Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superlative Mahler 4 in great sound, 19 April 2009
This is one of the most ravishing Mahler discs that I have heard for some time. The playing of the orchestra is stunning and the balances favour some wonderful wind and brass detail whilst delivering the full impact of the whole orchestra when required. Fischer is ia sensitive interpreter, rounding the phrases in the music most pleasingly with a bracing first two movements.
The third (adagio) movement is played so well on this recording that Fischer makes it sound like the greatest movement Mahler ever wrote! It encapsulates all the joy and pain of life as it moves towards the huge "Gates of Heaven" climax just before it drifts into the final movement. This is remarkably good playing and conducting.
And then... Well we have the song finale with Miah Persson as a charming and very clear soprano soloist. For me the trouble was that the third movement was so overwhelmingly good that this charming movement, almost like an intermezzo, was something of an anticlimax. To be fair you could claim that this is a problem with the unusual structure of the symphony as much as anything else and this could indeed be the case. But Fischer's conducting also sounds just a little matter of fact at this point with a fairly speedy overall tempo that is just a little unyielding in approach. This may be an over-critical reaction but if it is, it is because of the comparison with the wonderful intensity of the other movements, particularly the Adagio.
Despite this (slight) criticism I believe that this is a disc full of delightful insights from Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra and that this disc will provide great satisfaction. Recommended.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Must-Buy Mahler's 4th, 23 Nov 2008
I've listened to most of great recordings of Mahler's 4th symphony including Walter, Kubelik, Klemperer/Schwarzkopf, Horenstein/Price, Karajan, Solti, Levine, Maazel/Battle, Haitink/Ameling, Abbado, Chailly, Levi and so on, but this sublimely vivid account by Reiner/Della Casa comes on top of my list for its other-worldly beauty, emotional depth and incredibly rich orchestral colour. This is definitely must-buy for any serious collecters, alongside another great Mahler recording by Reiner - Mahler: The Song of the Earth [Hybrid SACD].
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A superb Fourth from Fischer, 30 Oct 2009
First of all, the technical quality of this recording is first-class. Every nuance of Mahler's delightful score can be heard, without undue emphasis to any of it. Just listen to the accompaniment to "Death's Fiddle" in the second movement, or the gurgling trio sections! The Fourth is basically a chamber symphony, with very few really loud climaxes: there are really only two, one in the middle of the first movement and the other near the end of the third. Ivan Fischer never tries to exaggerate any of the dynamics but just presents the music simply, as Mahler might have wished. That does not mean there is a lack of emotion, on the contrary, this is a very moving performance. Miah Persson seems well-cast as the child-like soprano in the last movement, which I too have always found a bit of an anticlimax after what has gone before. (But maybe Heaven is...) Fischer maintains the tension even in the slowest part at the beginning of the third movement, which is more "molto" than "poco" adagio here.
Klemperer's version is still my favourite, but this must come next.
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