Continuing enigma of Mahler

Press, 31 January 1983, Page 15

Continuing enigma of Mahler

MAHLER. Symphony in C sharp minor — No. 5 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10. L.P.O. conducted by Klaus Tennstedt. HMX SLS 169 released bv WORLD RECORDS WI 4814 2.

dTennstedt has followed the "safe’’ course here with a rich, warm account of the sth and only the Adagio from the skeleton of the 10th. Only a few months later Simon Rattle takes the whole problem of the 10th to task byfollowing Ormandy with the full version.

Soon, it will become a rare event to simply record the two works in the form in which they are found in the review discs. This comment need not detract from the obvious merits of Tennstedt's interpretation: he compares very favourably with the top versions available.

Without labouring the point, it is now. a question as to whether one wishes to hear the only movement of the 10th which had been finished by the composer or evaluate the conductor's ideas on how- well the flesh has been added to the framework.

The review set. therefore, conforms with the conservatives such as Walter, Barbirolli or Furtwangler. none of whom would dare tamper with the 10th on moral grounds alone. The sth earns Tennstedt plaudits carried over from his Ist and 9th Symphonies. His tempos are slower that

Karajan’s, but then anyone’s tempos are slower than Karajan's and a closer comparison would be the brilliant Haitink on Philips 6700 048.

Tennstedt still has to compete with the ancient Walter version, which has the touches of the symphatheiic master blended with the hard brilliance of the N.Y.P.0.. or the rather surprisingly good Solti with the Chicago S.O. Where Walter and others score is in getting the "spare ” feeling to the orchestra. a device on which Mahler insisted but which is not found either in the review set or in that of Barbirolli. Both are bottomheavy orchestrally, an unforgiveable fault really, whereas Haitink. Kubelik and Walter all have a refined, fresh style not found here. Good as the Tennstedt is.

the competition both before and after is even better.

HANDEL. Messiah. Elisabeth Harwood, soprano. Janet Baker, Paul Easwood, Robert Tear, Raimund Herincx, the Ambrosian Singers. The E.C.O. conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. HMV SLS 774 released by the WORLD RECORD CLUB WI 797/3. “Messiah” has become more contentious than any Mahler Symphony, with versions stretching from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Classical records . review . ALLAN FRANCIS

This may be more the fault of the composer than anyone else, as it was well-known that he performed at least six versions in the first 10 vears.

This one. under the guidance of Charles Mackerras, fits into about halfway along the line between big "Messiahs" and Handel’s original chamber versions. Things were on the move in 1967, Colin Davis had shocked the purists with his light-weight “Messiah" with brisk tempos and reduced numbers and Mackerras soon followed.

Big "Messiahs" ended with a flourish in 1960 from the redoubtable Sir Thomas

Beecham but six years later musicologists rightly thought that the message of "Messiah" could have been more convincing in Handel’s terms than those of later and greater quantities. The presence of a chamber orchestra marks Sir Charles’s efforts towards the real "Messiah." a smaller choir and the resulting sparkling rhythms and lifting melodies — shorn of their funereal purple and nineteenth century accretia. In the following years there have been manv such as Hogwood and Malgoire who have gone much further than this one but as it lasted for about 20 years as a definitive account its worth must - be respected and as with all such versions, enjoyed for its own special brand of excellence.

VIRGIL FOX. Into the Classics. Meditations and sonic spectaculars played on

the Aeolian-Skinner organ of the Riverside Church, New York. EMI ANGEL S-36065’. Hardly spectacular, but certainly impressive. None of the numbers are in any wav in the fireworks categorv so I can assume that the title is purely commercial while the content is purely musical. Virgil Fox is no newcomer to records. For as long as I can remember his name has been synonymous with the organ as witness his debut in 1933 with continuous playing ever since, either live or on record.

Numbers such as "Calm is the Night." Grieg's "To Spring" and "Ich liebe dich." Rubinstein's "Reve Angelique." Tchaikovsky's “Andante Cabile" and" "Marche Religieuse" are beautifully played. Adjectives such these are now creeping back into reviewers' vocabularies with every justification.