Search - Gustav Mahler, Daniel Harding, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mahler 10

Ahh, the Vienna.....

Ryan Kouroukis | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 09/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to agree with everything that the previous reviewer stated. My only thing is that I would have liked the Timpani that starts the last movement to thunder and not be so distant.



So here are my praises:



- The most Emotionally wrought reading bar none so far!



- The most Beautiful played by Any and All standards!



- The most Lavish sounding recording, makes you almost see the players!



- The most Convincing performance musically speaking, makes you think that this was completely written by Mahler and not taken from his sketches!



There's no wonder that the Vienna Philharmonic is the perfect orchestra for this work!"

Not my very favorite, but still very, very good

B. Guerrero | 11/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK, other reviewers have gone on and on about the Vienna factor. What I think is remarkable, is how UNLIKE this sounds like the day-to-day VPO in Mahler. Their response is far sharper; more rhythmic; more fleet than usual - particularly in the middle three movements. Compare this to the marmoreal sounding Maazel performances - not to mention the Abbado/VPO M9/M10 Adagio - and you'll hear a world of difference! Another big difference is in the sound quality.



Most recordings made in Vienna's shoe-box shaped Musikverein, have come from live sources. This must be a studio recording. This is the first recording of a major work played by the VPO that can begin to approach the sonic results that they regularly used to get, "back in the day", at the old Sofiensaal (eventually burnt down). Sonically speaking, this is far better than what you hear on either the Kaplan or Boulez Mahler "Resurrection" recordings, for example. Point is, the sound is excellent.



Here's another "Vienna factor": the 10th - especially in the Cooke edition - has always sounded a bit too thin, or too "nude" in the bass. The Musikverein, on the other hand, has always been generous to the lower end of the audio spectrum, and the Viennese double basses and celli are among the best anywhere. As a result, and as mentioned previously, the Vienna Phil. make the Cooke version (Goldschmidt, really) sound more filled out; more natural; more complete.



All this said, there are performances I like better for tempo relationships. The two outer movements aren't nearly so slack sounding on the recent Noseda/BBC Phil. M10 (Chandos), while their "Purgatorio" (middle movement) doesn't sound quite so rushed either. Still, the Viennese strings can sustain excess slack in the outer movements better than most. Personally, I prefer that the first movement go much quicker when doing the entire 10th (as opposed to playing the Adagio by itself). Harding stretches the first movement well beyond 25 minutes, while Ormandy is 15 seconds shy of 22 minutes. But it's hard to argue with the results the Vienna strings get in the last movement, even if I prefer a less gossamer approach to Mahler's final reach back towards young, idealistic love (let's call it a "reach", and not just a glance).



Kudos on three other important points as well:



First, like Rattle, Harding links the last movements with just a single drum stroke, not two.



Second, also like Rattle, Harding takes everything from the second scherzo's (4th movement) final expressionistic outburst, to the beginning of the fifth movement, quite slowly. This lends a very Shostakovich like atmosphere to the final two minutes of the fourth movement.



Third, and not least, Harding doesn't blow you out of the room with his solo bass drum shots; the "muted" drum sensibly played on a bass drum (pleeeeaze, no more tenor drums, tom-toms, bongos, etc.). Combined with an excellent solo tuba, as well as sound quality that can pick up all the soft tam-tam strokes, you'd be very hard pressed to find a more effective or atmospheric sounding start to the finale. That alone counts for plenty."

Long breathed, flowing and intense ...

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 05/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mahler 10 is one of my favorite symphonies, not just because it is 'beautiful music', but especially because it is so very different from anything Mahler ever created, I think. First of all I am drawn to this symphony (can one really 'love' this music?) because of the weird and wonderful, sometimes horrific, soundworld it inhibits - with its nervous unease but also desperate longing - and the dangerous flirtings with atonality and its bone chilling emotional implications: with Mahler, the atonal episodes (often forte or fortissimo) in his music surely stand for (sometimes utter) fear and despair ... Yes, this is music about loss and fear of death, but also it is music about the deepest possible passion for life and love!



If I may be allowed to compare this recording with one of my favorite recordings of this symphony, namely the one by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) under Sir Simon Rattle. This performance by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) under Daniel Harding is long breathed and flowing (at about the same playing times for all movements, compared to Rattle). The playing in the recording with the BPO under Rattle is more sharply accentuated, which has an emotonally jarring effect (which is indeed very appropriate, IMHO). The climaxes on this VPO recording are more gradually built up but at the same time powerful. The whole recording is characterized by a deep sense of coherence and 'flow' - a 'warmer', more enveloping sound too (an objective statement, because the somewhat more 'jittery' playing and the more directly recorded instruments - accentuating their individual timbres - on the BPO/Rattle recording is an utter success, to my ears). While Daniel Harding paints the aural canvas with a grand chiaroscuro tableau, Simon Rattle could be said to more accentuate the jarringly modernist or expressionist aspects of Mahler's Tenth Symphony.

Luckily, like Rattle, Daniel Harding uses only one stroke on the muffled bass drum to end movement IV, from which the uneasy, grimm beginnings of the Finale can start off without further ado. And luckily, the drum-stroke is not fortissimo for 'dramatic effect', but forte (or is it piano?), so as not to contast too much with the dull and dark beginnings of the Finale. We don't have to overstate the case here: we are in a certain 'death' mood at the very beginning already, so we don't have to hammer it down with the bass drum too, I think. From this 'death' mood, the music slowly climbs out of the horror, while along the way reliving all the experiences we have come across earlier in the course of the symphony, the music of longing and love gaining the upper hand and ending the symphony not just in a sigh of longing but in a final shout of love to the world (and Alma) ...

Some reviewers have stated that this performance, with its flowing legato playing, gives it an extra sense of coherency that belies the sketchy origin of the notes. But I myself believe that both recordings - by Harding as well as Rattle - are convincing creations of this music. My personal favorite remains the BPO/Rattle, but this recording is a masterful and eloquent addition to the ever growing Mahler 10 discography. If you love Mahler's Tenth Symphony, then you should at least sample this recording. Highly recommended."