Britten and Mahler!
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/21/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One can only be grateful to the company BBC Legends for releasing CDs such as this one of Sir Benjamin Britten conducting Gustav Mahler. Britten was known to be particularly fond of the Mahler 4th (actually he reveled in all the complexities of orchestration Mahler created) and so this live performance with the London Symphony Orchestra and Joan Carlyle as the fourth movement soprano soloist is especially meaningful. Britten favors fast tempi and at times one feels the piece will escape his control, but then he surprises us with very romantic rallentandoes and paused phrasing that never repeat but always mutate to the next transformation. It is very effective. Carlyle sings with clarity and precise enunciation of the text but not with the glee that others (like Elly Ameling who is also on this disc) offer.
The generous CD includes 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' with Anna Reynolds as the noble if stodgy soloist and excerpts from 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn' as sensitively and affectingly sculpted by Elly Ameling. For these latter two performances Britten conducts the English Chamber Orchestra. Britten's appreciation for Mahler's songs is obvious in the way he cradles the soloists in just the right grounding and support - never overwhelming, always considerate.
Britten's approach to the 4th Symphony may just be carried on by another young British conductor - Jonathan Nott, Director of the Bamberg Symphony. His recent performance of the Mahler 4th with the Los Angeles Philharmonic shows similar if not identical visions. He is definitely a conductor to watch.
For lovers of both Mahler and Britten, this is a CD that should be in the library. Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05"
Revelatory performance of one composer by another
Klingsor Tristan | Suffolk | 08/23/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The wonderful treasure-trove of recordings now appearing on this label has produced few things more exciting than this. Britten was a lifelong devotee of Mahler. Long before the latter became popular, he made his own arrangement of the 'What the Flowers Tell Me' movement from the Third Symphony. And if you want evidence of the fruitful influences at work, just compare the Storm Interlude from Peter Grimes with the second movement of the Fifth Symphony.
So it is absolutely fascinating to have the one composer's interpretive view of the other's Fourth Symphony. Britten was no amateur conductor, even though nerves often made him physically sick before a performance. Whenever he conducted other composers' works, his performances were never less than elucidating, and often revelatory. So it is here. Tempi are always judiciously chosen. The Slow Movement, for example, always keeps moving where some conductors seem to grind to a halt; the textures are kept clear so that contrapuntal lines make sense; and the whole movement is so well paced that, when the vision of a child's heaven finally bursts through, the moment is truly cathartic. Joan Carlyle sings the final movement beautifully without any affected child impersonations. And, at the end, the whole symphony gently rocks to a close in a way that reminds me of the end of Britten's own Sinfonia da Requiem.
The fill-ups of Mahler songs with Anna Reynolds and the lovely Elly Ameling show the skills of a master songwriter as accompanist. All in all, an enthralling and revelatory disc.
"
A great composer-conductor far out at sea
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/27/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"From the 30s onward, Britten loved Mahler -- he wrote in a letter that hearing Das Lied von der ERde made life worth living -- and in 1961 he took a shot at conducting Mahler's most poular symphony. The first thing one notes about Britten's interpretatiion of the Fourth is the much too fast tempo in the first movement, barely leavened by a few ritards here and there, but that's hardly the worst of it. Britten and his fairly tidy orchestra (the LSO, playing in a resonant Oxford church) are simply at sea. The essential pulse of the music is lost because Britten insists on a strict, unyielding beat. This live performance must have been fun for the audience, and it's a real curiosity, but sometimes even a great conductor goes into territory that is too unfamiliar, and that's the case here. I fidgeted from start to finish and was glad when the end arrived."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1