Mahler: Complete Symphonies; Das Lied von der Erde [Box set]

I've been always curious, but reluctant to buy this set, partly due to the misleading criticism by the Japanese critic Kyo Mitsutoshi, a part of which I read before. In his overly poetic commentary, he describes Bertini as a classicist who values beauty above all and whose interpretation is somewhat reserved, as opposed to the conductors like Bernstein, Solti and Tennstedt who placed much emphasis on contrasting emotional expression. I can not disagree more after listening to it. There is nothing reserved or classical about Bertini's readings. Take for example the outrageously bold and impassioned reading of Adagietto from 5th, which out do Tennnstedt's famous Royal Festival Hall live account or the overwhelmingly powerful treatment of the first movement of 3rd , which out do Bernstein. In fact, fascination of Bertini lies in that he can not be classified in any category. The conductor apparently possesses enormous reverence for Mahler's music and that comes across in every performance. You can not fully appreciate real richness and intricacy of Mahler's orchestration until you listen to these recordings.

Symphony No.1 (Live in Tokyo, 1991) A beautifully crafted performance which is near perfect and filled with many breath taking moments of beauty and inspiration.
Symphony No.2 (1991, Köln) This towering performance can stand alone for its unparalleled power of expression and other worldly beauty. The way brass and percussion explode in the first movement is absolutely terrifying. Bertini achieves maximum impact of each outburst in all movements without much exaggeration, but by masterful control of tempi and ebb and flow of the music. The build-up to the climax is full of revelatory moments and nothing short of awe inspiring. The final apotheosis is overwhelmingly powerful with organ, chorus, and percussions playing prominent roles. First movement is on disc 1, separated from the rest.
Symphony No.3 (1985, Köln) This is definitely the outstanding performance among the likes of Abbado, Horenstein, Bernstein, Levine, Haitink and Kubelik. First movement is extremely powerful and bold with almost apocalyptic edge and with pauses employed most effectively to create great sense of suspense. String sound literally flowers in the second movement; exquisite playing by wind instruments and brass played with amazing boisterousness in the third movement. Last movement is simply awe inspiring. I've never come across performance of such depth and sublime beauty.
Symphony No.4 (1987, Köln) Another revelatory performance, filled with details you've never heard before and most beautiful strings playing. The slow movement is deeply elegiac and masterfully controlled. The last movement is wonderfully vivid and boisterous with Lucia Popp's ethereal singing finely balanced with the orchestra. Placing the last movement on other disc is unforgivable stupidity!
Symphony No.5 (1990, Köln) This performance proves that it is nonsense to say Bertini's interpretation is reserved - in fact this is one of the most violent and intensely felt account of 5th I've ever known. Adagietto is outrageously boldly phrased and played with overwhelming passion. It is hard to imagine more powerful and moving account. The last movement is simply sublime. Thankfully fit into one disc.
Symphony No.6 (1984, Köln) This is not the best performance in the cycle, however there are many revelatory moments and admirable effects. The slow movement is beautifully played, but somehow fails to capture the inner drive and grandeur the great music deserves. Overall impact of the last movement is rather weak as the music suffers from too much slowing down in wrong places.
Symphony No.7 (1990, Köln) Under Bertini's baton the most elusive and grotesque of Mahler symphonies is transformed into a rich tapestry of orchestral colours and instrumental characterisation, and the music becomes more approachable. He draws magical sound from woodwinds, strings and mandolin. Fit in one disc.
Symphony No.8 (Live in Tokyo, 1991) Another outstanding and splendid recording. Part 1 is amazingly sumptuous with choir and soloists taking the centre stage, although it suffers from overly melodramatic singing by soloists, placed too close to microphone and even intrusive at times. Part 2 is expansively paced throughout, and there are many awe inspiring moments, especially in the build up to the finale. Very slowly paced final apotheosis is not the most overwhelming on record, but massive and glorious to conclude the epic journey. Fit into one disc.
Symphony No.9 (Live in Tokyo, 1991) Another awe inspiring performance - words just fail to describe the sheer sumptuousness of the music making and magical beauty of sounds, not to mention the very profound and incandescent account of the last movement.
Symphony No.10 (1991, Köln)Another beautifully crafted performance with exquisite detail. It's a great shame, Bertini did not record Cooke's completed version!
Das Lied von der Erde (Live in Tokyo, 1991) In this work, you can really appreciate Bertini's amazing ability to let music blossom freely in ever exquisite colours and nuances. Tenor, Ben Heppner, sings brilliantly with very pleasant, youthful sort of voice. Mezzo, Marjana Lipovsek, has just right sort of warm and deep voice, and her singing never intrudes on the music, while expressing its poetry with real feeling and understanding. Der Abschied is deeply moving. On one disc.

The awe inspiring account of 2nd, 3rd, 9th alone makes this set a must-buy, but together with very impressive 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and Das Lied, the price is just ridiculous! The sound quality in every recording is incredibly realistic and broad. With decent speakers it's almost like sitting in a concert hall. You need a soundproof room to realise full capacity of the recordings. Bertini's Mahler cycle is an amazing journey of discoveries.

I bought this set on the strength of several glowing reviews on Amazon (British and American), ClassicsToday and Gramophone, although I already have the complete cycle several times over: by various conductors and orchestras (Haitink, Boulez, Chailly, Solti, Sieghart, Zander, Barshai, Kubelik, Levi, Levine, Rattle, Haenchen, Abbado, Giulini & Neumann) and the box sets by Edo de Waart on RCA/Cobra (good, but now out of print; if it's available it's ridiculously over priced), Bernstein on DGG (no further blurb needed), Emil Tabakov on Cappricio (steer well clear of this one, it's really dreadful), Inbal on Brilliant (very good in some symphonies, listless in others) and Michael Gielen on Hänssler (outstanding modernist view, a bit like Boulez, but less deliberate).
I relish this particular set because of the wonderfully warm sound quality (listen to those very deep basses in the "Alles Vergängliche" chorus at the end of the 8th symphony), the non-prima donna singing of most vocal soloists, the generally faster pacing (as opposed to some of Haitink's and Bernstein's glacial tempos; except in the ninth, where Bertini's finale is very much slower than most, but to great effect), the careful attention to detail and the generally unsentimental interpretation. The booklet comes with complete texts and full details about recording dates and locations.
One (very) minor point of criticism is that in order to cram all the music onto just eleven CDs, the various symphonies are sometimes awkwardly distributed over two discs whereby the chronology is sometimes interrupted. But musically a very worth while asset.
If you're looking for a complete Mahler set, this one should certainly deserve your consideration (with Gielen's a serious competitor; better: get them both).

There is only one thing wrong with this set and that is the gushing booklet note that lauds Bertini to the absolute heights as the expense of several other conductors - particularly Michael Gielen. The discs range from pretty good to magnificent.

Symphony 1 is magnificent. There is a bright-eyed and and fresh feel to the whole thing as it moves from nature-mystical string harmonic opening to roaring exultation at the end of the Finale. Bertini has a wonderful sense of the "line" of the music and keeps a momentum through all the varied moods in a most satisfying way.

Symphony 2 does not quite reach these heights as there are some sections of the difficult first movement that are a little four-square. But the soloists and chorus are good and well recorded and there is a fine feeling of grandeur at the end of the work. In some parts of the Scherzo I felt that the effects sounded almost "too easy", such is the quality of the Orchestra, with a rather sophisticated sound palette - the opposite of what Tennstedt used to call the "dirty sound" that he thought was necessary in Mahler and which was achieved also by conductors as diverse as Bernstein, Walter and Klemperer in this symphony.

Symphony 3 is one of the very best on disc. The sense of fantasy, the power of nature (beautiful and sinister), and sheer mad abandon are conveyed in a first movement that is very clearly recorded with heaps of inner detail and coupled with rich sonority. The other movements are scarcely less fine and the boys' choir and the soloist are top rate. This is a performance to set together with the wonderful Kubelik discs (both from the DGG set Mahler: Complete Symphonies and the Audite live recording Symphony 3 and with Jascha Horenstein Mahler: Symphony No.3 in terms of authentic inspiration, though it sounds different to both of them.

Symphony 4 does not inhabit such an exalted sphere: though it is perfectly serviceable it would not be a first choice. Together with Symphonies 5, 6 and 7 it is finely recorded and played but somehow lacking is just the last bit of engagement. I find somewhat generalised views of these symphonies here. On the other hand we should remember that these are part of a set and that if one was to buy versions of these works by Tennstedt (live in 5, 6 and 7) Mahler - Symphony No.5 Mahler: Symphony No.6 and Mahler: Symphony No. 7; Mozart: Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" the relatively small cost of this set would be at least doubled. Any lukewarm comment here just translates as "these performances are not spectacularly oustanding" and the old saying "the best is the enemy of the good" applies here.

When we get to Symphony 8 we are at the heights again. The recording captures the performance remarkably well and all of the singers (choral and solo) are wonderfully well matched. Part One ("Veni creator Spiritus") is full of joy and Part Two moves with the same sense of inexorable progress that can be found in Symphony 1 to a profound Chorus Mysticus ending. The choral work here is outstanding with the male voices particularly finely caught.

"Das Lied von der Erde" is a fine bargain addition to the cycle and is very well put together indeed, each of the soloists characterising their roles in a most commendable manner. Does "Der Abschied" ("The Farewell" - the last movement) reach the intensity of expression that Christa Ludwig gave Otto Klemperer Das Lied Von Der Erde - Ludwig, Wunderlich, Klemperer or, indeed, do the tenor songs shine in the manner of the incomparable Fritz Wunderlich? Well, no, because these are very special and individual performances and Klemperer's view irritates some people as much as it thrills me. Again, in Bertini's performance we have this tendency towards a more "generalised" view that in the very greatest of performances (and see also Bruno Walter/Kathleen Ferrier Mahler - Das Lied von Der Erde; 3 Ruckert Lieder somehow seem to avoid.

Symphony 9 is capped by a slow Finale that somebody described as "Bertini, lost in heaven..." After the stress of the first three movements this version produces and unusually warm and optimistic sounding Finale, a truly original piece of work. The symphony does not have quite the sense of line and mystical drama found in Haitink (also coupled with a very fine "Das Lied") Mahler: Symphony No.9/Das Lied von der Erde which would be for me a top recommendation, but it is a fine and valid performance with much wonderful playing.

Throughout the set the sound engineering is extremely good. There are some symphonies split over discs, which is a slight annoyance but can be managed. I suppose that the nearest competition to this set AS a set is Tennstedt's EMI studio recordings Mahler: Complete Symphonies which retails on Amazon for a few pounds more than this. Tennstedt is not as consistent as Bertini, but then he is much more extreme i the chances he takes with the music. Both sets have a wonderful Symphony 3 in them, but Tennstedt's Symphony 6 is much more telling (however the recently released Proms recording mentioned above is even better). Bertini is to be preferred in Symphonies 1, 2, 7 and 9 and the honours are even in the other music. Tennstedt's set does not have a Lied von der Erde (and if it did, then the EMI version is spoiled by some of Lucia Popp's intonation). Worth getting then, and if you are a person on limited income just starting to get to know Mahler you could scarcely do better than this.