I’ve heard one or two discs by Simone Young and her Hamburg
orchestra before and I’ve been impressed. Those were of
Bruckner symphonies - the Second (review)
and the Fourth (review)
- but I’ve not previously heard her in Mahler (my colleague
Dan Morgan was very impressed with her Resurrection symphony
- see review).
I was a little surprised to fine Oehms issuing this set when
they’re in the middle of a complete cycle of the symphonies
with Markus Stenz but then I saw that the recording was made
over five years ago. I wonder why such a fine performance has
been ‘in the can’ for so long.
Over the years there has been quite a debate about the ordering
of the middle two movements of this symphony. Most, though not
all, performances I’ve heard have placed the scherzo second
but Simone Young is one of those who plays that movement after
the Andante moderato. In so doing she follows the ordering
which, it seems, Mahler himself came to prefer; even though
he originally intended the scherzo to come second he changed
his mind prior to giving the first performance, at which he
placed the slow movement second. This is not the time or place
to go into this question; the arguments are rehearsed by Tony
Duggan in his survey
of recordings of the work. Like Tony I prefer to hear the scherzo
second but I recognise and respect the views of those who think
to the contrary and, as Tony said, it has to be left to each
conductor to make the choice.
The recording is from concert performances, though there’s
no audience noise - would that British audiences were so silent!
- and there’s no applause at the end. The performance
gripped - and held - my attention from the outset. I like Simone
Young’s basic tempo in I: it’s expertly judged and
neither too fast nor too slow. That of itself makes an immediately
favourable impression. The orchestra makes a good sound, which
is well reported by the engineers. The exposition repeat is
taken, as most conductors do nowadays, and the performance is
characterised by good energy and rhythmic definition. There’s
one small thing that puzzles me. At 12:08, just before the cowbells
interlude, the violins seem to drop out of the picture momentarily.
It’s over and gone in a second and I wonder if something
went slightly awry in the editing. The nostalgic cowbells passage
that follows is very atmospheric, though perhaps taken just
a fraction too slowly. However, the relaxed pacing gives us
the chance to admire some excellent solo woodwind work. The
principal horn also excels hereabouts and in many other solo
passages during the work. Indeed, the whole horn section, so
crucial in this symphony, is on tip-top form throughout. After
this dreamy passage, when the tempo picks up again (15:47) the
music fairly bounds along and from here until the end the performance
is thrusting and dramatic.
The Andante moderato is beautifully sung. The passages
of lyrical nostalgia come over very well but later on so, too,
do the moments of ardour. The playing is excellent; the string
tone is consistently pleasing and there is much fine woodwind
work. I find Simone Young’s way with this movement very
persuasive: there’s lots of gentle calm but when the temperature
of the music rises (for example from 11:56) she brings out the
passion - and the insecurity? - that Mahler put into those pages.
She invests the scherzo with just the right amount of weight;
sufficient to bring out the dark side of the music but not so
much as to compromise the sparkiness of the sardonic side of
things. As in the first movement, there’s excellent rhythmic
definition and good use is made of accents to characterise the
music. One advantage of hearing the scherzo third is that as
it reaches its end the music dissolves into fragments and eventually
stutters to a halt in the depths. Thus it bridges to the sepulchral
stirrings at the start of the finale.
In this last, massive movement Simone Young may not quite plumb
the emotional depths that, say, Klaus Tennstedt explores (review)
but, then, his reading is wholly exceptional and may not be
to all tastes. As it is, I think Ms. Young hands the enormous
span of this movement very well indeed. Her tempi are well judged
and she inspires the orchestra to play with huge commitment
- and precision. The brass, in particular, seem tireless in
the face of Mahler’s huge demands on them. The first two
hammer blows (12:01 and 17:45) are the occasion of massive climaxes,
as they should be, and the way in which the ground is prepared
for each of them is very impressive. In the four or five minutes
that lead up to the third hammer blow (27:54) the music seethes
and boils yet the conductor clearly retains tight control. Yes,
I did refer to a third hammer blow. Mahler excised that
from the score after conducting the first performance, slightly
re-orchestrating at that point. In the booklet it says that
“like other Mahler interpreters” Simone Young restores
the third blow. There’s a clear implication in that phraseology
that this is common practice but in my experience not many conductors
do include the third blow. I have no strong feelings on the
matter, though I would just observe in passing that it seems
a little inconsistent to observe Mahler’s last thoughts
in respect of the ordering of the middle movement but not to
do so in respect of this hammer blow. The coda (from 28:37)
is bleak and gaunt, bringing to an end a very convincing reading
of the finale and a very fine performance of the symphony as
a whole.
The recording reproduced very well on my equipment and seemed
to me to convey the orchestra’s sound with clarity, impact
and atmosphere. I’ve had some reservations about the recorded
sound on a couple of Oehms’ Mahler recordings for Markus
Stenz, notably those of the First (review)
and Fourth symphonies (review),
where I felt that for all the excellent clarity of the sound
there was occasionally an insufficiently realistic concert hall
perspective and the listener was placed a bit too close to the
orchestra. There are no such issues here. The sound has punch,
when required, and presence; I felt as if I had a very good
seat in the hall. Yet, interestingly, the same technical team
of producer Jens Schünemann and engineer Christian Feldgen
is responsible both for this recording and for the Stenz series.
Perhaps the Hamburg Laeiszhalle offers a more sympathetic acoustic
than the Kölner Philharmonie or perhaps the presence of
an audience, which changes the sound properties of a hall, has
made a difference.
Simone Young’s Mahler Sixth enters a crowded field - in
the booklet we learn that, according to one discography 42 recordings
of the piece were issued between 2000 and 2012, which is exactly
the same number that were issued in the thirty years following
the symphony’s first recording in 1952, which, by the
way, was made by Charles Adler. Not only is the field crowded,
but also there are some exceptionally fine recordings in the
catalogue already. It would be well-nigh impossible to nominate
a “best” and I’m not even going to try but
this Simone Young recording can stand comparison with most.
It’s a distinguished issue.
John Quinn
Masterwork Index: Mahler
6
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