Search - Mahler, VSOP, Hermann Scherchen :: Mahler: Symphony No. 1, No. 10: Adagio

One of the quirkiest, most original Mahler Firsts on disc

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hermann Scherchen's idiosyncracies in Mahler (and almost everywehre else) made him a fascinating outsider, and I've tried to hear most of his spotty, dotty recordings. These basically date from the mono era, as here in 1954, issued by minor labels who had Scherchen leading inferior, usually slapdash orchestras -- he was the mirror image of another cult favorite, Jascha Horenstein. For the Mahler First, however, Scherchen got a fairly disciplined, respectably profiicinet orchestra in Beecham's Royal Phil.



The first movement is slow to the proint of sounding grave, and Scherchen's version of a forest awakening is closer to a pre-dawn funeral. Is it possible to stray so far from the sunny celebration one hears from every other conductor? I think so -- the hard-won resolution into the major-key horn calls feels sincere and moving.



Because "erratic" is a word commonly applied to Scherchen, particularly in his tempos, it's not a shock that he subverts the Scherzo, turning a peasant Landler into a skipping, one-beat-to-the-bar race. The best that can be said is that the race is exciting and that it takes a breath, barely, for the lilting trio section.



Being full of lugubrious parody and village-band local color, the third movement suits Scherchen's talents perfectly. The buzzy double bass that lumbers on stage alone sounds exactly right, and so is the funereal pace (for me, this section should sound like the tortoises in Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals). The quacky Englihs oboes set the perfect tone for the so-called Jewish music that follows, although Scherchen is less ethnic than some -- again, the right choice, I think. This is civilized parody, not burlesque. Throughout the playing is ramshackle, the tone perfect.



I feared for the finale, which calls for better execution than th Royal Phil. was then capable of, or that Scherchen wanted to work for. Scherchen plays the opening half swiftly, preferring velocity over virtuosity, and then lapses into hesitant wistfulness at the tempo cahnge. As thin as the execution is -- too thin, really, to do the music justice -- it's intriguing to hear Scherchen go agaist the grain. None of Mahler's apocalyptic jubilance or soaring lyricism remains. As in the scherzo, you can't quite figure out if this is travesty or revelation -- I think more of the former.



As for the Adagio from the Mahler Tenth, Scherchen captures its mournfulness with stark, touching gravity. I've never been able to figure out the mystery of the Vienna State Opera Orch., however, who should be the Vienna Phil. in their capacity as a pit orchestra. But the mediocre, often scrappy music-making heard here -- and on many old recordings from Vox and Westminster -- comes from third-raters who God frobid should ever disgrace the Musikverein.



Overall, this is a CD to treasure as one of a kind, even if it takes maddening turns half the time. In other words, classic Scherchen."