Search - Alexander von Zemlinsky, Gustav Mahler, Riccardo Chailly :: Mahler: Symphony No. 6; Zemlinsky: 6 Maeterlink-Lieder

Super-human battle against Fate ...

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 02/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As for the recording quality itself, it is, I think, immaculate as far as this format (Stereo CD) goes: fairly directly recorded with a broad sound-picture capturing the highs and lows very naturally, and a beautifully grand hall-acoustics with a nice amount of reverberation (the recording venue being the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw, so that in itself is almost guarantee for succes).

Chailly's way with Mahler is, to my view, a rather analyst one - which is alright to me - trying to dig deep into the underlying urges, inhibitions and emotions (for as far as those could be known, of course) and trying to lay them bare and enhance them through the magnifying glass of some kind of deep-probing 'psycho-analysis'. The other Mahler symphonies by the same orchestra under the same conductor to my feeling have that same, deeply probing, analytical quality.

With Chailly, Mahler's symphonies acquire an aura of deliberate thoughtfulness. As with his recording of the First Symphony, this recording by Ricardo Chailly and the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest IMHO delves deeper into the 'soul' of Mahler. Here I would like to repeat much of what I have said elsewhere, namely that if this recording somehow feels (emotionally) 'controlled' (also maybe the result of the often deliberate or even slow speeds), it is to my idea the result of Chailly trying to get to the soul of Mahler, which is essentially self-analytical and melancholic. This performance is not so much 'too controlled' as deeply analytical. All of Mahler's symphonies can be seen as a way of Mahler trying to get to grips with himself and the world (and cosmos) of which he is a part. This idea can be used as a tool to try to understand the way in which Chailly is interpreting Mahler's music. Together with many other of his recordings of Mahler's symphonies - especially the First, Fifth and Ninth Symphonies - which under Chailly also have come out as deeply analytical, rich character studies - this must (certainly to my taste) be rated among the very best Mahler Sixths ever recorded.

The added 'bonus' of the Zemlinsky Maeterlink songs is just excellent. To my ears, the voice of Jard van Nes (with what I would like to describe as a slightly 'metallic' timbre) suits these late-romantic pieces wonderfully well, and the orchestral playing is appropriately sumptuous. For a quite different, but equally gorgeous and highly satisfying rendering of these songs, I would like to suggest the wonderful recording by Anne Sofie von Otter with Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Deutsche Grammophon (together with Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen & 5 Rueckertlieder, by the way - a magnificent album, this!!!)."