Bartok: Piano Concerto 2 & Mahler: Symphony 5 (C major)

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Piano Concerto No.2 in G major, Sz.95 (1930/1931)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Arabesque in C major, Op. 18 (1839)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor (1901/1902)
Yefim Bronfman (piano), Wiener Philharmoniker / Andris Nelsons
rec. live 7-8 August 2022, Groϐes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria
C major 770208 DVD [123]

This video, titled Bartók Meets Mahler—Two Icons in Contrast, is an ORF/Unitel production of a concert, or concerts, from the 2022 Salzburg Festival. It is a fine memento of the event. More than that, it has one of the best production values that I have seen in this format.

Yefim Bronfman may have slowed down a bit in comparison to his audio recording on Sony with Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but he still has the chops to do justice to Bartók’s Second Concerto. His runs are fluid and clear. While he can play the loud chords with power, he does not pound. The camera provides plenty of visuals on him, as it does on the orchestra. The orchestral sound, though, could have greater presence. The trumpets, for example, do not have the effect in the first movement they should have, and their sound seems to be too far in the background. The same is true for the horns.

The piano sound is much better, upfront as one would expect. Nelsons and Bronfman take the Adagio at a very leisurely tempo; the strings’ quiet passages are exquisite in their soft dynamic. I would have liked to hear more trombones and woodwinds in the night music in the middle of the movement. But things really come into focus in the finale, where the brass are heard more decisively. Nelsons steers the work well, even if it looks like his head is buried in the score more than not.

After the concerto, Bronfman contributes Schumann’s popular Arabesque as an encore. He performs the lovely piece to perfection. He plays it quite straight, without overdoing rubato or the ritards. The last section, marked Langsamer più lento, is ravishing in its beauty. Clearly much more than a throwaway encore, it leaves a lasting impression.

Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic pull out all the stops for Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. It is a very broad performance, some five minutes longer than Bernstein’s with the same orchestra (DG) and ten minutes more than either Abbado (DG) or Rattle (EMI/Warner), both with the Berlin Philharmonic. I compared this account with the audio-only ones of these conductors. When I first viewed it, I thought it was just too slow. Then I got out the Bernstein recording, still my favourite, and found that Nelsons only drags out the Adagietto. It is interesting that the 11:56 timing on Abbado’s earlier recording with the Chicago Symphony (DG) compares with Bernstein’s 11:13, but his later one in Berlin – as the movement is often played nowadays – cuts nearly three minutes and is more in tune with Rattle’s 9:33. Nelsons tops them all at 12:44, but lacks Bernstein’s flow. Otherwise, the two accounts of the symphony have more in common, especially with the stupendous playing of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Nelsons does not put a foot wrong in the first movement, beginning with a splendid trumpet solo. Here, unlike in Bartók’s concerto, the sound has tremendous presence. The brass playing throughout is magisterial. The contrast of the opening with the following funeral march could not be greater. The strings are really hushed and exquisite. The tempo, while appropriately slower, does not meander. Nelsons holds a particularly long pause before the final plunk by the lower strings. The second movement is nearly as good, though not as savage as Bernstein’s in his Vienna account. Nelsons captures the storminess of the opening, but then markedly protracts the middle of the movement’s elegiac passage with his gorgeous strings.

The conductor sets a good tempo for the Scherzo, and the orchestra’s horns sound glorious. Later on things become rather studied, lacking a bit in spontaneity. He really slows down the waltz in the strings and milks the music less than ideally. The strings’ pizzicati are too drawn out, as they are following with the oboe. Things improve when the solo horn returns and the tempo accelerates to the exhilarating conclusion.

As noted, the Adagietto is extremely languorous; it can seem interminable despite a judicious balance between strings and harp. The finale starts promisingly with sublime horn and woodwind solos. After a rather excessive pause, Nelsons establishes a credible tempo with good rhythms and incisiveness before some notable slackening. This can seem unwarranted, as he picks up the tempo to sail home in fine style. There is a favourite passage of mine in the strings, about ten measures starting at figure 623 (indicated geteilt), shortly before the rush to the finish. It always reminds me of a Bohemian folk tune – something that Smetana could have written. Here disappointingly it is nearly covered by the horn, so one has to strain to hear it. That is the only real blemish in this movement.

To summarize, this disc has much to offer for its visual aspects with plentiful shots of the solo instruments, whether brass, woodwinds or percussion. The resolution is strikingly clear and focused. Frequent views of Nelsons show him more engaged with the orchestra in the Mahler than in the Bartók. The sound, especially in the symphony, is also excellent. I can imagine the Blu-ray version would be even better. The performances themselves are well worth revisiting, even if in Mahler’s symphony I find Nelsons over-indulgent in places.

Leslie Wright

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