Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor (1901–1902)
Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra / Sir Donald Runnicles
rec. live 25-26 June 2024, Walk Festival Hall, Teton Village, Wyoming, USA
Reference Recordings FR-763 SACD [73]
My colleague Dominic Hartley has already glowingly reviewed the download of this festival recording whereas I have the SACD issue – but listened on a conventional sound system. It is a live composite recording, derived from two concert performances. I refer you to Dominic’s review for background to both the symphony and the Grand Teton Music Festival and furthermore, I concur with his assessment of the orchestral and engineered sound and the mastery of Runnicles’ direction with regard to pacing and phrasing. His reputation as a Mahler conductor has rested not on recordings – in fact, I think this might be his first commercial release of a Mahler symphony – but rather on concert seasons over his long career with orchestras such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Is it one of the best? The plethora of options now available makes that question hard to answer. It is, in my estimation, certainly superior to Bychkov’s with the Czech Philharmonic, recently reviewed on this site, but is it as good as established favourites by Karajan and Shipway? It is more brutally concentrated, less hysterical, than Wyn Morris’ volatile account which I like very much and recently reviewed, closer to Barshai’s superb, grimmer, driven reading – and like him, Runnicles is dour until the finale, when he lets rip yet paradoxically displays an iron grip over the steady, inexorable mounting of tension. Too often the finales of Romantic symphonies can become fragmented and spasmodic in feeling but this just unfolds organically, culminating in a thrilling conclusion. Runnicles is, however, also more indulgent than Barshai or Shipway in the Adagietto and closer to Karajan and Bernstein in creating an elegiac, expansive, tender atmosphere. It is here that one understands that the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra is mostly made up of players from the best American orchestras and have had several weeks to become a unit; the playing is impeccable, particularly with regard to the subtlety of dynamics.
Thus while I cannot definitively say that this is superior to all predecessors, I can confidently assert that no purchaser should be disappointed by the sound and playing.
Ralph Moore
Other reviews: John Quinn and Dominic Hartley
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