Search - Mahler, Solti, Cso :: Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

Raw Power

Jeff | 05/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm surprised I'm the first person to review this spectacular recording. First off I have to admit I'm biased in that I think this is the best music ever written this side of heaven and the Chicago Symphony is my favorite orchestra, mainly because of their brass section. I haven't heard many other recordings of this symphony to compare it to yet but I can tell you this recording is raw, awesome power. You can hear everything including the conductor breathing and grunting, the occasional chair creak, the bows running across the strings, the brass players breathing in the chorale in the fifth movement etc. The sound of everything save the french horns is very "up front". (French horns are normally heard bouncing off a back wall, not direct, and that's how you hear them here.) In typical Chicago Symphony fashion, nothing is held back. You are not left wanting at the end of this piece. The woodwinds are characteristically weak but that's not a big deal to me. (Recorded in 1980.) I very much like the vocalists who don't demonstrate the over-vibrato and scooping style that is so epidemic. If you want prim, proper and refined this recording isn't for you. If you want a roller coaster ride of raw power, you won't be disappointed."

Mahler by Georg.

Jeff | 06/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is actually the recording that introduced me to the world of Mahler, and I cannot say enough about how great I feel it is. In my eyes (maybe I'm a little biased) Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony are the world's greatest conductor/orchestra duo, and this recording started me on why. The opening bars of the first movement of this recording have more energy than anyone else I've ever heard (even LB and the NYPO), and at times it's terrifying. The finale, though, was what sold me on this composer. No one but Solti takes this same quick tempo and brings to the front what really needs to be heard. The "Dies irae"-esque chorale is positively beautiful, and the march (about 12 minutes in) snaps along at a pace which no one else has dared to match. The choirs enter from almost nothing, and then rise to the heavens in the final prayer. There is not another recording like this one out there, and I would require any Mahler fan/listener to hear this reading. It is powerful, direct, moving, even life-changing."

A broad, embracing approach not for the fainthearted.

C. Symonds | 12/30/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Brisk tempi and a large, sweeping interpretation make for one of the most compelling "Resurrections" on disc. Yes, the vocalists are a wee bit muffled in the overall soundscape, but orchestra and chorus emerge both crisp and expansive. Recommended without reservation."