Search - Gustav Mahler, Edo de Waart, Minnesota Orchestra :: Mahler: Symphony No. 1 "Titan"

Not a classic, but worth adding to your collection

S. Callahan | 06/30/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great, major-orchestra recording at a budget price. The first movement's opening doesn't give me chills like some versions do, but the orchestra begins to shine once the major key melody begins--the sound is incredibly rich and warm. The second-movement scherzo is the most lively and exciting I've heard; it alone makes this recording worth owning. At the end of the piece, where most orchestra's brass sections are hammering away at a no-holds barred fff, Minnesota's reads the dynamics and forte-pianos more literally and lets other instruments come through the texture. This is musically interesting but makes the glorious finale sound a bit sparse.



If you are only going to buy one Mahler 1 recording, make it a classic like the Chicago Symphony with Boulez, which is both engaging and flawless. If you are a Mahler lover, this recording is definitely worth adding to your collection."

Brash, ebullient Mahler from Minnesota

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe it's the presence of the North Woods, but the forest music that opens the Mahler First sounds bracing and naturally bucolic on this CD. De Waart keeps the rustic feeling alive in the thoroughly enjoyable and exciting Scherzo, which is full of punch. The parody funeral march in the third movement lacks wit, but De Waart makes the music sway with unabashed sentimentality. In the finale the strings outdo themselves in making their lines clear and precise, and although the impact of the whole orchestra isn't as volcanic as one hears from, say, Bernstein, there's plenty of charge.



True, taking such a straight-ahead approach as De Waart tends to feels a little naive given the ultra-refinement that Mahler style has reached in the past forty years. I was reminded of Bruno Walter's equally unflappable directness in his stereo version with the Columbia Sym. This Mahler First is a sleeper in the budget range and has good, clear sound to boot."