Mahler: Symphony No. 9 [Enhanced]

Even if you're happy with whatever great Ninth/s you already have in your possession, think seriously about buying this. It's affordable, much cheaper than the Vienna recording, and better recorded by far. You must know by now what a superb Mahlerian Rattle is. He has spoken, I believe, about the Ninth as part of a triptych with Das Lied and the Tenth Symphony. The new Berlin Ninth is to my mind the realisation of Schoenberg's description of the symphony as (paraphrase), a series of dispassionate statements of beauty. There is something chaste, almost glacial, and finally purifying about this recording's voyage into Mahler's loving, sublime, mortified psyche. At times I thought I was with Karajan's orchestra of the 1980s.

I love the way Rattle is able, on this occasion, to elucidate musical details, leaf and flower, without the drama getting forestalled. Everything moves just as it should. The landler is splendidly gritty and the Berlin strings really let rip in the adagio. The closing pages are magical, very moving because tears are held in check.

To be honest, I wouldn't choose this ahead of karajan's 1982 recording which intriguingly has more bite and ferocity in the middle movements, more grace and refinement geared towards drawing us into a battle with mortality drawn uncomfortably close. Rattle really is too reserved in the rondo, but nevertheless this is quite an achievement and definitely worth acquiring even as a supplement to the Complete Symphonies box-set. Take a deep breath...

This is a warm, open, spacious Mahler 9 from Rattle and the BPO which I thoroughly recommend.

Although I am generally speaking an admirer of Rattle, I've found some of his previous Mahler recordings to be a bit fussy, as if Rattle was concentrating so much on the surface details he'd lost sight of the underlying spirit - a bit like Boulez, they sounded like people who'd mastered a foreign language - even though they were fluent, they didn't sound like a native - the head ruled the heart, etc.

Not here. This has a real Viennese lilt, the playing is sumptuous, and Rattle lets the music breathe. The first couple of movements are spacious, but tight, while the 3rd movement Burleske has real bite, and the closing passage is ferocious. The final adagio manages to combine that sense of serenity and loss, of desolation and consolation combined, which I only find in Mahler, without eschewing or wallowing in sentimentality.

In short, this is simply a great recording of a very great symphony. Now I want him to go and re-record all the rest.

I have long experience of attending Sir Simon Rattle's performances of Mahler works when he was with the CBSO and also with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the 1980s. While these have always been exciting memorable occasions, I was not always convinced with the results on his recordings. I have never been a fan of his CBSO performance of Mahler's Second Symphony, which I thought was far too slow in the first movement - with little compensation that can come with slow speeds in terms of uncovered detail. That said, there are felicitous moments later in the performance which do compensate.

I write this preamble because I viewed this recording with some trepidation and it has taken me some time to get round to listening to it. I did not want to be disappointed.

I am glad to say that this is a wonderful recording of a stunning performance of this work. It is a live performance and it makes me wonder whether Sir Simon Rattle's interpretations are best enjoyed "on the wing" at a live performance rather than in the recording studio. The Berlin Philharmonic is an amazing orchestra. I was stunned with the variety of sonorities that I heard - it made me marvel at Mahler's genius as an orchestrator.

Mahler's 9th Symphony has been very lucky on record and seems to bring out the best in conductors and orchestras. The first movement has a wonderful 'fin di siecle' quality and reminds me a bit of Alban Berg, especially his violin concerto. I think it has so much going on in it that a conductor has to control the music to give a coherent picture. Simon Rattle does this extraordinarily well with a real sense of flow. He also has the knack of pacing the movement and holding back from giving too much away too early so that he can create an even larger overall picture. The second movement is performed with real bite. The Rondo-Burleske movement, again can be problematic. In some renditions, I am reminded of the line from Macbeth, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Simon Rattle again achieves a sense of flow that gives the movement real meaning. The serene finale is wonderfully expressive.

I think this is overall a very fine and recommendable recording which is unlikely to disappoint.