I found this Harmonia
Mundi version of Mahler’s glorious Eighth
Symphony with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin impressive,
yet at the same time a bit of a mixed
bag.
Although it is immediately
clear that the singing and playing are
of the highest standards, I did not,
on the whole, feel that Part I was spacious
enough – it is somehow too crowded,
and lacks definition as one monumental,
heavy, monophonic sound where the individual
lines are not allow to sing out enough.
That said, it does have some truly glorious
moments. Part II is a complete contrast,
as Nagano takes it at an extraordinarily
slow pace – so it is far less frenetic
and cramped and more leisurely and expansive
than Part I. Although this rather changes
the nature of the symphony, it seems
to me a valid enough interpretation
and although many may find Part II too
slow for their liking, I rather enjoyed
hearing the wonderful lines unfolding
in so relaxed a fashion.
The opening Veni
creator spiritus is fairly exhilarating,
but Nagano is in danger of rushing too
much. One of the first things that struck
me was that the choir sound a little
too distanced – the instruments, and
especially the brass and organ, given
their remarkably harsh and screeching
sound in this performance, tend to rather
drown out the choir.
Nagano then abruptly
slows down on reaching Imple superna
gratia, as if attempting to highlight
the tempi, taking it slower than a number
of other versions. Infirma nostril
corporis is suitably frantic and
rushing, and its return after the brief
instrumental interlude is full of intensity
- dark, and well paced. The Gloria
Patri Domino is fantastic, with
wave upon climactic wave, Nagano really
punching it out.
Part II opens - and
continues - at an extremely sedate,
slow and steady pace – 11 minutes for
the instrumental introduction to Haitink’s
8 (on Philips). Nagano also takes the
ensuing Waldung, sie schwankt heran
almost twice as slow as Haitink, too,
and has half the choir whispering rather
than singing the words "Lowen,
sie schleichen stumm, Freundlich um
uns herum", which is odd, but fairly
efficacious. The baritone Detlef Roth
sings the role of Pater Ecstaticus,
and is very dramatic and terribly operatic
in Ewiger Wonnebrand. In fact,
both Roth and (even more so), the "Doctor
Marianus" - tenor Robert Gambill
- seemed to rather think this was a
Wagner opera. I was not enamoured of
Gambill’s voice in this recording, who
is a little too enthusiastic with his
vibrato for my liking, and includes
an awfully wailing scoop on word "Gebistest"
in Ich spur’ soeben. The Pater
Profundus, however, Jan-Hendrik Rootering
(bass) is excellent, with a lovely deep,
rich and powerful voice. Bei der
Liebe features both soprano Sylvia
Greenberg as the Magna Peccatrix and
Elena Manistana (alto) as the Mulier
Samaritana – a good contrast between
Greenberg’s very sweet tone, and Manistana’s
gorgeously rich, mature and dark voice.
I was slightly disappointed with Lynne
Dawson as Una Poenitentium in Neige,
neige, du Ohnegleiche – although
she comes across as bright and powerful,
she is also a little harsh and strident.
Sally Matthews is excellent as the Mater
gloriosa in Komm! Hebe dich zu hohern
Spharen – although one can hardly
hear her at the start, the distancing
effect works well as it makes her very
ethereal. The final Alles Vergangliche
ist nur ein Gleichnis is fantastic,
with a tremendous sound from the basses
in the choir. Nagano really pulls all
the stops out here, so that one really
does feel that there are forces of a
thousand in the room!
Although the fact that
one has to change discs half way through
the symphony is a source of irritation,
this recording has been beautifully
produced, with fascinating notes covering
detailed information about the background
of the symphony, its texts, form, influences,
and so on. The sleeve notes also contain
glossy photographs of Mahler and other
relevant pictures as well as a complete
instrumentarium.
The performance itself
attempts to be monumental, and, to some
extent, achieves this. Although I felt
that the first part lacked clarity and
definition in places, it was still spectacularly
unrelenting, and the extremely slow
second part unfurled beautifully. This
is possibly not the best Mahler Eight
I’ve heard, but it’s certainly one of
the showiest – everything about it is
rather exaggerated, culminating in a
flashy and dramatic, but impressive,
performance.
Em Marshall