Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No 1 ‘Titan’ (1885-1888)
Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä
rec. 2018, Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, USA
Reviewed as lossless 96 kHz/24-bit download.
BIS BIS-2346 SACD [56]
Mahler’s 1st Symphony had its première in Budapest in 1889. The audience was presented with a program entitled ‘TITAN, a tone-poem in symphonic form’. By the second performance in Hamburg in 1893, Mahler had revised the work, renamed it Symphony ‘Titan’ in five movements, two parts, and gave each movement a descriptive heading. He may have at first avoided the term symphony due to sensitivities of the hoped-for audience, who were considered anachronistically devoted to the classically strict interpretation of the word.
‘Titan’ comes from Jean Paul’s novel Flower, Fruit and Thorn Pieces (1796–1797). Mahler envisaged a titanic hero who strives and suffers at the hands of fate. He said that – insofar as his music was influenced by his life experiences and struggles – he too was the hero of the music.
The symphony begins with the now instantly recognisable introduction to Mahler’s unique sound-world; a misty spring morning, birds in the trees singing, nature awakening. The recording captures this atmospheric image wonderfully. Melodically, Mahler borrows a lot from the song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
The first movement is a reworking of the material from the song Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld. I could have done with a bit more ecstasy and mystery as the movement progresses. Bernstein’s and Chailly’s recordings, of which I am aware, convey Mahlerian ebb and flow rather more effectively. I understand there are many rubato markings in the score, and that can lead to certain agogic distortion when a conductor is too keen to introduce expressive nuance. Here, the playing is truly superb. The top-notch recording makes the details of Mahler’s orchestration splendidly clear. The same goes for the second movement; the impressively played instrumental solos, such as those by bassoon, sound first-rate.
The third movement begins with a rather curious funeral march, taken here in a straightforward and very solemn manner. When it is interrupted by Hasidic melodies, Vänskä becomes almost languorous at times, but the playing and recording are so beautiful that the criticism of a maybe too laid-back approach is disarmed.
The finale begins stormily – Stürmisch bewegt –and the sound made me jump, so huge is the dynamic range. Vänskä realises Mahler’s furious representation of the storm, once again ably helped by the recording engineers at BIS. As the music relaxes, he gently encourages the strings to play with marvellous tone and oneness. The slow build-up to the tempestuous release at the end is exciting, and the banks of trumpets excel.
The earlier reviews of the SACD release tell me that others also feel that Vänskä sometimes relaxes a bit too much. But he also summons sheer orchestral muscle when needed, so all in all this approach has much to recommend it. The notes in the PDF booklet – in English, German and French– are very detailed.
I would have not previously ranked the Minnesota ensemble as one of the world’s great orchestras. This recording makes me add Osmo Vänskä and his players to my mental list. (The box with Vänskä’s readings of all Mahler’s symphonies appear on BIS-2696 SACD.)
Jim Westhead
Previous reviews: Michael Wilkinson ~ Robert Cummings.
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI and helps us keep free access to the site
