Search - Gustav Mahler, Bernard Haitink, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mahler Symphony No. 3

Highly underrated?

Arnout Koeneman | the netherlands | 05/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"or maybe justfully?

There are too many great Mahler 3 recordings so maybe that's the reason this one is overlooked.



I often get the impression that people listen with a pre-judged notion to Haitinks Berlin cycle.

"The Berliner sound doesn't suit Mahler well"

Is this a fact? How many people actually listened to this recording?



This is a very powerful reading.

Great playing and good sound.

Maybe a bit too polished and weighted, like Haitinks Berlin M2 (which I gave a very favourable review - it is however no longer my favorite).

It is true that the Berlin sound can be too much of a good thing, the polish or lack of an edge and lack of a personal color can get dull in the long run.

Never play more than one Berlin Mahler in a week...there are certainly better performances by Haitink himself (KCO and KCO live), Bernstein (Sony) and Kubelik (Audite).



But this still is a very good performance, the reason I write this quasi-review is because I hadn't played the Berlin recordings for years and was in the impression that I didn't like them anymore...was I wrong."