Gardiner’s view of the Third Symphony is like a fan: it blows and sucks at the same time. His concern with historical precedent is evident in the fact that, like some very great “golden age” conductors who offered good-to-outstanding versions of the first two symphonies (think Toscanini and Furtwängler), Gardiner screws up this one. So at least he finds himself in good company. The finale, taken at a ridiculous tempo given the range of feeling that the music wants to express–from extreme rage to epic triumph–shows that it’s possible to be tensionless at amazingly high speeds. The performance lacks weight in the bass generally, with timpani particularly shallow, and in the outer movements this trivializes the music above and beyond the interpretive eccentricities.
However, the most telling evidence of Gardiner’s sheer lack of musicality resides in his apparent inability to phrase a simple melody. The short notes in the big tune that opens the symphony are simply drowned out; in the third movement the main theme in the cellos is choppy to the point of caricature, each phrase clipped short. The woodwinds play with charmless earnestness; the strings sound thin and gray. As for the vocal items, the choruses are perkily sung, especially the Gesang der Parzen and Nänie, which are largely about death. Interesting, but odd.
As a programming concept, particularly given the unfamiliarity of much of Brahms’ choral music (a medium in which he worked successfully as a conductor and was an acknowledged authority in his day), this release promises much more than it delivers. Gardiner is a very serious artist who commands respect, usually. His previous efforts in this series have been estimable. This one is a mess.
