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Jansons’ Fine And Frustrating Mahler Fifth

Victor Carr Jr

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

This release presents both a pleasure and a problem. The pleasure is the highly engaging performance by Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, which is far better than his tepid 2009 rendition with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Like Kubelik before him (who also recorded this symphony, twice, with the Bavarian RSO), Jansons takes a free approach to tempo and phrasing, tastefully and judiciously quickening and broadening for emotional impact (particularly in the Stürmisch bewegt second movement). But he diverges from Kubelik in his more exacting exploration of the music’s emotion and tonal color, highlighting much usually unnoticed instrumental detail (woodwinds in particular).

In the Scherzo, Jansons’ relaxed tempo brings to mind Bernstein’s Vienna performance (which also  runs to 19 minutes), and he likewise plays up the contrasting moods of Mahler’s waltzes, making this “dance movement” feel more like a symphonic poem.

Jansons’ relatively quick Adagietto (just under nine minutes) unfolds like a song, beautifully sung by the Bavarian strings. The Finale is also beautifully played, and again Jansons emphasizes contrast and energy as he builds to an exciting closing choral (made uniquely colorful by a trigger-happy cymbal player coming in two bars early).

The problem is the limited dynamic range recording, which both shrinks and overloads the sound whenever the bass drum plays (which is quite a bit in this symphony). You notice it from the start right after the opening trumpet fanfare—a normally thrilling moment, frustratingly muted. On the positive, the hall’s lively acoustic reveals the aforementioned inner detail, providing much delight for students of Mahler’s fascinating score. Kubelik’s two recordings also suffered from less-than-great sound, but we tolerated this because of his superior performances; Jansons’ deserves the same consideration.


Recording Details:

    Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

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