Baltimore Symphony's first Mahler CD a sturdy contender
This crowded field just got a little bigger with the release of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s first commercial Mahler album, aptly devoted to the Symphony No. 1, conducted by music director Marin Alsop.
This Naxos CD, recorded live during concerts at Meyerhoff Hall in 2008, has some hefty competition among recorded Firsts.
Although it will not knock out such defending champions as the New York Philharmonic versions from 1950s with Bruno Walter or a decade later with Leonard Bernstein, the BSO’s entry is a serious contender.
I do wish, though, that the recording had been made more recently. Today’s BSO is playing at an impressive step above four years ago, with a richer tone, especially in the string department, and even tighter articulation.
That said, the warmly recorded release certainly captures a major American orchestra operating on all cylinders, digging vibrantly into the score as Alsop leads a solid, communicative interpretation.
She passes what, for me, is a key test in Mahler’s First — ...
Alsop does not go as far with bends in the rhythm as they do. But she shapes the music lovingly, allowing phrases to breathe and sigh and smile, and she draws colorful contributions from the woodwinds, a silken sheen from the strings. (This is not how I remember things going at the 2008 performance I attended. Perhaps the take on the recording comes from another night in the run.) The conductor taps nicely into the eerie, shifting moods of the third movement. Note that she calls on the bass section, rather than just the principal bassist, at the start of this movement to play the funeral march melody (a minor key version of “Frere Jacques”). A controversial recent edition of the score concludes that this was Mahler’s intention, but I think the best evidence — including accounts of Mahler conducting the symphony — supports the use of a single bass. It’s certainly much more surprising and piquant that way. As for the rest of the score, Alsop effectively generates atmosphere, lyrical warmth and subtle tension in the first movement. The aggressive opening of the finale rips and grips, while the subsequent moments of nostalgia and yearning are beautifully realized. And, with brass and percussion fully charged, the coda surges forward with a bracing exultation to cap this ultimately worthy addition to the Mahler stockpile.
Comments
If I remember, my vinyl Mahler's 1st was Kubelik. It was a "fat" symphony. I absolutely love the way Marin Alsop and the BSO give us a clean, lean symphony. And I'm not even a Mahler fan!
Posted by: Lorene Birden | October 29, 2012 6:21 AM