Otto Klemperer’s Mahler Ninth enjoys something of a cult following, particularly in France, where its grim lack of sentimentality and unflinching willingness to expose the music’s raw anguish always has been admired. There’s no denying that the old master turns in one of the most gripping and cogent performances of the first movement ever committed to disc. Elsewhere though, the lumbering tempos in the second and third movements, not to mention some very fallible playing from the New Philahrmonia, may put off some listeners. I find the performance’s faults excusable, particularly as it culminates in a transcendently steady account of the finale which, at about 25 minutes (far from the slowest on disc), certainly is among the most impressively sustained and intelligently paced. The couplings–Siegfried Idyll in its original chamber version, and a Metamorphosen every bit as fine as the finale of the symphony–show Klemperer at his best, and add to the attractions of this very successful mid-price reissue.
