Now we’re talking Decca Legend. One of the great Mahler 2s, this 1975 recording has moved unceremoniously from a full-price 2 CD set, to a Decca Double (coupled with Mehta’s masterful Schmidt Symphony No. 4), to at last this one-disc mid-price reissue. At least it’s mostly stayed available, and deservedly so. If for nothing else, you’ll want it just to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play like they’re on fire! I mean they’re alert, responsive, involved, and (dare I say it?) excited. They didn’t sound this way for Abbado on DG a few years back, and they sure as hell didn’t back in the 80’s on Maazel’s overly-weighty Sony Classical recording. Mehta’s having none of that. This is a fresh, lithe and dynamic reading with loads of spontaneity. He gets all sections of the orchestra to play out: even the brass shed their “molded” tone in favor of a bright, ringing sound. It reminds me of Charles Mackerras’s Janacek recordings (which also have you reaching for the CD cover to make sure it’s the VPO). Percussion? Yeah, they’re there too, playing like they mean it! Do I need to mention that Ileana Cotrubas and the always marvelous Christa Ludwig sing radiantly? And the Vienna State Opera Chorus? Wonderful! In the sound department, Decca has provided another one of their Sofiensaal spectaculars (OK, so there is a little tape saturation at a couple of climaxes–it is a 25 year old recording, after all.) This was clearly a really good day for everybody involved, and the result has weathered the decades effortlessly. A must-hear.
