The
Third Symphony is the ultimate example
of Mahler's concept of 'the symphony
as a world'. Its six movements treat
pantheistic images of Creation and Nature,
of Man and God, during a time-span of
some ninety minutes. Here the Human
Tragedy is placed in the context of
the wider world. The huge first movement
concentrates on the cosmic power of
Nature, the remaining five on other
aspects of Creation: plants, animals,
man, angels and finally God.
The
first four of Mahler's symphonies are
all closely linked with songs: the First
with the Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen
(Songs of a Wayfarer), and the Second,
Third and Fourth with the anthology
based on folk-poems gathered under the
collective title Das Knaben Wunderhorn
(Youth's Magic Horn). Therefore
these works are linked both psychologically
and spiritually; in fact the song-finale
of the Fourth Symphony, the Wunderhorn
song Das Himmlische Leben (The
Heavenly Life), was originally conceived
as the seventh and final movement of
the Third Symphony. Although
Mahler rejected this initial plan, fragments
of the song are quoted in the Third's
fifth movement, 'What the Angels
tell me'.
This
symphony is the largest and most ambitious
expansion of symphonic form since Beethoven's
Ninth, employing not simply a huge orchestra,
but a contralto soloist, boys' choir,
women's chorus and off-stage intrumentalists.
While he was working on it, Mahler wrote:
'My symphony will be something the world
has never heard before. In it, Nature
herself acquires a voice and tells secrets
so profound they are perhaps glimpsed
only in dreams.'
This
live performance from the Musikverein
in Vienna has the benefit of a truthful
recording whose perspective allows the
spirit of the occasion to be felt by
even the domestic listener. For example,
the magnificent opening with eight unison
horns makes a powerful effect but one
that has the ambience of the concert
hall acoustic. This first movement is
a huge affair across a time span of
more than half an hour. Much of it is
slow, and much is restrained in dynamic,
therefore placing a further burden upon
the recording engineers. But the results
are satisfying enough, and the Viennese
audience seldom makes its presence felt
through unwanted coughing.
Mehta
is an experienced Mahlerian and he knows
how to handle large and diverse forces.
Thus the balancing of perspectives both
in the orchestra and beyond, when offstage
effects are required, is highly successful.
What is less certain is the music’s
symphonic direction and flow. To be
fair, many performances struggle to
maintain intensity, clarity and line
during the final explosive bars of the
first movement. Best of all remains
Jascha Horenstein with the LSO on Unicorn
(and as part of the first Brilliant
Classics Mahler box). Mehta is in the
majority in allowing this great movement
to become an explosion of sound but
little more.
Another
doubt surrounds the chosen tempo in
the last movement. True, the score marks
this as Adagio, but like Lorin Maazel
(Sony) before him, Mehta is so leisurely
that he drains the music of its flow
and pulse, making it sound indulgently
slow. Moreover the charming Tempo di
Menuetto second movement adopts a really
unhurried tempo, when just a little
more momentum would have been of benefit.
Of course there is more than one way
to perform a great symphony, but there
are the subtleties that can mark a great
performance.
Marjana
Lipovsek is an excellent alto soloist
in the fourth and fifth movements. The
former, an intense setting of Nietzsche’s
‘Night Song of Zarathustra’, is particularly
powerful in its darkly expressive way.
The latter, with excellent Viennese
choral contributions, proves the perfect
foil. The offstage posthorn solo in
the third movement is admirably played
by Christian Bold, who thoroughly deserves
his special mention on the CD cover.
As
for the general production, standards
of presentation are good but editorially
there is a misconception that information
about the particular performance and
occasion outweighs all other considerations.
There are no programme notes in English
translation, and the texts are only
in German. Therefore this issue may
meet a better fate in Germany and Austria
than it does elsewhere.
Terry
Barfoot
Bavarian State Orchestra/Zubin Mehta 
