Vaclav Neumann was a sympathetic and dedicated Mahler conductor, recording several of the symphonies as many as three times with both the Czech Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras. This Supraphon cycle contains some real gems, and while certain performances were bettered by Neumann (and others) elsewhere, more than a few stand up to the competition remarkably well. Through it all runs extremely fine playing from the Czech Philharmonic, with its characteristically Slavic timbre to the brass and nonpareil woodwinds perfectly suited to Mahler’s emotionally expressive idiom.
Starting with the (comparatively) bad news, this Ninth is good but not great, certainly not comparable to Ancerl’s extraordinary performance with the same orchestra on this same label. The less than nasty Rondo:Burleske and some stiffness of tempo in the first movement blunt the music’s dramatic edge. That same curious stiffness causes Neumann to stretch out Nachtmusik II in the Seventh Symphony to near interminable lengths, though the rest of the performance is quite acceptable even if the finale lacks the necessary wildness and demented humor that Mahler wrote into the score. These two disappointing readings aside, the remainder of the cycle is generally very good indeed.
The First Symphony gets a straightforward but cogent interpretation that highlights the music’s innocent freshness, and the winds in the Funeral March are marvelous. Neumann’s “Resurrection” Symphony recalls Klemperer’s: a swift, unsentimental view that’s quite exciting and which still finds room for the necessary power in the big moments (though the sonics tend towards slight congestion at the very end). Symphony No. 3, digitally recorded, is one of the great performances, as lively as Kubelik’s but better played, with the incomparable Christa Ludwig a considerable asset. Neumann’s light touch in this behemoth of a symphony is quite remarkable and the result cheats the clock in a way that few other performances match. The same qualities characterize Neumann’s view of the Fourth Symphony, an effortlessly flowing rendition with Magdaléna Hajóssyová a thankfully pure-toned soloist in the finale.
Neumann’s Fifth Symphony features two swift opening movements, a very moderately paced scherzo (not too fast, as Mahler demands), a lovely Adagietto, and a finale that could be more exciting than it is. The unusual timpani part at the end suggests that Neumann may be using a slightly different edition of the score than those current in the West. His Sixth Symphony is tremendously exciting, fast-paced, and very well played. Curiously, Neumann opts for a very metallic “clank” for the hammer blows, precisely the opposite of what Mahler had in mind, but it works well enough anyway. That leaves only the Eighth Symphony, another digitally recorded performance and a very well sung, well played effort which deserves more favorable attention than it has received. Neumann holds the long second movement together very well, and the recording accommodates the biggest climaxes faithfully.
As with most complete cycles of this most colorful and diverse body of symphonic work, Neumann gets mixed results–while setting a high standard overall. His achievement strikes me as much more successful than, say, Tennstedt’s, Sinopoli’s, Solti’s or Segerstam’s, if not quite in the league of Bernstein, Kubelik, Gielen, or assorted Haitink readings over the years. Certainly these performances of (at least) Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 compare favorably with the best of the competition, and that’s a very good average indeed.
