This live performance is generally well played (aside from a minor slip or two from the percussion) and naturally recorded. The generous depth of the sonic frame tends to muffle the folks at the back of the band–snare drum, horns, and low brass. The race to the recapitulation in the finale shows this most graphically; the strings are tearing away at their parts very excitingly, but the trumpets have the tune, and they’re effectively missing in action. It’s a shame that Saraste wasn’t afforded a touch-up session or three, because he shapes a most effective performance of the symphony.
The first movement moves at a grim, inexorable tread. Saraste increases the tempo for the “Alma” theme, which is surely right, but these and all similar adjustments are done with perfect ease. The way he relaxes into the central cowbell episode is magical, and the coda is truly jubilant. Saraste takes the scherzo second, which is the musically more satisfying option, but some listeners might feel that he rushes the climax and final disintegration. The Andante is perfectly flowing and just beautiful.
The finale’s introduction lacks that last shudder of expressionistic horror, but once it gets going, above reservations aside, it’s very powerful, with terrific hammer blows. How forgiving you will be, given the inevitable exigencies of live recording, is a matter of personal taste. The problem, for me anyway, is that there are just too many excellent performances of this symphony to earn this an unqualified recommendation; but it must have been one hell of a concert, and Saraste is surely a Mahler conductor to watch.
