Sorry to be a spoil-sport but . . . I have a copy of this already, and I think it's positively awful! - possibly the worst M6 to come out in years. Simply put, it's just too slow all over. The andante movement doesn't quite reach 17 minutes; and yet, it sounds more like 19 to me. The scherzo is ponderous, but without anything sounding particularly threatening, much less frightening. A perfect example of what's wrong with this performance can be observed in the finale.
In the slow introductory section of the finale, there's about a 12 bar passage that's a slow, funereal sounding chorale for the low brass and low woodwinds. Haitink takes this passage at an unbelievable crawl. And yet, when he gets to the one spot where he could make a HUGE ritard to great effect - the finale major chord to minor chord meltdown (just before the start of the fast music) - he just goes right through it. Needless to say, in all of the fast sections, the Chicago brass play spectacularly well. But when you finally reach the first hammerstroke - and, by the way, Haitink fails to build up the tempo in the highly chromatic passage (halfstep harmonies) leading up to that first hammerstroke - it's sadly underwhelming.
Compare how this same passage sounds when played by the Concertgebouw (both Chailly and Jansons), where the hammerstrokes are so strong that they don't even bother with Mahler's optional reinforcement on the second hammerstroke (bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam). Here's another example of Haitink's less than stellar conducting . . .
Towards the end of the finale, there's a seven bar passage (in 4/4) which sounds like a (false) victory parade. Haitink really has the horns belt this march melody out; which is a good thing. But the percussion underneath the horns and violins (violins have a sweeping countertheme) are - once again - very underwhelming. If you're going to make the horns belt out that passage - so that it sounds as though you're observing a military parade right from the sidewalk - why not resort back to Mahler's original orchestration from the first version (trombones double the horns, and there's more percussion)? At the very least, make sure that ALL of the percussionists play up to the level of the horns. Otherwise, the parade sounds like a bunch of loud horns going by, but with too few drummers in the band.
In the first movement, I like that Haitink is slow and grim with the initial march. But he fails, in my view, to make a strong enough contrast with the second subject: the so-called "Alma" theme. Compare this to how it's done on the Ivan Fischer M6, where the Alma theme comes bursting right out of the box. Haitink also fails to build much excitement or momentum at the end of the first movement. Just as things are in so many passages from his CSO M3, there's lots of loudness from the brass, but without any genuine excitement or momentum. The CSO percussion so often fail to take over at the crest of major climaxes - you just get more loud brass (and granted, they play very well).
To my mind, this has absolutely nothing over the old Barbirolli M6. Barbirolli doesn't have an expo. repeat, but that just might be a good thing with an interpretation of the opening movement that is so slow and grim. And although Barbirolli is less than a minute faster in the andante movement, he holds my attention far better than Haitink does here (the slow movement is excellent on Haitink's Berlin remake). In the finale, Barbirolli is two minutes faster than Haitink (and Barbirolli isn't fast by any means). But those two minutes make a huge difference!
In fact, the only other M6/IV that reaches 34 minutes - that I know of - is the Sinopoli. But the Sinopoli strikes me as being more decadent and interesting sounding (can't stand his 19 minute slow movement, however).
Again, I think that part of the problem is the hall, as well as the recording itself. Orchestra Hall is a bit shallow from front to back. There are passages where it sounds as though everybody is seated together in the front row. As is so often the case with the strong CSO trumpets, they often times make little or no distinction between different gradations of forte. And once again, the CSO woodwinds don't impress me, with the clarinets sounding particularly funky in spots (listen to how the CSO clarinets go completely flat in pitch at the end of Haitink's M3/I). Maybe these performances were incredibly impressive live (albeit slow), but something's just not translating with these James Mallinson recordings. Let's discuss Haitink.
On balance, I really feel that Haitink's best M6 is the very first one that he recorded with the Concertgebouw. His Berlin remake was pretty dull in the first two movements, but the andante moderato and finale were excellent - far better than here! For the CSO, I really think that the Abbado is a better overall recording, even though the CSO percussion play too far underneath the brass for him as well. At least the Solti M6 is fast and exciting, if slightly brainless (also better recorded). I also think that Haitink's recent M6 with the L'Orchestre National de France (Naive) - while being far from perfect - is more interesting and exciting than this one.
Barry
