Gustav MAHLER
Symphony No.10 in F sharp minor
(Performing version by Deryck
Cooke)
Radio-Symphonie-Orchester,
Berlin
Conducted by Riccardo
Chailly
Decca 466 955-2
[78.45]
Crotchet
£12.50
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This 1986 Berlin recording of the Deryck Cooke version of Mahler's Tenth
was made at the outset of Chailly's international career and now re-appears
on a single disc which must mean Chailly will not re-record it to go with
his continuing Mahler cycle with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The Berlin
Radio Symphony Orchestra need fear no comparison with their more famous Dutch
colleagues, however. They give Chailly playing of authority, refinement and
security. Their strings don't have the last ounce of expressive power that
their Berlin Philharmonic colleagues have for Simon Rattle but they are more
closely recorded and that pays its own dividends. In fact I think in terms
of recorded sound this is the finest Mahler Tenth currently before us. There
is richness married to detail in realistic perspective, never more so than
in the first movement where Chailly's intense, polished interpretation sounds
glorious in the full-out passages but suitably restrained in the more intimate
ones. The woodwinds' contributions, both solo and ensemble, are perhaps too
cultured to tell in the poisonous utterances of Mahler's late sound
palette, however. It's a close-run thing and only becomes an issue if you
compare this with Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI or Sanderling
and the Berlin Symphony on Berlin Classics to name but two. (Is there something
about Berlin and Mahler's Tenth, I wonder?) Chailly's delivery of the frightening
outburst at the emotional core of the movement carries all the power you
could want, as it also does at its reappearance in the last movement where
it's delivered exactly as Deryck Cooke demands without the extra percussion
Rattle and Sanderling see fit to add.
The difficult rhythmic "gait" of the second movement is negotiated well by
Chailly and his orchestra but without the last ounce of latent conflict beneath
what is, on the surface at least, one of Mahler's more joyous Scherzos. As
always in Mahler Chailly's impressive veneer has its downside though there
will be many people who find his approach thoroughly persuasive. Again the
Decca recording is exemplary here in making every line beautifully clear,
not least in the closing pages of the movement.
I did think the short, crucially important, "Purgatorio" third movement sags
a little under Chailly and could do with a quicker tempo. Here it's not really
the insidious little personal "Inferno" that Mahler surely meant. However,
Chailly and the orchestra negotiate the tough challenges of the fourth movement
superbly. They don't show quite the "do or die" impetuosity you find in Rattle's
recent "live" Berlin Philharmonic recording, testing and probing this music
and its twentieth century implications, most especially the conflict that
can be obtained by pitching demonic scherzo against happy waltz which Rattle
exploits to the full. Neither does Chailly seem to be as aware, as I think
he should be, of the quote earlier in the movement from the first movement
of "Das Lied Von Der Erde". Indicative, perhaps, of his relative inexperience
in 1986? But the view of the movement is valid in being more classically
framed and poised than some others and I enjoyed it a lot. Though I think
the descent into the darkness at the close really needs to be more crepuscular
than this. This latter point means that the opening of the last movement
doesn't plumb the depths like Rattle or Sanderling or Wyn Morris in his
long-deleted Phillips recording. However, Chailly redeems himself in a stunning
realisation of the passage between the lovely flute solo and the return of
the bass drum thwacks that are delivered with just the right amount of weight
but without battering us into submission. Nobility is maintained to the end
rounding off this fine recording in a very satisfying calm.
In terms of recorded sound this is the best Mahler/Cooke Tenth currently
available. As an interpretation it is imbued with polish, nobility and integrity.
Rattle and Sanderling penetrate deeper but Chailly has much to admire.
Reviewer
Tony Duggan
Performance:
Sound:
See
also Tony Duggan's comparative review
of Mahler recordings
