Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 9 (on period instruments)
Mahler Academy Orchestra/Philipp von Steinaecker
rec. 2022, Gustav-Mahler-Saal, Kulturzentrum, Toblach/Dobbiaco, South Tyrol, Italy
Alpha Classics 1057 [82]
Mahler on period instruments? I guess it’s only a natural extension of what the period instrument revolution has already offered us on music from the Baroque period onwards. After all, if you can do it with Wagner, then why not with Mahler? When they start doing it with Adés, that’s when we’ll know it has really begun to devour itself.
The Mahler Academy Orchestra springs from a scheme thought up by Claudio Abbado, mainly aimed at developing young musicians, and this disc is part of a project whose purpose is to shed “a completely new light on the performance practice of Mahler’s time”. The booklet note makes a point of observing that the instruments of Mahler’s own day were, simply put, more difficult to play. That means that a lot of his exposed notes or pianissimi were designed to sound effortful and hard to reach, an effect we often lose with the refined perfectionism of a modern symphony orchestra; so part of this disc’s purpose is to reopen our ears to that fact and to show what the effect is when Mahler’s music is played in the manner he originally intended.
The really important thing, of course, is whether playing Mahler’s music like this brings any fresh revelations, and the answer is a resounding yes. In fact the revelations came thick and fast as I listened to this performance, and it made me feel like I’d heard the symphony afresh for the first time in years. The violins in the opening theme, playing on gut strings without vibrato, sound effortful, almost reluctant, reinforcing the feeling that, right from the beginning, this is music on the edge of collapse, struggling even to be born let alone to flourish. Bernstein’s observation about the opening reflecting the composer’s faltering heartbeat can never have sounded more convincing, with string glissandi and portamenti all exaggerated in a way that repeatedly takes you aback. The sturm und drang that engulfs the movement sounds all the more edgy and threatening on gut strings, and the punctuation from the winds sounds more urgent, more keening than usual. The brass, meanwhile, sound baleful and threatening, particularly those stopped horns whose squawking feels more like a portent of doom than usual. The trombones that announce the collapse, preceding the wraith-like funeral march, are completely devastating, and the horn solo of the coda sounds lonelier than usual, leading into a gorgeously poignant set of wind solos, flying high and vulnerable.
The Ländler second movement should always sound like it’s dangerously on the brink of collapse, but the period instruments reinforce that a hundredfold. The winds sound earthy and, at times, downright rude, like they’re blowing a raspberry, while the cellos and basses lumber and lurch their way through their music like a rustic dance gone wrong. The violins attack the Trio music like they’re taking a bite out of it.
The Rondo sounds brighter and more newly-conceived than I think I’ve heard it. These brass and, particularly, winds leap out of the speakers. Each wind solo sounds like it’s the moment in the performer’s life that they’ve most been waiting for, so much dedication and character do they bring to it, and the frenetic activity of the strings becomes so expert that you stop noticing it after a while (a high compliment!). The solo trumpet in the peaceful central interlude rings with clarity against a shimmering cloud of strings.
Amazingly, those same strings that had sounded so emaciated and sickly in the first movement manage to conjure up sensational warmth at the opening of the final Adagio. No, this isn’t Karajan with the Berlin Phil – it’s too transparent for that, and even here you can still detect the lack of vibrato – but it’s still an enveloping wash of sound in which you can lose yourself, and the addition of the horn solo, plangent and heartfelt, only increases the effect. The final winding down is desperate because it feels so hard-won and so expertly controlled. This is music that should always move you; here it will break your heart.
All these touches make the music sound completely fresh, the surprises coming at you thick and fast; but this means that on a first listening you might not necessarily like what you hear. This is a Mahler 9 unlike any other in the catalogue, so you can expect to have your expectations confounded and your prejudices challenged: it’s not one for first-timers. But if you come to it with open ears and an open mind then you’re sure to discover new layers to a work that you’ve known for years.
None of this would count for very much were it not for conductor Philipp von Steinaecker, who controls the unfolding structure very convincingly. With these instruments the soundscape is even more unruly than usual, but he embraces the challenges and corrals it into something that sounds remarkably coherent. He’s particularly convincing in controlling the chaos of the Ländler, and he never lets the final Adagio become too slow or droopy: instead it’s always driven forwards by a sense of purpose that’s very convincing and which adds to the impact of the final collapse. He also writes a very engaging essay in the CD booklet, together with some words about the impact of original instruments that I, for one, found very convincing.
The sound, recorded live (I assume, it isn’t specified), is very good, and the very occasional creaks and pops in the quieter passages of the opening only add to the sense of a performance taking place on the edge. The movements, by the way, are all divided up into lots of tracks – there are 7 or 8 for each – so if it matters to you then you can easily jump to a certain point in any movement.
There aren’t many recordings of such standard repertoire that bring so many surprises, so this one gets three cheers. Strongly recommended, so long as you’re prepared for a challenge.
Simon Thompson
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