Mahler - Symphony No 2 [Hybrid SACD]

I have only heard this using ordinary CD equipment but I imagine that the SACD is very fine indeed. First, the sound. The huge problem with Mahler 2 is that the end is so magnificent and so loud that most recordings have to be compressed or turned down by the engineers in the final two minutes or so. Not surprising when you consider that this is a work that has to be heard in a good hall to make its impact - organ, huge brass section, clanging bells, bass drum thwacks, tam-tam rolls and so on. This recording copes magnificently, but therein lies the problem for ordinary home reproduction. The dynamic range of the recording is from quietest whisper of sound to wonderfully contained roar! The best results, therefore, come from turning up the volume louder than you might normally, marvelling at the delicacy of much of the soft playing (and there is a large amount of very quiet music in this symphony too) and then holding on during the climaxes. This does not work too well if you have near neighbours and I suppose that if you are a solitary listener then headphones might be the answer, which is a shame because the feeling of being towards the back of a fine hall is lost (remember, I have only heard CD playback but am told that SACD immerses you even more deeply in the music). One thing about listening on headphones is that one gets a sharper than usual sense of three-dimensional sound.

The orchestra play magnificently and the slides and portamenti in the strings are delightfully managed. Percussion sounds amazingly natural, woodwind is well characterised and the brass is very fine indeed. The offstage effects in the last movement are at the most extreme distance and have you listening with almost painful concentration. Both soloists are fine (no wobbles) and the choir is top rank with clear diction and rich expressivity.

What about the conductor's concept of the symphony? The first movement has some fast tempi, but also some surprisingly slow and sensitive sections, emphasising the funeral march element of the music. The peculiar rhythmic pattern in the double-basses (first emphatically underlined in the Rattle/CBSO recording but present in Kubelik/DGG also) at the opening is very insistent. The first movement hangs together well and is full of drama and a gathering sense of fantasy.

The second movement is very beautifully done, and the set out of the string section, with antiphonal placing of first and second violins left and right, makes for very satisfying listening. Througout the whole symphony the string section plays with the utmost sensitivity but nowhere more so than in this second movement.

I felt that the "Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" Scherzo (third movement) was a little over-gentle and lacking in fantasy and, essentially, irony. Nobody beats Klemperer here. But things get much better with the magically distanced entry of the soloist in "Urlicht" (fourth movement).

The finale starts with an almost painful burst of sound (quite rightly) and then builds up to a heart-stopping final section, via one of the most arresting "Grosser Appel" sections I have ever heard and a rather jaunty march. The off-stage orchestra is very quiet indeed, as is the choir in its first entry. But, as I said above, the very effort that you make to hear it increases the tension to an extent that rivals a live performance.

Ivan Fischer's overall concept is distinctive and, ultimately, very moving indeed. The third movement, however, sags a bit.

To sum up, if you can turn up the volume sufficiently you will hear one of the most beautifully recorded and natural sounding Mahler recordings that has ever been produced in a cumulatively climactic interpretation. This CD cries out for volume and then more volume. Buy it, but buy a detached house to go along with it!

It's amazing the results that can be obtained simply by doing exactly what is asked for in the score. No-one was more precise in the detailed instructions he gave conductor and players than Mahler. And Ivan Fischer with his Budapest forces is more meticulous than anyone else in my experience at following this great score in all its details. The results are breathtaking.

Let me illustrate from the very beginning of the symphony. The third phrase in cellos and basses is marked accelerando: like Rattle, Fischer does this just judiciously enough to make the point. A few bars later, the bassoons reinforce the first notes of each bar of triplets: they are marked ff to the strings single f and Fischer allows them just enough prominence to stand clear. At the first appearance of the Second Subject, the horns' counterpoint is marked ppp to the violins pp; at the second appearance they are marked pp to the violins ppp. Fischer observes that, too. The numerous glissandi scattered throughout the score, especially in the second movement, are all there - proper glisses, not just touched in portamenti. I could go on!

Then there is the care in instrumental balance that Fischer always takes. More often than not bass drum, tam-tams and glockenspiel are touched in just enough to provide the colour needed, not to stand out: one is hardly aware of their presence until they actually stop playing - although the tams-tams provide some awe-inspiring crashes when appropriate. In louder passages the piccolo(s) often give a touch of strident glitter to the violins (a very characteristic Mahler trait). And I love the way in which the contrabassoon just adds a little buzz to some of the brass chorales in the final movement.

Fischer is ably aided and abetted by his engineers, too. There is a properly long pause after the first movement - if not the full 5 minutes Mahler asked for. The last three movements are, as indicated, attaca. The sound quality is simply wonderful throughout. The recording of the strings is as good as I've heard - just listen to the cellos in the Second Movement. And the special effects are all brought off magnificently. Mahler suggests that the brass chorale at the beginning of `Urlicht' should be distanced in the background. I've never heard this observed before: the effect is magical. The off-stage bands in the final movement have precisely the right perspectives (and, of course, Fischer observes Mahler's markings of `lang' and `verklingend' for the horn and trumpet calls to the letter). The entry of the choir is a perfect pianissimo and I had despaired of ever hearing a recording where the soprano soloist emerges, as she should, imperceptibly from the choral sound as her voice rises that extra third for the sublime tail of each of their first two entries - until now.

If this all sounds a little superficial and locked into the detail, it is only because this is a performance that merits the closest analysis. The orchestral playing is superb. But, more than that, so is Fischer's reading of the piece. Never wayward, never striving for effect, he lets the music speak for itself, totally naturally and with ideal tempi. Rubato is almost always where it is indicated in the score, but always judged to perfection. The relationship of one tempo to another (always tricky in Mahler, as for example with the frequent changes of time signature as well as tempi in `Urlicht') always feels absolutely right.

I have loved this work since the days when Bruno Walter's Columbia recording was the only one available. Since then, Klemperer, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Stokowski, Rattle and the like have all laid claims to my affection. And still do. But this Budapest performance from Fischer and Channel Classics has, I think, just gone to the top of my pile.