Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive interpretation of Mahler's fourth symphony, 11 Jun 2003
Here is a very rare record. Horenstein's interpretation of Mahler's fourth symphony, with Price and LPO in top form. Once, it was given a bad presentation on LP. But now some hero engineers have restored the sound, capturing this profound interpretation of Mahler's - I think - most difficult symphony. It's difficult because it's appears to be an easy work. But this interpretation reveals the depths of this masterpiece. Compared with other versions, e.g. Szell's, this is definitively more truly "Mahlerian" in style. Budget price, top quality.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A world lost (and maybe your antidote to the 21st century?), 6 Jul 2006
No music touches me in quite the same way as does Mahler's Fourth Symphony. It invokes childhood memories of spooky fairy tales by Grimm and others; of waking up on a winter's morning to the strange silence which meant that thick snow had arrived overnight. It brings back the magical anticipation of Christmases of half a century ago, and of a world mostly lost to the crass commercialism, celebrity-worship and pathetic mobile phone culture of today. It also invokes memories of the long holidays I had in southern Austria during the 1950s and early 60s; a time before that country had been totally rodgered and hammersteined into the touristic shell it is today. Sentimental claptrap? Maybe that depends on your age and your outlook in general, but nobody who is held in thrall by present-day 'culture' is going to be much impressed by the sepia-toned atmosphere of Mahlers Fourth, which maybe adds weight to the argument. Still, I have known Mahler enthusiasts of my own age and much older who have positively shunned the Fourth, finding it too lightweight and even 'naive-sounding'. By comparison with the symphony which followed it the Fourth is very different; a much tamer animal, although how many people could fail to recognise the military trumpet-call motif of the Fifth's monumental opening which appears out of nowhere in the Fourth's first movement? The Fourth is a tone-painting of childhood experiences and fantasies, (out of the composer's own I would guess - he realised that his 'child-side' was a very important aspect of his overall psyche) presenting us with all the delights, fears, even the nightmares and ultimately, after the gates of heaven are thrown open at the close of the third movement, a vision of the afterlife. All music is touched by the era in which it is created and the year 1900 (the year of the symphony's completion) is well and truly gone. As time moves on interpretations lose something of the original flavour, which is why modern-day recordings of Mahler are usually doomed to failure; they simply don't have that essential ingredient which makes for an 'echt-Mahler' experience. Fortunately, Jascha Horenstein - a conductor well immersed in the Mahler/Central European Jewish idiom - made this recording near the end of his life with a London Philharmonic who clearly lent themselves to be moulded into an excellent collective instrument for the conductor to realise this greatest of Mahler Fourth's. I owned the original Classics for Pleasure LP (89 pence in 1972!) and the sound was pretty disappointing. Fortunately the sound of the CD as re-mastered is much better; clear and with the right amount of space around the instruments. Horenstein's speeds, phrasing, dynamics and details of orchestral colour are beyond praise throughout and yet never do you get any suggestion that he is controlling things in any way; it all sounds so fresh and natural, and if you have dry eyes during the third movement then your heart is truly made of stone. The fourth movement has Margaret Price as the witness to heaven's way of life, and although her voice is just a little too old-sounding for the part, she sings and phrases extremely well and her German is excellent. This is for me without doubt the very finest Fourth and one of the great Mahler interpretations of all time.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really Terrific Mahler 4, 1 Mar 2008
This 1970 recording by the LPO under the baton of Horenstein is lauded by many Mahler specialists and I can quite see why. I first bought this on LP in the early 1980s and, despite the noisy surfaces caused by cheap vinyl, pretty much wore it out.
From the very opening of this easiest to appreiciate Mahler symphony until the very end, the performance brings out the best in the dreamy score.
Now this great Mahler 4 has been spruced up by sympathetic remastering and re-released at a laughable price there is no need to hesitate!
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