DH reviews MTT/SFSO M8th - 8/8

[John Kim]

GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 10 (Adagio)
Erin Wall, Elza van den Heever, Laura Claycomb (soprano); Katarina Karnéus, Yvonne Naef (mezzo-soprano); Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor); Quinn Kelsey (baritone); James Morris (bass-baritone)

Pacific Boychoir
San Francisco Girls Choir
San Francisco Symphony & Chorus

Michael Tilson Thomas

San Francisco Symphony- 821936-0021-2(SACD)
Reference Recording - Wit (Naxos)

    rating

    The SFSO's proprietary label offers a Mahler Eighth with some impressive elements: all of the female singers, the excellent SFSO Chorus (and the best choir of kids on disc), plus the playing of the orchestra generally. Some usually difficult or just plain dull bits, such as the Trio of Vaguely Irritating Biblical Women in Part Two, go really well. On the debit side, the men are less satisfying. Baritone Quinn Kelsey sounds fine, but tenor Anthony Dean Griffey hasn't a large enough sound or the ringing top that Mahler demands, and James Morris' voice has such a wide, dry wobble that the minute he opened his mouth in Part One's "Infirma nostri corporis" (after the orchestral interlude) all I could think of was "Grandpa Munster sings Mahler". It was almost comical, and his Part Two solo as Pater Profundis is tragic, but in the wrong sort of way.

    Of course, the star of the show is Michael Tilson Thomas, and doesn't he know it! There's no denying the orchestra's keen responsiveness to his every whim, but there are moments when some of those whims really do constitute lapses in taste. There's a difference, after all, between Mahler's own deliberately maudlin or vulgar moments and ones that he probably never intended. One such is the first (orchestral) appearance of Mater Gloriosa in Part Two, after Dr. Marianus' first solo. The tempo slows to a crawl, stops dead, and after a huge pause the violins announce the main theme dripping with enough sweetness to cause a toothache. It's all wrong. Similarly, the Chorus Mysticus has numerous gratuitous pauses, gear shifts, and other "ideas", each of which prevents the necessary buildup of tension and destroys Mahler's basic concept--of concluding with a simple chorale.

    Indeed, MTT has developed a very irritating habit in Mahler's music of approaching a climax with a big ritard or an exaggerated Luftpause, followed by a tenuto on the climactic note, before dashing on ahead at the main tempo. He does this at the first-movement recapitulation as well as at the climax of an uncommonly sleepy Adagio from the Tenth Symphony. It's boring, predictable, and ineffectual, and it really does diminish much of the sheer brilliance that he displays at coordinating and balancing the large forces that Mahler requires. It's always sad to see real talent squandered in such a fashion. Has Thomas lost the capacity to edit himself?

    Sonically there's a lot that's admirable, but also one big caveat. Balances are generally excellent, especially when the full orchestra and choirs are operating at full tilt. The big fugue in the Eighth's first movement is amazingly clear, but also grand and exciting. So what's the problem? Almost no organ! It's a major part, especially in the Veni creator spiritus, and there's no excuse for its lack of presence given the fact that Davies Hall in San Francisco has a monster pipe organ with more power than a 747 jet engine. I know: I was there for the inaugural. This also must be at least partly Thomas' fault, and it's mystifying. I wish I could be more positive in the details of this review--the rating has to reflect the polish and sheer competence on display--but whether or not these performances truly are enjoyable or necessary is another matter entirely.

    --David Hurwitz


PS> I agree with everything DH says of this recording. But as he implied there is much to enjoy here and for that reason I'd give my thumbs up, despite all the quibbles.

[Leo K]

This is a higher rating I was expecting Hurwitz to give...I will have to check out this recording very soon.

Thanks for the heads up John!


--Todd

[barry guerrero]

Because I know that MTT could have done a much better job with this piece, simply by doing exactly what Mahler says to do (and I know, because he did a terrific job of it in 1998), I would give this recording a rating of 7/9. I'm truly disappointed by it because Davies Hall is THE perfect American venue for the work. It's truly a missed opportunity. Maybe Ondine will someday issue the Eschenbach/Philly one from Verizon Hall.

I also really like these sentences from David, because they absolute cut to the core of the problem:   "Of course, the star of the show is Michael Tilson Thomas, and doesn't he know it! There's no denying the orchestra's keen responsiveness to his every whim, but there are moments when some of those whims really do constitute lapses in taste. There's a difference, after all, between Mahler's own deliberately maudlin or vulgar moments and ones that he probably never intended."

The passage after the tenor's first big solo in Part II is a perfect example of this. Mahler marks it "adagissimo", but it's still in cut-time; meaning that the half-note gets the beat, not the quarter note. It's very clear that MTT is conducting this passage very slowly in 4/4. In other words, quarter-notes instead of half-notes. If he were conducting half-notes, his arm would have hardly been moving at all at such a slooooow crawl.

And for anyone who thinks that we're just blowing smoke here, I'd ask you to review the very end of the Blomstedt/SFSO Mahler 2. That will give you plenty of idea of what Davies Hall and its Rufatti Organ are capable of.