I actually like Vanska's Mahler 6 more than my three stars indicate. If it had been recorded in scherzo/andante order, I would have given it four stars (more on that later). Interesting as parts of it may be, I simply can't recommend it as anybody's one and only recording of the work – it's that different. Instead, it would make a good supplement to more 'traditional' renditions, such as Bernstein (either one), Boulez/V.P.O., Abbado/B.P.O., Harding/BRSO, Pappano/EMI, etc., irrespective of inner movement order. Even among recordings emanating from American orchestras, I would have to place Abbado/Chicago, Eschenbach/Philadelpia, MTT/SFSO, or even Jaap van Zweden/Dallas, ahead of Vanska as a first choice for folks who are going to own just one recording.
Going back to inner movement order, I would like to thank Osmo Vanska for providing THE best argument, musically speaking, for performing Mahler 6 in scherzo/andante order (the poorly argued historical case is nearly irrelevant to me). The strict, 'forced' quality to his coda for the first movement, reminds me very much of the case with Shostakovich 5 – a forced celebration with the troops muttering beneath their breath, “our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing” (and to that end, Vanska absolutely sails right through the first movement's final climax, located about 20 seconds before the end).
After such a paradoxical ending to the first movement, the Andante Moderato seems badly out of place. Since this 84 minute performance is all on one disc, I've 'burnt' this on to two discs with the scherzo on disc 1, and the andante beginning disc 2. Placing the scherzo after the first movement, instead, reinforces the notion that the happy ending to movement I is a false one, and that we really belong back in the world of A minor, not Eb major (the key of the andante). To me, this particular performance works far better in scherzo/andante order.
Getting back to the 'big picture', Vanska has adopted Karajan's maxim that any piece of music has only one main climax. Except that in this case, Vanska gives us two main climaxes: the second hammer stroke in the finale (it's a doozy!) and the final A-minor outburst at the very end of symphony. Everything else in the entire performance is below these two climaxes in terms of amplitude and intensity. As a result of all this suppression, the four sharps passage leading to the slow movement's climactic moments (with onstage cowbells making an impressive racket!) appears more relevant to the symphony's overall narrative.
Regardless of which inner movement comes first, these two movements come off better than the two outer ones. The scherzo is appropriately clipped (staccato), with the strong basses and celli lending a spectral quality throughout. The slow movement, for my money, is the one of the very best ones ever to have been recorded. Vanska positively pegs the scenic 'alpine' passage, starting at 6:30. At 7:27, Vanska then does a nice job with the image of a feather slowly falling back to earth, rendered by the upper strings (and back to Eb major). From moment to moment, he does a wonderful job with the andante – and thus, all the more reason to place it before the finale.
The finale itself has its ups and downs (no pun intended). Vanska takes the entire introductory A minor passage very slowly, and with little contrast of tempo within. However, he makes the two spectral outbursts, beginning at 2:35, sound utterly terrifying. Pity that he then rushes the big A-major to A-minor meltdown at 5:50 (before the movement's first allegro passage). But again, the entire movement builds up to the second hammer stroke (with its gong and cymbals reinforcement), as well as the final A-minor explosion at the end.
While climaxes are underplayed in the first movement, Vanska brings forth the relentless low “A” march in the basses and celli throughout the movement. Hence, the doomed, Shostakovich like atmosphere. That said, the central cowbell episode could hardly be more scenic or tender sounding (and with clear offstage cowbells).
Check this out on Spotify or Youtube – assuming it shows up there – and see if it's a match for you. I don't own surround sound equipment, so I can't comment on the SACD aspects of this disc (actually, that stuff is sitting in my garage). It probably isn't fair to give a full assessment without taking advantage of what BIS is carefully offering. Program notes and art work could hardly be bettered. This recording is different enough that I want to keep it, particularly for the two inner movements.
Topic: my three-star review of Vanska M6 at Amazon (Read 6138 times)