MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively AmazonUK AmazonUS


Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (1909) [79:42]
BBC Philharmonic/Kurt Sanderling
rec. BBC Studio 7, Manchester, 17 July 1982. ADD
BBC LEGENDS BBCL42322 [79:42] 

Experience Classicsonline


The great German conductor, Kurt Sanderling (b.1912) retired from conducting in 2002. Among his many admirers is Sir Simon Rattle so it’s quite interesting that this live Sanderling recording of Mahler’s last fully completed symphony should appear almost contemporaneously with Rattle’s superb new account (see review).

I had assumed that this was the first time this recording had been issued, although I was aware that Sanderling had made two commercial recordings of the work, one in the late 1970s with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and one for Erato in the early 1990s with the Philharmonia. It was only after I’d finished listening to it and I searched the web for catalogue details of those performances that I discovered that this present traversal has been available before, on the old BBC Radio Classics label. Moreover, in that original incarnation it was praised by my colleague, Tony Duggan, in his survey of recordings of the Ninth. I have not heard the aforementioned Philharmonia performance, which is now deleted, but I see from his review that Tony admired that recording less than this one with the BBC Philharmonic. I was very pleased to find that Tony felt as enthusiastic about this current version as I do though we find different things in the performance.

Those who prefer an emotionally charged approach to this work – and it’s a valid way to look at it – will probably be lukewarm about this performance. At first hearing it sounds sober, even detached. But Mahler’s Ninth is a profound work of art and it reveals itself in many ways. For me, this Sanderling reading is objective, noble and patient and, above all, it’s a reading of great integrity. That’s a combination of qualities that brings its own rewards in this work. In some ways, and especially in its integrity and determination to let the music speak for itself, it reminds me of Giulini’s fine, patrician reading with the Chicago Symphony on DG (see review).

The huge and complex first movement begins gently, almost tentatively. Is it my imagination or has Sanderling encouraged a hint of East European timbre in the little horn motif ? (0:17) In the first couple of minutes the music has a singing, bitter-sweet feel that I find very attractive. From 2:03, however, there’s much more ardour yet the first big climax (2:54) sounds noble rather than angst-laden.

One feature of this movement, and indeed of the whole performance, is that Sanderling and the BBC engineers achieve excellent balance within the orchestra. The string lines are accorded their rightful position in the sound spectrum and the brass and woodwind sections come over clearly without excessive dominance. The percussion section is nicely balanced – listen out for the tam-tam. The horns are given a fair, but not excessive, degree of prominence but that’s abundantly justified both by Mahler’s writing and by the splendid playing of the BBC Phil’s horn section. Some may feel that the harp is a bit too forward in the balance during the first movement but the instrument is a crucial element in the scoring of this movement and I’m delighted to hear it register so well.

As the first movement unfolds Sanderling never wears his heart on his sleeve but I don’t feel he short changes the listener. The emotion is kept in perspective in a thoroughly musical reading. In a word, the performance is controlled. When the big moments arrive Sanderling and his players have ample power but it’s the more subtly scored pages that really catch my ear, especially since the BBC Phil members are playing out of their skins for their distinguished guest conductor. When we reach the coda (23:07) the mood is wistfully nostalgic as a very thoughtful and satisfying account of this towering movement comes to a close.

There’s a good lift to the rhythms at the start of the second movement, which Sanderling takes at a relatively brisk basic tempo. At times the music sounds quite genial and the true mood of a ländler is well conveyed. Sanderling seems to relish Mahler’s sardonic wit yet, once again, he refuses to overplay his hand. In his hands the movement functions as a kind of interlude after the weightier matters of the preceding movement and I welcome this.

The Rondo-Burleske has genuine bite and snarl as it opens. The music is taken at a fairly measured pace and this gives it proper weight. The BBC wind and brass sections excel. At 6:20 the nostalgic passage that prefigures the finale features a shining trumpet solo. Sanderling doesn’t milk these pages as some conductors do and he’s convincing, presenting the music in a straightforward manner. That means, for example, that when the perky little interjections by the clarinet start to take us back to the Rondo itself (8:45) those little figures sound more than ever like Till Eulenspiegel thumbing his nose at us. The final fling of the Rondo material is suitably exciting but as ever Sanderling keeps a firm hand on the tiller.

And so to the finale. By now one is not surprised to find the conductor taking a measured view and employing a degree of restraint. That said, there’s no coolness in the opening paragraphs, where the strings play marvellously for him. Sanderling seems to see the music in long spans and the music making, while controlled, has a fine sense of line and is not lacking in intensity – but the intensity is properly channelled. The climax (14:52) is magnificent and all the more powerful because Sanderling hasn’t peaked too soon. In the passage immediately following that climax the horns, splendid throughout the whole performance, ring out ripely. The last four or five minutes of music have a wonderful air of dignified resignation. As the last few pages unfold, with the music dying away on an ever-thinning thread of sound I wondered if the BBC Philharmonic string players have ever played so quietly or with such concentration.

This is a performance of great integrity and musicality. I don’t think Sanderling ever conducted more than a handful of Mahler works but this recording suggests very powerfully that he was totally at home with the idiom. A reading such as this can only have been the result of extensive study of the score and reflection about the music. I’m glad to find that he doesn’t seek to ring out the last drop of “meaning” or emotion from the symphony. When I want that approach there are other conductors to whom I can turn but Sanderling is very satisfying. His direct and unpretentious way with the score presents the music without frills and, especially, without an undue imposition of his own personality – though that’s not to say that the reading lacks character, for it doesn’t.

It only remains to say that the BBC Philharmonic plays splendidly for Sanderling, as you may have gathered already from my comments. Furthermore, the analogue recording is excellent, being both full and clear.

At the last count I had sixteen other recordings of the Mahler Ninth in my collection. But as it’s one of the supreme symphonic achievements of the last century one can always learn something new about it so exposure to it through a variety of recordings and live performances is important. This Sanderling performance is a most honourable addition to my collection. It’s a fine achievement and I’m delighted to see it restored to general circulation.

John Quinn


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.