I suppose this series is being recorded for the Korean market, and in the Seoul Philharmonic South Korea certainly has an orchestra to be proud of. There’s some beautiful and exciting playing here, especially in the Rondo: Burleske, where the players cope with Chung’s breakneck tempo amazingly well. Alas, the opening is so quick that Mahler’s successive accelerandos later on can only be faked by holding back and then pretending to press forward, while the odd tempo manipulations in the closing bars sound merely gratuitous.
The symphony opens soulfully, but Chung distributes the tension strangely as the first movement proceeds. The loud counterstatement of the first theme lacks thrust, but the creepy interludes between sections press forward without anything like the necessary atmosphere of dread. At the big climax, the bass drum player comes in early and then misjudges the dynamics, and the passage fizzles accordingly. The second movement, too, does not start at the “tempo of a leisurely Ländler,” as Mahler directs. It’s fast and slick, and so are the other two dances that follow. Interpretively, this is a total failure.
The finale lasts about twenty-four minutes, a good pace, and it’s probably the most successful movement overall. There’s some very beautiful string playing, and generally good solo work from the winds and horns. For a live performance, as I said, the orchestra does itself proud for the most part–the conductor less so. The live engineering, by ex-Koch and ex-DG executive Michael Fine is quite good, although the sonics are notably brighter in the third movement. This is yet another one of the productions that really has no need to exist. If you’d been at the concert, you likely would have enjoyed it. Hearing it at home? Not so much.
