Search - Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony, Gustav Mahler :: Symphony 6

The end of innocence: Peering into the abyss.

Bob Zeidler | Charlton, MA United States | 06/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In little more than a year, I have now heard four remarkable recordings of Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony, each special in its own way and each vying for shelf space next to the version which had long been my favorite, Leonard Bernstein's second recording, with the Vienna Philharmonic, on DGG.



Two of the first three (Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Thomas Sanderling with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra) got the benefit of some commentary of mine elsewhere at Amazon. The third (Michael Gielen with the SWR Orchestra of Baden-Baden/Freiburg) had been in the queue for similar commentary treatment. And then this Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony Orchestra live performance arrived, putting detailed commentary on the Gielen recording on at least temporary hold.



Tilson Thomas (MTT, for short) has gauged this symphony largely along lines most similar to those of Zander in the outer two movements and Bernstein/Vienna ("Bernstein II") in the inner movements, as a "tale of the tape" (comparative movement timings) shows. Each of these three performances has many strengths and few weaknesses. While I personally think that Zander accomplishes the near-impossible in his shattering realization of the final movement, MTT is very close indeed (and provides two hammer blows vs. three, for those "who are counting"). All three are rather evenly matched in the opening movement, but I give a slight edge to MTT by virtue of the atmospheric effects he is able to achieve with the brief "respite" provided by the celeste and cow bells late in the movement; beautifully done. There is little to choose between Bernstein II and MTT in the second-movement Scherzo; they are within a few seconds of each other and "of a piece." (Here, Zander is considerably more demonic; for some, perhaps slightly too much so.) It is in the third-movement Andante where MTT really shines. At 17'27" he is more than a minute more leisurely than Bernstein II (at 16'16"), who in turn is about a minute faster than Zander. Yet MTT's Andante seems perfectly gauged and not a second too long; a necessary voyage into a different, sublimely beautiful world in a remote key signature before the Finale, with its eventual - and Tragic - felling of Mahler's protagonist/hero.



The recording is one of the new SACD/CD "hybrid" variety, but I have only the ability to play the standard CD layer. Suffice it to say that the standard CD stereo is excellent (particularly for a live-performance recording), with an outstanding sense of hall ambience and "air" and at the same time the ability to hear fine details and inner voices. It lacks nothing in immediacy and in its ability to represent even the strongest passages without evidence of overload or compression. The packaging is lavish, and includes a rather fine essay on the work by Michael Steinberg. Unfortunately for this effort, Michael Steinberg had also been the essay author for the Zander/Boston P.O. performance booklet, in which his exposition of the work and his lyrical flights of wordsmanship were as fine as they get. So here, his essay is somewhat diluted and reduced in effect compared with that earlier effort. But, if you're half the Mahlerite that I am, you'll already have that Zander performance in your library. And you're likely to have the later Bernstein (as well as the earlier Bernstein) and the Sanderling as well.



Can I pick an overall, final favorite among these four or five recordings? Not yet, despite having listened to most of them many times and the new MTT recording several times. But, for reasons I explain below, I'm likely to listen to this MTT recording, at least temporarily, to the exclusion of the others as I continue to grasp just what had been achieved here.



I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the remarkable circumstances under which the performances for this live recording were given. Scheduled many months in advance, they took place during a four-day period beginning September 12, 2001, under what can only be considered as the most difficult and painful of circumstances. It seems that there were absolutely no second thoughts about putting this concert on as originally scheduled, other easier, more "balming" program substitution opportunities notwithstanding. In this context, MTT's sublime third-movement Andante represents, to me, the musical equivalent of "the end of innocence" before "peering into the abyss" of the Finale. It was an act of some courage on the part of MTT, his orchestra, and his San Francisco audience; this document is testimony to that collective courage. And those two events, of 9/11 and the following days of performing and recording this masterpiece, will forever more be inextricably linked in my mind, as "history; one for the ages."



Three and one-half decades ago (almost to the day), the late, great Jack Diether, in writing notes to the first (1967) recording of this work that Leonard Bernstein made with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, wrote "To those who better understand Mahler, our world, and perhaps themselves, the work as a whole is exhilarating, not depressing. It is pre-eminently cathartic, just as the greatest tragedies of ancient Greece are cathartic." And as these performances must have been to those San Franciscans still reeling from 9/11. Mahler's time had indeed come.



Bob Zeidler"

One of the best symphonies played by the best

Alex Bedner | San Francisco, California United States | 08/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is in my personal opinion that this is the best Mahler 6 recording I have ever listened to simply because the orchestra under the direction of MTT responds to details that in other recordings other orchestras did not. They have grown to be so together since MTT came to the orchestra in 1995. The brass playing in this recording is also among the best. The blend of the different sections of brass instruments is so perfect for Mahler's work. As a trombone player I found the trombone work in Mahler's 6th to be the best section playing I have heard yet. Mark Lawrence, Paul Welcomer, and John Englkis (I can't rmemeber the 3rd trombone player's name), really enunciate their playing styles in just the right ways that really make you feel the music. The trombones are, in Mahler 6, the "gods of fate" and with their quality of playing they put "the fear of god" into you. The trombone funeral choral at the end of this symphony is hands down THE BEST out of any Mahler 6th recording. Mark's sonorous sound and Paul's mournful touch on the eight note pickups really puts the soul at rest and into your tomb. This is a must have for any brass player."

From the soul of Mahler comes a fitting elegy for our time

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 02/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The timing of this new recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in A Minor could hardly be more correct. Recorded live in Davies Hall in San Francisco from 12 - 15 September last year, this is the essence of the reacton being felt after 9/11. Michael Tilson Thomas has outdone even his own recording standards (no mean feat) in breathing life, terror, agony, and hope into this darkest of Mahler's symphonies. The San Francisco Symphony pulls out all stops for him in a lush, rich, spell-binding performance. While other conductors may take a more analytical view in developing the themes and pacing the pathos, few others have been able to realize the underlying faith of the human soul pitted against the terror of the universe. The third movement is simply one of the most sincerely heartfelt statements Mahler wrote (outside the Kindertotenlieder) and Thomas finds just the right amount of indulgence to bathe us after the stormy marches that begin and end this symphony. This recording is among the finest of Mahler recordings......and because of its timely captured performances, it is destined to work its way into the fabric of a national healing."