Hi there,
The James De Priest Mahler 5 has a HUGE interpretive blunder near the end of the finale: he slows down too soon before the reprise of the second movement's big "victory" (my description) choral tune for the brass. He puts in a massive ritard where the trombones do their descending scale (eighth notes), followed by the horns sounding their little fanfare figures. This ends up being 20-something bars before Mahler asks for any kind of slow-down. What ritard. Mahler does ask for, is only at the crest of the chorale tune itself: pesante (etwas gehalten). The "etwas gehalten" part simply means "somewhat held back". This undermines the effect that Mahler was looking for, once you get to the spot where he actually calls for the ritard. Oh well! Too bad, because there's some very good music making in the previous movements. In particular, the horns - both corporate and solo - are outstanding in the middle movement scherzo. The strings, too, do a better than expected job in the famous Adagietto. Recorded in London's Abbey Studios, the sound is nothing to write home about either. If you're curious, you won't be out a lot of money since it's a budget release. Ben would probably dig the horns in the scherzo.
Barry Guerrero
Topic: I'll start: De Priest/LSO M5 on Naxos (Read 15727 times)