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             


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

REVIEW


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

 

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony No.2 Resurrection (1894) [85:11]
Alice Coote (mezzo); Natalie Dessay (soprano)
Orfeón Donostiarra
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi
rec. Alte Oper, Frankfurt, 6-8 May 2009. DDD
VIRGIN CLASSICS 6945860 [23:17 + 61:54]

Experience Classicsonline



Some months ago I reviewed a disc of music by Mahler from this same conductor and orchestra. Their programme included ‘Totenfeier’, the original version of the first movement of Mahler’s Second Symphony. I’m afraid I was rather underwhelmed by the performance and, indeed, by the whole disc but even so I was interested to see what Paavo Järvi would make of the complete symphony.

The first movement gets off to a good, solid start. However, when Mahler eases into a slower, more reflective episode (2:34 - 3:35) Järvi adopts a dangerously expansive tempo and the same happens in a more extended similar episode a little later on (6:12–9:30). In fairness, this is entirely consistent with his approach to the same stretches of the ‘Totenfeier’ movement, so one shouldn’t be surprised. However, as was the case on the earlier disc, I think he sacrifices too much tension in these passages. Much of the movement is perfectly satisfactory but these passages are just too much of a good thing, I think. In the last analysis I didn’t feel stirred by this reading of Mahler’s massive funeral march.

At the very start of II the little agogic distortions that Mahler writes into the score are, perhaps, observed a little too fully by the conductor but overall Järvi’s treatment of this movement is a success. He obtains some nice delicate playing from the orchestra and I enjoyed the reading, even if there were a few occasions when I felt he was just a bit too inclined to stress small expressive points little excessively. There are more instances of deft playing in III and the thunderous premonition of the finale (7:52 - 8:28) is suitably shattering. Alice Coote makes a predictably fine showing in ‘Urlicht’, offering well-focused and expressive singing. She’s well supported by Järvi.

The massive finale is proficiently played. However, as with the first movement, I didn’t feel as stirred by the music as I would expect to be – and as other conductors have achieved in my experience. Mahlerians such as Simon Rattle (his Birmingham recording) or Otto Klemperer offer so much more and dig so much deeper into the drama, I feel. As I’m unsure if this Järvi recording is a studio one or made live – there’s no audience noise that I could hear - I’ve deliberately refrained from comparisons with a live recording such as the extraordinary, visionary Tennstedt traversal (review) because there one is in an entirely different league emotionally.

Even though Järvi’s account of the finale doesn’t really grip me there’s much to admire in the playing. The percussion section, powerfully reported by the engineers, play incisively and the brass are excellent. At the grosse Appell the solo flute sounds really bird-like. I’m not quite sure why a choir was brought all the way from Spain to Frankfurt to take part in this recording but the members of Orfeón Donostiarra justify their involvement with some very good singing. Their first entry (20:32) is hushed almost to the point of inaudibility and as the final stretch of the finale unfolds they demonstrate their worth at all volume levels. When the choir and soloists sing ‘Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du’ at full volume (32:50) the Spanish singers – the tenors especially – really go for it. In the vocal part of the finale Alice Coote acquits herself very well once more. She’s joined by Natalie Dessay. This isn’t repertoire with which I’d normally associate this singer but she makes a good contribution. The final pages are impressive, with the organ a telling presence: some may feel, however, that the bells are a little reminiscent of Boris Godounov.

This recording of Mahler’s Second has much to commend it. The quality of the singing and playing is high and the recorded sound is good. However, I don’t think that Paavo Järvi’s vision of the score is sufficiently compelling to raise this performance from being a decent one to a distinguished one. The Resurrection Symphony is a hugely theatrical work and it should thrill and move the listener; this performance doesn’t achieve that. There are umpteen versions of this symphony in the catalogue. Tony Duggan has evaluated several in his survey of recordings of the Mahler symphonies and, from personal experience, I’d endorse his enthusiasm for several of the versions he mentions. Furthermore, we can probably expect more versions of this symphony as 2011 unfolds and the centenary of Mahler’s death is marked – new ‘live’ recordings from Mariss Jansons in Amsterdam and from Rattle in Berlin are just being issued right now and I’m eager to hear both. I’m afraid that, despite its merits, this Järvi version can’t match several recordings that delve deeper into the music and produce a more compelling experience for the listener.

John Quinn

See also reviews by Gavin Dixon and Nick Barnard

Masterworks Index - Mahler’s Second Symphony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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






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.