5.0 out of 5 stars
"Pappano's fiery ride into death's trenches on the Western Front"
November 17, 2011
B. Guerrero "Mahler nutcase" - See all my reviews
. . . is that a bit of extraneous hyperbole? Yes, I suppose so; especially since Mahler composed the symphony almost ten years before the start of Word War I. But Pappano's new and totally unexpected Mahler 6 takes us far beyond the usual notion that the sixth is about little more than Mahler's personal insecurities or, worse yet, the often quoted, 'three strikes, you're out!', boogie man of fate concept (which was really Alma's attempt to try to make sense out of that time period). What rubbish!
Pappano begins with a very measured, very militaristic view of the opening A-minor march, then never lets go until the symphony is finally over. In the development passage - located after the first pastoral, 'cowbell' episode - Pappano hammers the march rhythms to the point of making one wonder if the constant low 'A' in string basses isn't, in fact, the main melody. Yet, Pappano doesn't permit his timpanist to just pound away nonstop; the way that James Levine so often times does. The scherzo - also taken at a more measured and deliberate gait - is more like an Austrian Laendler dance with a Howitzer gun than musicologist Theodor Adorno's, "Laendler with a polar bear". And while Pappano takes the numerous trio sections slower than I normally like (Alma's, "the children shifting back and forth on the beach sand in arrhythmic games"), the welcomed contrast in mood highlights Mahler's "old fashioned" description in the score. This is now a good spot to mention that the Italian woodwinds are far better than I ever would have imagined. There's certainly no shortage of fine orchestral musicians anywhere on the planet these days. But Pappano knows how to put them to great use and, more importantly, how to best serve the composer. Mahler requires great woodwinds.
Although a bit slower than Mahler's "andante moderato" tempo marking might suggest, Pappano's rather measured slow movement comes as welcome relief after the relentless quality of the first two movements. The fine execution of the "Alpine" passage (located about 6'30" in) makes it easy to imagine that these young musicians may very well have hiked around Mahler's rented farm house in the Italian Dolomites. Fortunately, Pappano really picks up the tempo through the movement's climactic passage near the end. That leaves us with just the finale.
The whole argument as to which inner movement should come first becomes superfluous and nearly irrelevant when one considers that the finale - when performed properly - truly becomes a symphony within a symphony. Pappano delivers in spades. The slow introductory section is as spooky and creepy as you'll ever hear it - a progeniture of harrowing things to come. Pappano slowly builds the pace and intensity up to the finale's first pastoral, also cowbell leaden passage - another welcomed relief from the battle. Farther along, Pappano unleashes an astonishing torrent of sound at the second hammer stroke, itself reinforced with cymbals and large gong. After all the optimism and charging back-and-forth has finally worn itself out (and as exciting as you'll ever hear it performed), Pappano takes the funereal dirge for low brass at a true 'dirge' tempo. The final A-minor sucker punch - the "Pritzi's Honor" of symphonic endings - is as shocking and torturous sounding as you'll ever sample (in other words, loud, sudden and taken slowly). For the most part, EMI's sound quality is excellent - especially for a live performance.
While I'm a fan of Mahler 6 performances that treat the work as a giant Haydn symphony from Haydn's minor mode, "sturm und drang" (storm and stress) period - but on steroids, of course (Boulez/VPO, Abbado/BPO, Saraste/Oslo Phil., all fit this description) - there's always room for performances that manage to live up to Mahler's credo that symphonies should embrace everything in the universe. Pappano's is one such performance. Note: if Andante/Scherzo is an absolute must, stick to Zinman or Abbado. Rightfully, there's no third 'hammer' stroke reinstated here (Mahler specifies his hammer to be non-metallic, so wood on wood is the preferred source).
Topic: B.G. Amazon customer review of Pappano/EMI M6 (Read 7463 times)