Mahler - Symphony No 5

Mahler was a restless spirit, obsessed with death, and with the quest to find a meaning to life. These characteristics pretty well describe his music, too. By the end of a Mahler symphony, the feeling is not so much that one has listened to a piece of music, but that one has completed a turbulent voyage of the imagination. Listening to Mahler can be an exhausting, consuming experience, which is why his music can be so deeply satisfying! Mahler wrote some moving song-cycles, such as Das Knabisches Wunderhorn, and the controversial Kindertotenlieder - a cycle of songs about the deaths of children, which agonisingly was to foreshadow the death of his 3-year old ...  Read the complete review

I have to be in the mood to put on a Mahler CD, not because there is any question of the value of his music, but because it is never ever 'wallpaper' music. Mahler will make you listen. His great achievements were in the fields Lieder and Symphonies, obsessions which crossed paths on one or two occasions, with voices entering his symphonies, and the writing of several orchestral song cycles. His orchestration is beyond belief. If you have ever tried to orchestrate a piece of any magnitude, and hold the listener's interest in your 'sound,' then you will be staggered by Mahler's power of invention. In particular he has a very ...  Read the complete review

Mahler's 2nd symphony "The Resurrection" This is a magnificient piece of music. I've seen it a couple of times now at the Proms and it is a real experience. Mahler, in the 2nd, sets out to describe burial and journey of a particular man on his way to heaven. He experiences various events on the way and there is a particular scene that, if you have a good hi fi and a dettached house, is worth turning up. When I first tried it I thought I was going to get trampled in the rush. I don't play my CD too often because I don't want to get used to the moving ending as the whole orchestra, choir and concert organ describe our ...  Read the complete review

This is a lovely, natural, well-paced, fresh performance with very idiomatic singing from Maria Tauberova in the final movement. The playing is vintage Czech Phil. - rustic woodwind, mellow brass and very characterful string playing. There is a problem, and that is in the recording, which is usually clear and natural, like the performance, though old (1950). Just occasionally, though, the level drops, and that affects a couple of major climaxes, which is a pity. I suspect that with a bit of judicious electronic tweaking, this could be attended to, and I hope it will if/when a reissue appears. For now, 5-star performance just a little flawed by the sound. Overall a ...  Read the complete review