.

Mike Bosworth

[barry guerrero]

Yes, and the "crazy cacophony" is like the musical equivalent of watching slapstick. It's like watching the Marx Brother - everything happens quickly, and you can't guess what's coming next. You musically get swept off your feet.