There’s too much Mahler out there, and it may be for that reason that interpreters try very hard, too hard, to stand out from the crowd. This performance includes the “Blumine” movement that Mahler rightly jettisoned, and Vladimir Jurowski’s interpretation shows us why we’re better off without it.
The scherzo, taken at a very slow, clunky basic tempo, could have sounded right had it not been preceded by this cute but unnecessary slow movement. In the funeral march, Jurowski very wrongly follows the most recent critical edition in having all the double basses play at the opening. The fact that an edition is “critical” doesn’t make it correct, and this is a case in point. His Klezmer interludes similarly sound contrived rather than naturally schmaltzy. It’s not interesting.
There’s little to criticize in the outer movements. The instruments wake up nicely in the opening “dawn” sequence, and the finale is quite exciting. Nor is there anything serious to knock in the playing of the London Philharmonic. It’s just not special enough to warrant a second listen, and the weird hybrid edition combining “Blumine” with the latest in scholarly incorrectitude remains singularly unconvincing. If you want a version of the First with “Blumine”, try to find Ozawa’s DG recording, which is gorgeous. Pass on this effort.
