Mahler: Symphony No. 5
from: Decca
Your Price: $16.98
Prices subject to change.Average Rating: 
Sales Rank: 46284
Sales Rank: 46284
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Music : Mahler: Symphony No. 5 |
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Rating: - * A Solti performance for those who don't like the conductor ... I purchased this recording recently in part because of the favorable reviews listed here. I was not disappointed. Over the years I have been ambivalent about Solti: his interpretations of standard repertoire are often exciting, but rarely nuanced and frequently relentless. His studio account of the Mahler fifth from the '70's (also with the CSO) has always struck me as tight-fisted and unsympathetic to Mahlerian irony. This newer live performance, vividly recorded in Vienna, is undeniably thrilling. The CSO, challenged by Solti from the first note to the last, provide some stunningly virtuosic playing (and a couple of ragged moments as well). They are clearly energized by the occasion, and play as if their lives depended on it. Solti's interpretation has deepened considerably since the earlier recording; the Scherzo, particularly, is both more uplifting and more atmospheric (with Mahler's ingenious contrapuntal textures superbly clarified). The first and second movements are appropriately gripping without any hint of vulgarity. The adagietto is leisurely but not cloying (with some gorgeous playing from the CSO strings), and in the finale Solti and his band really go for broke, leaving the listener somewhat exhausted in the end--but better that than a tepid response. In sum, then, here is a Solti performance for those who have their doubts about him (or about the ability of the sometimes spiky CSO to provide sensuous allure). Solti recordings seem to be going for a song these days (both new and used--check Amazon's listings), and collectors who find this recording congenial might want to look up his Haydn London Symphony cycle (another of the conductor's better ventures), his Beethoven symphony cycle (much better than its reputation), his Schubert "Great" C Major (another thrilling, but also intelligent, performance), and his Handel *Messiah* (believe it or not, Solti did Baroque music particularly well--not for him limp rhythms and anemic textures). Perhaps it's time for a reconsideration of this much-maligned figure. Rating: - * A Wonder Fifth ... I bought the original LPs of this recording (which also included a selection from Songs of a Wayfarer, I believe) shortly after they were issued and I am always impressed by the passion of the reading. For me the recording sounds dangerous, as if the orchestra might derail; Georg Solti did like aggressive playing and this probably is a great example. There are many excellent recordings of Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony and I have had several other recordings over the years, notable among them being Bruno Walters recording from the 1940s: this recording is one that I would not part with. Unfortunately, the Walter recording has such a dry sound that I don't play it very often but the conductor takes the Adagetto at the faster speed that Mahler preferred and shaves at least two minutes off of the usual tempo taken by the majority of conductors. In this Georg Solti does not differ, and the movement is well-played with great depth of feeling. The recording has been nicely transferred for CD; the balance was very good on the LPs and is still marvelous. There is come slight distortion when the side drum is played in the great climaxes in the Scherzo, for example, but this hardly detracts from my enjoyment of the recording, and actually, for me, adds to the excitement. This recording is one to hear. Rating: - * Solti's live remake of the Mahler Fifth is one of his best ... Solti took the Mahler Fifth on the road with the Chicago Sym. for two decades--I heard them in Boston in the early Seventies and was flabbergasted at the orchestra's virtuosity. It was a thrilling show, and here we have it from Vienna in 1990. Solti is rarely given credit for growth. It's always assumed that he will press fiercely ahead, drive the tempo, and choose blatant showmanship over depth and emotion. But by 1990 he was no longer revving his engines at supersonic speed, and although an intense and fast-paced reading, this live concert Fifth keeps its thrills going while also letting us hear Mahler's score. (P.S.--Having heard both Solti and Barenboim live in the Fifth, I much prefer Solti.) Solti's studio effort from 1970 has been scorned by Amazon reviewers for its garish spotlit sonics, and I agree. But here we get detailed, natural digital sound of very high quality. The brass are still prominent, but that was the CSO style under Solti. Anyway, the brass parts tend to lead the way in Mahler's score, so this is an appropriate vehicle for them--and they know it. The execution here by all the winds is stupendous. I find no exceses in the first three movements, but in the Adagietto there is some controversy. The Gramophone reviewer feels that Solti reverses course and ladles on sentiment after giving us none up until this point. First of all, at 9:42 min., the reading is not slow or soupy. To my ears Solti shapes the melodic line much more than before, but this lovely song calls for it, and I can't fault him for finding a heartfelt reprieve from all the banrstorming. The finale reverts back to Solti's usual extroverted style, but again, it's nowhere near as driven as you might assume. Overall I would rate this an excellent recording, wonderfully played and recorded. In addition, it's far more accurate than either Bernstein reading and has more inner life than the recent version from Berlin under Simon Rattle (EMI). Solti ended his Mahler recording career with a winner. Rating: - * Wonderful music ... This recording of Mahler 5 is one of the best I have ever heard. The intesity from beginnig to end is one of the most impressive parts about this performace. The other is the CSO brass section. Being a brass player myself, there is no comparison. Its a thrill to hear the principal trumpet and horn players (Adolph Herseth and Dale Clevenger) play the pants off their parts. The rest of the CSO plays with their typical flair and power, with the dark strings adding a lot to the atmosphere of the Trauermarch. The only downside to this disc is the Adagietto. This movement sounds forced and not as heartfelt as some of the other great recordings. It also takes away from the overall drive of the symphony, which is promptly resumed during the rondo-finale. Overall, I would recomend this disc to every brass player and put it right up there with Bernstein's classic and Abbado's live performance with Berlin. Rating: - * No need to hesitate ... While we all know too well how Bernstein's interpretation is considered definitive, and most of us have been "brought up" on it, I would have been just as happy to have first experienced Mahler's Fifth through this live Solti recording. If nothing else, I can seriously contend that Solti brings more life into the fifth movement than Bernstein did. That rollicking, effortless upward ascent, which Mahler apparently intends to be as breezy and exhilarating as a Tiepolo ceiling, really comes through here in a way that makes Bernstein's interpretation feel cold. That's a terribly important thing too, for without that sense of warmth and movement the Fifth Symphony can come across as somehow less transcendental than its siblings. Each Mahler symphony is its own unique world, of course, but the Fifth's climax (which Romain Rolland considered, at the time, the most successful piece of music Mahler had created thus far-- though of course Rolland wasn't exactly a Mahlerian!) should feel as vigorous and lyrical as "Prometheus Unbound" Act Four-- and here it does. Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are, in fact, stellar throughout. Beautiful. |
The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency."
The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat battle-scarred, and this, as much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies," is a part of American history. When the California of their dreams proves to be less than edenic, Ma tells Tom: "You got to have patience. Why, Tom--us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people--we go on." It's almost as if she's talking about the very novel she inhabits, for Steinbeck's characters, more than most literary creations, do go on. They continue, now as much as ever, to illuminate and humanize an era for generations of readers who, thankfully, have no experiential point of reference for understanding the depression. The book's final, haunting image of Rose of Sharon--Rosasharn, as they call her--the eldest Joad daughter, forcing the milk intended for her stillborn baby onto a starving stranger, is a lesson on the grandest scale. "'You got to,'" she says, simply. And so do we all. --Melanie Rehak
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