Mahler: Symphony No. 2 ( Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Levine 1989 Salzburg Festival) [CD]

This review is not intended to convert any of the legion who denigrate all of Levine's work-it is intended for the open-minded and admirers of this artist who want to experience what is for me one of the most, if not THE most life affirming and moving readings of this great symphony.
I have always admired Levine's Mahler, collecting his cycle on LP and recently again on CD-and I was glad to be able to fill in at least one gap with the excellent Israel Philharmonic recording-but this new release from Orfeo is in a different league. The first movement is tauter with Levine starting not as aggressively as some but builds up the tension and drama to a shattering climax, the second is just as languid but a shade more forward moving, the third is simply the finest performance I have ever heard, the Divine Christa delivers as moving an Urlicht as can be conceived-and the finale is stunning.
The recording is of a single live performance in August 1989, so has not been patched from rehearsals etc, and is remastered from an original ORF DIGITAL recording. There are one or two minor slips in the brass-this was a morning concert, and in the heat of Salzburg in August, the air in the Grosses Festpielhaus gets very dry, making it notoriously difficult for wind players, especially those playing the unique horns and trumpets of the VPO-but they are few, minor and to my mind do not matter a whit. The recording is astonishingly good-spacious, bright and very detailed-the VPO sound glorious, justifying the booklet comments that no other orchestra sounds as "right" in Mahler.
The playback level is set low, and to gain the full impact a high volume setting is needed-but as the dynamic range is very wide, climaxes "lift the roof off ". This is fine with me! Try the unison brass entry in the St. Antoni movement-wow!
I have never heard the Vienna Tam-Tam so clearly recorded, as it is their style to blend it into the aural fabric, but in this recording it is loud and proud time after time.
Strings are seductive, with ample portamento when apt, and the woodwind are sublime. The soloists are placed in a realistic balance, and surely the soprano part can never have been sung so affectingly and beautifully as it is by Kathleen Battle. Hearing Christa Ludwig again reaffirms my belief that she retired too early-she is perfect.
The chorus is supremely beautiful-but there does need to be a word about the balance. The listener is very definitely in the "Parkett" close to the orchestra, and this very definitely results in an orchestral work with chorus, rather than a choral work, in other words the chorus is placed backwards compared to some recordings. The result is a more organic climax with more orchestral detail than normal rather than it being swamped, or artificially tweaked in the studio. If you prefer the colossal effect of say the recent superb Rattle BPO account, you may think these last pages are underpowered. In fact they are just as colossal, but differently balanced-detail is still clear, and it is in fact a very natural concert effect.
The offstage effects are wonderfully realised, and Levine's finale has more impetus and even more drama than on the Israel recording. Though he starts the choral section very slowly, he soon picks up the tempo. In no way is this is a slow reading in the manner of Maazel. Audience coughing and spluttering is occasional (it WAS August) and of minimal impact.
I have more recordings of this work than I have years on the planet, and I am 61 (today 11/10!) at the time of writing. I love performances as diverse as the Klemperer express, Bernstein NYPO and LSO, Kaplan's first LSO recording (but NOT his VPO drudge) , Abbado's Lucerne Festival , Rattle's BPO and astonishingly for me, Boulez with the VPO to name but a few-(I even love the aforementioned eccentric Maazel which I think along with Maazel himself makes two of us!), but I can say that no recording has moved or satisfied me as much as this one.
If you must have the "hi-est of fi's," then Rattle Berlin or Boulez are your best bets. If, however, you want the most moving and stirring of experiences in excellent sound-a real concert experience-then this set from the Orfeo treasure house and costing a pittance is an overwhelming recommendation.
Unlimited stars. Stewart Crowe.

Getting this CD was a bit of a miracle! I recorded the performance live off the radio from the Salzburg Festival in 1989 and I have always cherished the performance. I have virtually every major recording of this symphony and I am very fussy, especially with the First Movement. Mahler, a very great conductor himself, made the last movements almost "conductor -proof;" I never heard a performance of the last movement that fails to lift off.

So I had a cherished cassette and, as with all cherished cassettes, "Sod's Law" operates and the tape got chewed and so that was the end of that. The performance would live only in my memory. But now it is back again. Did I have stars in my eyes ? Is it as good as I remembered it ? Yes !

Obviously, since 1989, the competition has increased enormously so has an early Levine performance been left behind ? No, it was performances like this that put Levine on the map and got him the job at the Metropolitan Opera. He was also one of the very few conductors to penetrate the "inner sanctum" of the Karajan Empire, the Salzburg Festival.

There is something very "special" about this: Salzburg, the Vienna Philharmonic (Mahler's Orchestra), two wonderful soloists! It is moments like this that music lovers live for. Levine had always been passionate about Mahler and this must have been a dream come true.

I have another tape recorded live from the Salzburg Festival (if anybody from Orfeo is reading) which I dare not play (in case it gets screwed up) and that is the by far the finest performance of Mahler's Sixth Symphony that I have ever heard by Herbert von Karajan, of all people! "Well, he recorded it so buy that !" The two performances are so different as to be unrecognisable. There was always a difference between "smooth" Karajan in the recording studio and "dangerous" Karajan on the concert platform and never more so than in Mahler's Sixth. And the difference seems to spread to Levine's Mahler 2.

Levine's Mahler recordings were very highly regarded back in the '80's but seem to have fallen from view, at least this side of the pond, in the intervening years. This is a pity because his renderings have all the authority of Bernstein's without the wild exaggerations.

Most of Levine's Mahler recordings recently became available in a boxed set- very nice too- but the 2nd symphony was not included, which collectors can now remedy without hesitation. This Salzburg recording is of marvellous quality with a well-behaved audience (quiet) but oodles of 'ambience'. The quality of the cast is also excellent so this disc moves close to the top of my preferred versions (a crowded field as this is probably my favourite symphony but one which can cruelly expose both soloists and orchestra).

This is an outstanding recording which should feature in any Mahler-lover's collection- almost the equal of Klemperer's famous classic.