Mahler - Symphony No 3; Kindertotenlieder [Hybrid SACD]

First the sound. Stunning. It's close and immediate but not too close, - there is still plenty of air and space around the instruments. You tend to get a picture of the soundstage itself to a much greater extent than of the venue as a whole, and that does pose one problem with a recording so detailed as this. That is that it captures a lot of stage sound, - players leaning and creaking in their chairs, stretching their legs etc. This is particularly striking in the 4th Movement with soprano, when some players are under-employed. It's a bit irritating, but I can live with it. For the rest, it's another sonic gem. The surround mix fixes instruments in space brilliantly.

And the performance is, as I said above, very good, but without being excellent. I have to confess that the 3rd is my least fav. Mahler symph. but I've tried to rate on the basis only of (comparative) performance. MTT again pulls the tempi about but this time it makes a greater negative impact than in the first symphony. Both the first and third movements have longeurs here (but so do many other versions) and the finale is pretty self-indulgent. That's understandable in a way as the big tunes are so attractive, but Haitink shows that if you leave this movement alone, and let Mahler sing for himself, you get a ore "heavenly" result, rather than a mere mortal one.

The third symph. really needs either more of a steady pulse and/or more energy than MTT either gives or releases. The forty-year old Lenny B reading with the NYPO is the best at giving a combined strong pulse but with plenty of energy too; Solti's extroversion helps in the 3rd more than any other Mahler symp. (except maybe the 8th); Abbado provides a reliable and instinctively "right" pulse and Haitink is, as ever, a great compromise. I note that Decca are to release a Chailly 3rd, - my money would be on that to set an SACD performance benchmark. This doesn't quite do it.

The second piece is Kindertotenlieder and here a lot depends on the bond between soloist and conductor. I was pretty worried by Ms De Young when the fourth movement of the Symphony started, - a warbly, wobbly "Gib Acht" followed by a strained "Ich Schleif" raised alarm bells, but I needn't have worried as she gets progressively better after than uncertain start and makes a fine contribution. However, more than that is needed in the Kindertotenlieder. Too many singers just give us a generalised, universalised depiction of grief, like the over-praised Janet Baker reading. But one singer, IMHO, gives us an utterly convincing portrayal of personalised angst that, through/by being so personal is also universal. And that's Brigit Fassbaender on Decca with the Berlin SO and Chailly, available on a budget twofer (BUY IT!!!). BF sings with a dark, angry but inward edge that leaves the listener sensing real psychological danger from the first song and, finally, wrung out. Compared to Fassbaender, others just sing, Ms. De young included. It's lovely singing, but not a whole lot more. It's not life AND the world, as in the BF/BSO/Chailly reading.

So in short, two good performances but the disc is made more attractive overall by the splendid sound.