Fresh or Wrong?

 

I am not so set in my ways as to not enjoy a completely different interpretation of a work.

The trouble with Mahler is, his musical directions are usually so precise, it is hard to completely approach his symphonies anew with out disregarding the maestros wishes.

Gergiev doesn't necessarily tug and pull at Symphony no. 4, but rather he sets odd paces, sometime righting himself over time, seemingly correcting his initial choices. I don't hate anything here, rather it is whether or not I can get behind these tempo choices.

Like the 80s Solti I just surveyed, the 2nd movement is not particularly edgy or characterful, a surprise with these conductors. The LSO winds, brass, and percussion are afforded a little more tang than Chicago in general, so the playing is no problem at all.

If it seems like I am waffling, it may be due to the fact I am not so strongly attached to this particular work from Mahler. Do I dare suggest listeners try something different in this music?

A review from 2024

As others have mentioned, Mahler’s Symphony 4 is a happy-go-lucky sort of work, less intent to scare or proselytize portents in favor of charm.

 

This mood change in Mahler might seem like it would take it out of the wheelhouse of certain conductors, Valery Gergiev included. But, it isn’t the mood which surprises under Gergiev’s baton.

 

The tempos, however, are. The whirlwind which erupts in the third movement is perhaps the conductor’s biggest surprise, yet I have always seen this rather lengthy portion as rather dancelike. Maybe not this much however, and perhaps not quite with this level of bombast in the timpani either.

 

I don’t mind the playing of the LSO nor the singing of soprano Laura Claycomb. The SACD sound required some cranking of the volume to get a decent presence of the orchestra.

Gergiev gives the work a different view, that is for sure, some might even say a wrong view. I am more open-minded, but remain uncertain.

 

 Listen on YouTube

 

Works
Symphony 4

  I. 16.08
 II. 9.52
III. 18.50
IV. 9.59

Performers
Laura Claycomb, soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Georg Solti, conductor

Label: LSO
Year: 2010
Total Timing: 54.48

 

 

 

 
If you like the sort of directness in Mahler that follow the likes of Solti or Gergiev, most would point towards Szell or Reiner.

Still, I am not going to shake my head and say this is wrong for Mahler. I will leave that to the naysayers. Yet, the jury is still out for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Mahler recordings HERE!