Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 7 (1904/5)
NDR Elbphilharmonie/Alan Gilbert
rec. live, 2022 Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
Reviewed as a Hi-Resolution FLAC 24/48
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester 3617662283763 [81]

Visiting Helsinki in 1907 in-between this work’s completion and its first performance Mahler disagreed with Sibelius about the true essence of the symphony. “It must be like the world; it must encompass everything,” he said. For me no other piece in Mahler’s oeuvre adheres to this maxim more than the Seventh. I also feel it is a true Festival work. Not for everyday consumption but best reserved for special occasions.

There is no shortage of recordings of this work either. Just prior to the pandemic, two great recordings were laid down that will surely stand the test of time. Kirill Petrenko with the Bayerische Staatsorchester (review) won plaudits aplenty and Osmo Vänskä (review) delivered the goods with his Minnesota players the very same year.

One of the very first CDs I purchased after I acquired my first player was this work with the CBSO and Rattle. For nostalgia reasons I am still attached to that recording despite it being eclipsed by others both before and since. The cover art of “The Harvest Moon” by CR Mackintosh sticks in the mind but not so vividly as my Classics for Pleasure pressing of Mahler 7 by Klemperer and the New Philharmonia. That spooky “Cornfield by Moonlight with Even Star” will for me always be the perfect image I see in my mind’s eye, especially when we get to those three inner movements of the symphony.

Experienced readers will know that Klemperer for once cannot really be recommended here. 

Movement timings of 28, 22,10,16 and 24 minutes, totalling to that infamous 100 minute mark, set the warning bells ringing. It is a ponderous, gloomy reading, for sure, but we have to concede Klemperer was there at the 1908 Prague premiere. No other reading can offer that stamp of authenticity and there are times where one can hear details missed by most conductors in Klemperer’s stately traversal. As budding collectors, we were warned off the record in no uncertain terms by the critics of the day but in those days I didn’t always do as I was told, hence the CfP disc being on my shelves all this time.

Three years after the Rattle version was recorded at Aldeburgh – of all places – came what I would say are probably the best two Mahler 7s. Chailly with the Concertgebouw made a stunning Decca recording featuring outstanding sonics, great control and attention to detail that even included the restoration of Mengelberg’s rusty old “Timpano” specially made for those low rolls in the finale. Boulez in Cleveland made, like Chailly, in 1994, is a Marmite recording. I happen to love it. As you would expect, Boulez gives a highly objective view of the score, no wild mood-swings or un-necessary histrionics but an icy-cool, gripping account of the score in magnificent DG sound.

Five paragraphs in and I haven’t mentioned the current record yet. First let’s put the spotlight on our orchestra the NDR Elbphilharmonie, the renamed NDR SO, so well-remembered from the days of Günter Wand. I am surprised when I look at the discographies that this band hasn’t put more Mahler onto disc. After all, Mahler himself made the city famous for a glorious period in the 1890s. Covent Garden even brought the whole Hamburg State Opera over with Mahler in 1892 for a Wagner festival that was so popular they had to repeat the Ring and various other shows at Drury Lane.

Wand didn’t do Mahler and although we have some records from Tennstedt and several others, the NDR Elbphilharmonie are coming to this fairly fresh (on disc at least).

Our conductor Alan Gilbert is more experienced in Mahler than you might think. True, his BIS Mahler 9 is a major label one-off but I have an almost complete cycle he did with the NYPO during his tenure there (2009-17) and if you are streaming with Spotify, Apple or similar, you will be able to enjoy those performances, too. The Seventh that he did as a farewell to the Big Apple is a memorable performance and I am happy to own it as a download. Of course the NYPO have this music flowing through their very veins and it shows. 

The current performance under review was given in the Elbphilharmonie in October 2022. You can stream it or buy it in excellent sound and it represents the first offering from the orchestra’s own label. Generously, NDR Klassik still have the concert available for free on their YouTube channel, although obviously the sound would be only at the standard 128kbps rate.

The introduction to the symphony and the laying out of the principal theme introduces us to various sections of our orchestra. Tenor horn first, then trumpets and the four horns especially at cue 6 in the score (3:36). There are opportunities to acquaint ourselves with the string sections in these early pages too; first violins (3:24) and violas at cue 10 (4:04) all this before the entrance of the lovely second theme 4 bars before cue 15 (5:04) cellos and violas accompanying the violin line ravishingly. 

After the pace livens and themes begin to develop, we realise we are in good hands. I am no musician but thanks to the expert pacing of Alan Gilbert I am easily able to follow the score here and focus on the woodwind, strings or brass as I play and replay the movement. The recording is not unfocussed nor is it peculiarly highlighting one section over another. The balance is great.

At cue 32 (9:34), first and second trumpets usher in the chorale theme that will eventually lead us via a harp glissando four bars after cue 39 (12:30) to yet a new world. In the preparatory bars before this, there is some lovely blending of horns, trumpet and trombones worthy of Bruckner. Just sample around (13:20) to hear an orchestra and conductor at one working for the music alone as selfless ambassadors for Mahler. 

The tenor horn is back “mit großem Ton” at cue 43 led in by trombones (14:32) and we are at the recapitulation (16:45). It’s a lively run to the end and the NDR players prove up to the job. Percussion get their chance to shine but don’t overwhelm the many goings-on below. Gilbert brings, us to the end of this epic movement in a little under 23 minutes. 

I hope readers won’t mind if in guiding you through this performance I put the score away for the next three movements. The two Nachtmusiken and Scherzo. At the grand age of 45, Mahler showed us in the first movement his mastery of structure and form, but as he made clear to Sibelius the symphony was more than this. The next three wonderful movements present us with a myriad of ideas, colours, imagery and sheer magic that I feel is better to appreciate with eyes shut rather than buried in a score. After all, we’ve paid Alan Gilbert and his Hamburg players to do the driving. Why not just enjoy the ride?

Nachtmusik 1 opens famously with those two horns calling to each other followed by cor anglais, bassoon and tuba. I love the descending notes in the cellos and basses, (1:20) very chilly sounding setting the mood nicely for what follows. Warbling woodwind and creepy textures in the lower strings lead us to a dance section (3:47) in leisurely time. The pastoral feel of the movement is enhanced by the appearance of cowbells first heard far offstage (5:52) and onstage from (13:18) but it’s not all cows looking over gates; it never is, is it! – as Vaughan Williams I am sure would have concurred. I could have done with a slightly brisker pulse in this movement if I’m honest, but it is all expertly crafted.

We are soon tossing and turning on turbulent waters (2:40) as we continue our journey with the Seventh into the central shadowy Scherzo. The tranquil Trio (3:18) brings respite though and throughout the players in all sections get their chance to add their own voices to the mix. It sounds as if Alan Gilbert encourages this inclusive approach to phrasing and it works well here. I’m afraid I don’t buy the nightmare imagery some commentators hear in this movement. I guess the macabre in music is a very subjective thing.

Orchestration is reduced in Nachtmusik 2 with half of the winds and brass having a chance to put their feet up. This is not only to be fair to the delicate voices of the guitar and mandolin but to paint the picture of eventide in this most cherishable Notturno. This our excellent Northern orchestra do, yielding nothing to any Bohemian or Viennese counterparts in this interlude before the wild antics of the finale begin.

Mit Bravour, the Timpani get us underway in the final massive Rondo, a festive jamboree that sets the tone of joy and sheer exuberance that characterise this movement. Our first mood change comes four bars after cue 229 (1:45) but a constantly changing sound world is going to be the feature of this finale so readers will forgive me if I don’t signpost each one. Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie take us through this potpourri of ideas negotiating the many changes in tempo and time signature masterfully, for example sample around cue 250 (6:47) and the transition from a brief woodwind only passage to solo strings coming in Grazioso. Moving on a few bars from here just before another fortissimo outburst the blending Gilbert gets with the winds and strings is just lovely to hear but must give way, this time to would you believe it an Ottoman military march theme. Such is the wonderful and magical world of Mahler 7. No wonder so many people find this finale so episodic and downright unfathomable. I find it is noble and life-affirming.

The second appearance of the Turkish band at cue 269 (11:35) leads us to a section labelled “less choppy” where the pace settles down and takes us on a journey through chords and tones any Master of Nuremberg would know by heart (and samples, too, the dances so loved by the apprentice boys and girls of Deutschland’s Mitte at 15:45) to the coda. Even that final penultimate chord looks back with nostalgia to Wagner but what an original movement it is, never derivative, utterly unique in the symphonic repertory.

As you will have gathered, I was glad to make acquaintance again with this Cinderella of Mahler symphonies in this performance. I do have to say that in August 2024 at the Lucerne Festival, Riccardo Chailly gave a very special account of this score. I managed to capture it in a re-broadcast on Dutch NPO radio. I hope that reading may one day surface in a mainstream release. If and when it does, it will give any current CD recommendation a run for its money. Lovers of Bernstein, Tilson Thomas, Abbado and Gielen amongst names I didn’t mention in my review may not be minded to trade in their long-loved records for this new one by Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie and I am still keeping my Chailly (Decca) and Boulez; I would remind them, though, there is always room for another version of this fascinating work on your shelves and if there isn’t in your home then I can recommend a good joiner.

Philip Harrison

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free