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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Although I'm a huge Mahler fan, I've always struggled a little with the Fifth and the Seventh; the unusual, slightly cranky book-ends to the mighty Sixth. They both require an orchestra and conductor of impeccable Mahlerian pedigree to really 'sell' them and, despite his ability to polarise opinion, Bernstein was one of those conductors and the VPO was (and remains) one of those orchestras. When they joined forces, the results were rarely less than memorable and this recording is no exception.
I find the argument over Bernstein's tempos tiresome. Yes, he does push the envelope on occasions, notably in the Second and Ninth of his DG Mahler series, but his knowledge and experience of these scores is legendary. I think of him as a gifted driver with the keys to a fantastic sports car: do you take it round the block a few times at 30mph and get out thinking "that was quite nice" or do you head for the open road, explore its handling and power, kick the tail out a little and get out with your pulse racing and a grin on your face? Mahler's symphonies are big enough and brilliant enough to accommodate many different interpretations but it is usually a Bernstein that I pull down from the shelf first.
This account has been a leading recommendation since its release twenty years ago and I have never found another that surpasses it. Bernstein captures the many difficult changes in mood and tempo and moulds them into a coherent narrative. The VPO put on another virtuosic display, especially in those stormy, surging passages of the first two movements which have a thrilling power and razor-sharp precision. Bernstein does perhaps gild the lily of the Adagietto, ever so slightly. I find it haunting and beautiful and he certainly isn't the longest on record: the Karajan version (often held up by Bernstein critics as an example of how it 'should' be done) is actually longer. Crowning the performance is a truly blazing account of the Finale which is worth the price of this disc on its own.
The recording was made live in Frankfurt with a rich, full and clear orchestral sound, a natural balance and a warm acoustic (better than some from the Musikverein, in fact). Audience noise is negligible.
For beginners or collectors, this recording should be snapped up.
I find the argument over Bernstein's tempos tiresome. Yes, he does push the envelope on occasions, notably in the Second and Ninth of his DG Mahler series, but his knowledge and experience of these scores is legendary. I think of him as a gifted driver with the keys to a fantastic sports car: do you take it round the block a few times at 30mph and get out thinking "that was quite nice" or do you head for the open road, explore its handling and power, kick the tail out a little and get out with your pulse racing and a grin on your face? Mahler's symphonies are big enough and brilliant enough to accommodate many different interpretations but it is usually a Bernstein that I pull down from the shelf first.
This account has been a leading recommendation since its release twenty years ago and I have never found another that surpasses it. Bernstein captures the many difficult changes in mood and tempo and moulds them into a coherent narrative. The VPO put on another virtuosic display, especially in those stormy, surging passages of the first two movements which have a thrilling power and razor-sharp precision. Bernstein does perhaps gild the lily of the Adagietto, ever so slightly. I find it haunting and beautiful and he certainly isn't the longest on record: the Karajan version (often held up by Bernstein critics as an example of how it 'should' be done) is actually longer. Crowning the performance is a truly blazing account of the Finale which is worth the price of this disc on its own.
The recording was made live in Frankfurt with a rich, full and clear orchestral sound, a natural balance and a warm acoustic (better than some from the Musikverein, in fact). Audience noise is negligible.
For beginners or collectors, this recording should be snapped up.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
In many ways it is possible to recycle the same argument about Bernstein's interpretative choices with regard to a good many of his recorded performances. What for some sounds wilful, disjointed and self-conscious is for others exceptionally fluent and flexible. To some, Bernstein is constantly hovering on the brink of virtual stasis; for others, he achieves a timeless intensity of expression. I must say that listening to the way he attacks and develops the stormy, "Streng" section of the first movement nine minutes in, I cannot agree that the music lacks passion or momentum; I find myself swept along by the grandeur of the playing by the peerless Vienna Philharmonic. Bernstein knows what he is about and finds more drama in every phrase; the playing is always weighty, detailed and marvellously precise.
The sound is wonderfully full; the audience must have been bound and gagged throughout or simply as spellbound by what they were hearing as were the audience I was in last night when Gergiev and the LSO held us rapt in the closing minutes of the Ninth. I swear that his peculiar trick of imposing his personality on Mahler's music sometimes makes me hear a kind of American jauntiness emerging through the folksy Ländler in the Scherzo. Of course he theatrical Bernstein understood how to manipulate the subtle rhythms of a Viennese waltz to create charm and tension; metronomic regularity is kicked into touch but the orchestra follows his every nuance. The Adagietto ("little Adagio", not by any means "slightly slowly") is by no means so etiolated compared with many another celebrated version; it is a more passionate and warm-blooded take on the score which capitalises on the capability of the Vienna strings to emit a burnished glow rather than another of the "suspended animation" variety whereby the music just hovers in the ether. The last movement is just one great, arching, bustling burst of contrapuntal energy. Every time I think Bernstein is on the brink of indulgence, the music takes on an intensity and drive that disarms my criticism.
This is by no means the only way to play this music; safer, and in many ways just as satisfying, "straight" recommendations might be Shipway's or Barshai's bargain accounts (see my reviews) but Bernstein was a master Mahlerian whose interpretations were always valid unless you are a modern "Mahler lite" devotee.
The sound is wonderfully full; the audience must have been bound and gagged throughout or simply as spellbound by what they were hearing as were the audience I was in last night when Gergiev and the LSO held us rapt in the closing minutes of the Ninth. I swear that his peculiar trick of imposing his personality on Mahler's music sometimes makes me hear a kind of American jauntiness emerging through the folksy Ländler in the Scherzo. Of course he theatrical Bernstein understood how to manipulate the subtle rhythms of a Viennese waltz to create charm and tension; metronomic regularity is kicked into touch but the orchestra follows his every nuance. The Adagietto ("little Adagio", not by any means "slightly slowly") is by no means so etiolated compared with many another celebrated version; it is a more passionate and warm-blooded take on the score which capitalises on the capability of the Vienna strings to emit a burnished glow rather than another of the "suspended animation" variety whereby the music just hovers in the ether. The last movement is just one great, arching, bustling burst of contrapuntal energy. Every time I think Bernstein is on the brink of indulgence, the music takes on an intensity and drive that disarms my criticism.
This is by no means the only way to play this music; safer, and in many ways just as satisfying, "straight" recommendations might be Shipway's or Barshai's bargain accounts (see my reviews) but Bernstein was a master Mahlerian whose interpretations were always valid unless you are a modern "Mahler lite" devotee.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is possibly Mahler's best known symphony but sadly this is mainly due to the Adagietto movement made famous by the film "Death in Venice". Those that only recognise that movement, wonderful as it is, are sadly missing out. From the trumpet fanfare of the opening to the final majestic choral, Bernstein produces a reading that shines with inspiration and intensity. He catches the mood of the seemingly banal third movement brilliantly and the orchestral playing throughout the whole symphony is faultless. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A superb 5th
I thought I had reviewed this already but it seems I haven't.
I am not a fully paid up member of the Mahler fan club but I do greatly love the 5th and 9th symphonies in... Read more
I am not a fully paid up member of the Mahler fan club but I do greatly love the 5th and 9th symphonies in... Read more
Published 12 months ago by enthusiast
Very disappointing
This performance has some good qualities - eloquent playing from all sections of the orchestra, atmospheric interludes in the scherzo, a magnificent conclusion to the finale - but... Read more
Published on 10 July 2009 by Foxy Ferdinand of Bulgaria
Blazing Bernstein ( nevertoolate #016 )
Recorded live at the Frankfurt am Main Alte Oper in 1987,
just three years before his death, Maestro Bernstein's deft
hand and searing vision leads The Vienna... Read more
just three years before his death, Maestro Bernstein's deft
hand and searing vision leads The Vienna... Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2009 by The Wolf
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