This performance is almost fabulous, and I suspect the reasons for its shortcomings stem largely from the still risky business (especially in Mahler) of recording in concert. Yes, there is the excitement of a live event, but spontaneity can be a two-edged sword, particularly in music as organically structured and closely argued as this. On the plus side, the orchestra's woodwind section, forwardly balanced and playing as if its collective life depended on it, collaborates with Barenboim on two of the most sensational inner movements on disc. The second movement's Ländler never has sounded so (aptly) coarse and clunky, its demented waltz so drunkenly nihilistic. This latter, on its final appearance, comes to a halt with a positively frightening blast of derision from the low brass. It's just wonderful.
Similarly, the Rondo: Burleske has a genuinely nasty edge. Barenboim moves the music along at a swift clip and perfectly judges the successive accelerations at the end. The final bars, with woodwinds screaming shrilly over the orchestral maelstrom below, are unforgettable. Then Barenboim starts the finale with a gentle hairpin crescendo rather than Mahler's indicated forte. The result sounds more like the overture to Der Freischütz than the sudden gust of passion that Mahler obviously intended, but from there on the string playing is magnificent, and at 23 minutes the music never sounds unnaturally distended. In the hushed final bars Barenboim puts the symphony to rest with the utmost sensitivity, and the very quiet audience never becomes bothersome.
So what's the problem? Well, there are weaknesses. First, the trumpets: too timid by far, particularly the principal in his many solos in the first movement. Second, and strangely for this orchestra, the percussion lacks guts. The big tam-tam crash at the first-movement climax, the glockenspiel in the second movement, and the triangle in several spots, all get swallowed up or drowned out, draining the music of some of its basic color. And then there's Barenboim himself in the first movement. In many ways his is an exciting, edgy performance, but he seems unable to control a tendency to rush the climaxes.
For example, in the very first of them, after the initial exposition, Mahler clearly indicates that the tempo should gradually increase, only reaching allegro at the culminating fanfare passage (the second cymbal crash). Barenboim gets going too fast, too early. The result is speed without tension, and this is particularly true of the final collapse, which (weak percussion and trumpets aside), never achieves Mahler's "highest power" for the final assault. I love the acid bite of the stopped horns and muted trombones throughout the movement, along with the startling bits of color from the bass clarinet and bassoons in the softer passages, but at the end of the day the movement's grand architecture, and thus its ultimate expressive power, is only fitfully captured.
It may be that, in a performance that gets so much right, I'm giving too much attention to what goes wrong, but there's so much worth hearing here, so much "echt" Mahlerian feeling, that the shortcomings stand out in high relief. As previously suggested, much of this could have been remedied in a studio recording, or at least a series of live performances rather than the one-shot deal evidently preserved here. Mahler symphonies demand a level of collective virtuosity and, above all, sectional balance and equality that's still very hard for most orchestras (and conductors) to realize completely on any one occasion. Still, there's no doubt that the Staatskapelle Berlin and Barenboim are very willing advocates, and for those two inner movements alone, Mahler collectors might well find this performance (which conveniently fits onto a single disc) well worth a listen.
--David Hurwitz
Performance 9 Sound 9
I think David was rather generous in this review. I'd have given something like 9/8 or 8/8.
John,
Topic: Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin/M9th CD gets 9/9 from DH (Read 9864 times)