Mahler - Symphony No 3, York Höller - Der Ewige Tag

Leonard Bernstein's pioneering account of Mahler's 3rd with the New York Phil in the 1960's--with its spontaneity, excitment, and passion--set the standard for many recordings that followed. Unfortunately, many of those did little more than imitate the original, and imitations are rarely a substitute. Lenny himself provided a worthy and inspired update with his Deutche Gramophone release in the 90's, ratcheting up the emotion to yet another level. This paid great dividends in the first movement particularly--this might be the greatest recording ever of this movement, but at other times he wallows a little too much and the tension slips (2nd movement and 6th movement, especially).

This new recording by Semyon Bychkov is the only version I've heard other than Bernstein's that really has something new to say. It is full of new interpretive insights, a few here, a few there. And they pretty much all work in their new and original way. The fresh approach pays great dividends. We finally return to having excitement, visceral spontaneity, and truly profound passion.

This is the recording to get to supplement your Bernstein recording. Alternate, different yet very nearly as good, interpretively. When you also factor in the fantastic sound quality and the very high caliber of playing from the WDR Sim Koln, this might be THE recording to own.

I think Lenny's DG account is still greatest for movements 1, 4, 5, and probably 3. But Bychkov's reading never flags from beginning to end and he turns in superior readings of the 2nd and 6th movements.

Really you've got to have both....

...is that Mr Bychov now have entered the Mahler recordings hall of fame, because this is an absolutely stunning interpretation of Mahler's third symphony.

But first, I want to give some credit to the orchestra. As most music lovers now know, the WDR symphony orchestra in Cologne has already established itself as an amazingly musical live orchestra. The performances under Barshai (a brilliant Shostakovich cycle, Brilliant Classics) and Bertini (an equally outstanding Mahler cycle, EMI) are impeccable, both in terms of technique and passion.

Under Bychkov's baton, they perform even better than for Bertini. Comparing Bychkov's third with Bertini's, the former - which is a live recording - is clearly superior. Because it is simply more exciting. In the first movement, the woodwinds are as excellent as those in Kubelik's classic Bayerische Rundfunk Mahler cycle (DG): perky and prominent. The horn department is also magnificent. And Timothy Beck's trombone solo in the first movement... well, not since Barbirolli's Hallé recording (BBC) we have heard this sort of raw, robust, vulnerable, tense, de profundis trombone sound. It's just outstanding. The second movement is delivered as a true minuet, perfectly paced. The third movement is almost as wild and brutal as Horenstein's (Unicorn) jungle. But Bychkov's orchestra is better, more balanced. Perhaps even too balanced here... nonetheless, this is also a powerful performance, and Peter Mönkediek's posthorn solo is very fine as well.

Marajana Lipovsek's performance of the "O Mensch" call in the fourth movement is fine too. She's not as impressive as Larsson for Abbado (DG), but provides a moving perspective nonetheless. As many other contemporary interpreters (e.g., Abbado, Gielen, Rattle), Bychov observes the "Hinaufziehen" glissandos for the oboe solo. (In my view, this must be the correct way of playing these passages - the word means "drawing up" or "pulling up". At least, it sounds very convincing - a simple legato does not make the same "natural" effect.)

The two remaining movements - the angels' song and the finale - are perfectly coherent with Bychkov's sober vision. The timing 25.36 for the final movement is not too much (cf. Bernstein's DG version, more than 28 minutes). It never becomes too sentimental; it remains at a sober distance all the way up to the glorious final chords.

York Höller's "Der Ewige Tag" is an eccentric fill-up. But it adds no extra value to Bychov's splendid interpretation of the third.

Sound quality is in first demonstration class, and the audience is barely audible.

Grab it now. Avie is a small company, you'll never know for how long this jewel will stay in the catalogue. I recommend it warmly.

Mahler had a stormy heart and at the same time the subtlest musical intelligence. No one can do justice to the Third Sym. who doesn't understand both. (Szell and Boulez are one-sided in their analytic approach, Solti is one-sided in his turbulence.) I didn't expect Semyon Bychkov to have the musical depth to encompass this enormously difficult work, but he turns out to be a natural. The WDR orchestra based in Cologne isn't world class -- Mahler always benefits from virtuosity -- but they capture the music's many changing moods, laking only the last degree of power and intensity. Avie's recording is vivid, close up, and visceral.

I especially like the rustic, piping quality of the woodwinds and the roughness in the brass playing. When the first movement struggles to reach an apotheosis, you feel that the struggle is genuine -- this is very sinewy Mahler, light years removed from the placid blandness of Mehta, and Leinsdorf. Haitink has always been successful with the Third, but you feel when all is said and done that nothing really vital was at stake. Bychkov makes you feel that the world's fate hangs in the balance. Abbado had the measure of this work and two great orchestras to put it across, but he lacks Bychkov's quirkiness and charm.

A conductor's sympathy for Mahler can be told in quiet movements like the second, a bucolic Andante in three-quarter time, which serves as prelude to the thrid movement's magical forest and haunting Wunderhorn calls. Bychkov captures the mood shifts quite sensitively without losing the music's rapturous impulse -- he excels Rattle here, in fact everyone but Bernstein in his pioneering NY Phil. recording. The "O Mensch" movement is taken very slowly and gravely, which I think is just right; I only wish that Marjana Lipvosek could summon more world-weariness and pathos. The oboe glissandos sound very convincing rather than odd. The chorus is adept in the fifth movement without being quite innocent or magical enough. Lipsovek remains somber, which isn't right for the text, but Bychkov seconds her mood in the orchestral part.

The Mahler Third ends, like the Ninth, in an Adagio finale that must convey through cumulative intensity what is normally conveyed by whirling excitement. I am always happy whenever a conductor leans in with maximum force and unhappy when he floats dreamily on the surface. Bychkov isn't intense, yet he benefits from taking a quick enough tempo that the melodic line unfolds with naturalness and songful charm. If oly he had ended on a shattering apotheosis the way the greatest performances do.

The generous fill-up is Holler's "Der Ewige Tag" (The Eternal Day) for chorus, orchestra, and electronics. Many traditionalists will be frightened off, but the work is quite listenable and by now its post-Darmstadt idio seems less rigorous and daunting. The conneciton with Mahler is that the composer openly quotes the Seventh Sym. as a prelude to the finale choral section.

I had been deeply impressed by Bychkov when he first appeared on the scene, only to be let down by his later career. He seems to be back in force with this kind of world-class Mahler conducting. In the end, this is the best Mahler Third I've come across in a long while and should appeal to anyone who doesn't mind a lower key approach than Solti's or Bernstein's.