Iván Fischer offers a strange commentary on the Fifth Symphony in the booklet accompanying this CD. He describes the work as Mahler’s most “Jewish” symphony, proceeding from Jewish lamentation (no argument there) to “a childlike vision of messianic joy” in the finale. That remark strikes me as completely meaningless. Textless music cannot, by definition, sound “messianic”. Indeed, not even Handel’s Messiah sounds messianic. Fischer then goes on to describe how his family came to be brought up with no particular interest in its Jewish religious heritage, but with a great love of culture. So what does this mean in terms of Mahler’s Fifth?
Strangely, more than you might think, because I would describe this performance as one that shows a great love of musical culture generally, but with little specific feeling for Mahler’s Fifth. It is, in any case, the most difficult of all the Mahler symphonies to conduct, and many committed Mahler conductors have come to grief with it. This performance is very beautifully played, very “cultured” in its shapely musicality, but also quite dull. The first movement begins well, its lament movingly sung, but the ensuing outburst of grief is completely tame, utterly lacking the necessary hysteria. The second movement also erupts with a measured precision far from the vehemence that Mahler prescribed.
It’s worth pointing out that, at least in his notes, Fischer doesn’t push the Jewish business in any of the other movements. As it is, the Scherzo lasts nearly 20 minutes and falls flat, despite the elegance of the playing. The Adagietto is gorgeous from beginning to end, while the finale suffers from a heaviness that precludes precisely the “messianic joy” that Fischer mentions. Coming from a team whose work I respect very highly, this release is disappointing. Even the sonics are not up to the usual Channel Classics standard–check out the ill-defined lower strings at the start of the second movement. The sound has a muffled quality, and turning up the volume doesn’t help. Everyone has an off day now and then. This must have been one of them.
