Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No.10 in F sharp minor (second revised performing version 1997 by Remo Mazzetti, Jr.)
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Jesus López-Cobos
rec. 2000, Music Hall, Cincinnati, USA
Telarc CD80565 [73]
Tony Duggan reviewed this back in 2001 and I refer you to his learned and comprehensive discussion of its background, justification and aesthetics. Essentially, it does not differ hugely from Deryck Cooke’s performing version of Mahler’s unfinished symphony, but its orchestration is more densely filled out; my approach to visiting it is less scholarly in that I encountered it was part of my recent trawling through various elaborations of the abandoned score and was simply curious as to its merits.
It is certainly denser and contrapuntally richer than Cooke’s – a choice which I find to be counter to the astringency of Mahler’s more Angst-laden conception; conversely, the Cincinnati strings are not as lustrous as those of the BPO, the VPO or the Philadelphians for Ormandy and Levine, and at times I feel as if López-Cobos is just pushing on without the requisite feeling for phrasing. There is also something of a glare in the treble of this more closely recorded account, whereas the recordings of Harding, Levine and Rattle are set further back in the aural landscape. The chordal outburst is powerful but rather clinical and does not carry much of a frisson – it is just loud and harsh. If I were to employ just one word to characterise this performance it would be “forensic” – yet to succeed, Mazzetti’s scoring seems to demand a lusher treatment, so it is as if conductor and arranger are at odds. The first Scherzo is hard and driven, with very coarse brass interventions. It’s loud, fast and “inyerface” – certainly not subtle. The central Purgatorio movement is swift and incisive – but again, the brass blast at 1:21 is absurdly brash – almost comical. That gaucheness of manner is remains prevalent through the second Scherzo; this is Mahler as a bar-room brawler. The finale leaves me cold. The opening drum strokes are very loud and present, nowhere near as atmospheric as most other recordings who give them a kind of louring, distant menace, and the flute solo, too, is very immediate and almost strident. The final ten minutes should transport the listener to another plane; this just goes through the motions and is devoid of numinosity.
Overall, this is an urgent, competent reading which for me lacks heart and won’t be staying on my shelves. TD was more diplomatic when he described this recording as “slightly unyielding”. Perhaps I have been too conditioned by the richly soulful and more Romantically phrased accounts of Levine, Harding and Ormandy but López-Cobos leaves me dry-eyed and unmoved. There are better to be had both in terms of “reconstruction” and execution.
Ralph Moore
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