Search - Gustav Mahler, Lorin Maazel, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mahler: Symphony 3 / Kindertotenlieder

A gripping first movement deteriorates into plodding indiffe

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/18/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"If like me you long ago discounted Lorin Maazel on artistic grounds, his Mahler cycle from the Eighties still boasts the Vienna Phil. in top form. In addition, Agnes Baltsa has something to say in 'Kindertotenlieder,' and so this Mahler Third, in vivid digital sound, deserves a listen. (Perhaps less so if you already own a Third from Vienna under Abbado or Boulez, both on DG.)



Maazel is a technician who finds it easy to marshal large forces, and he holds together the sprawling first movement skillfully. At times the tempos dawdle, and he's not much for mystery, but in its literalist way Maazel's account holds one's attention. I was far more drawn to the expressive playing of the orchestra than to any ideas on Maazel's part, however. The unanimity of the brass playing is astonishing. In all, this movement is a high point in the cycle.



Maazel's wnt is to tread water in Mahler's graceful minuets, and he follows form in the second movement, which is quite listless. The third movement, a Wunderhorn song that soars into transcendence with its famous off-stage posthorn solo, asks for sympathy and imagination from the conductor. Maazel seems oblivious to this and gives us a cautious tiptoe through the woods, draining even the posthorn solo of atmosphere. the same dispiriting slackness holds in the fourth and fifth movements, although baltsa is enjoyable in her natural expressivity during her vocal solos.



I am making my way through all nine symphonies, but by the time the finale of the Third arrived, a dismal patern was emerging. Maazel is at his best with Mahler as titan, where the huge sweep of the music seems to stir him. but in almost every other aspect of Mahler's multidimensional world, Maazel goes slack. Either he's uninvolved or too wrapped up in spinning lovely sounds without meaning. This movement is shocking, in fact, in its plodding indifference, a crime committed against one of Maahler's most spiritually elevated Adagios. ONe last nugget of hope comes in the Kindertotenlieer, where Baltsa is once again up to the emotional and musical challenge, even if Maazel is rather distanced and at times listless.



In all, this is a maddening third, starting off with thrilling execution but gradually bleeding to death on the table as Maazel dissects the music into insignificant segments.



"