Search - Mahler, Forrester, Los Angeles Sym Orch :: Mahler: Sym No 1 & 3

Both, mahler's first and third symphonies, originally enjoyed subtitles for their movements. The first movement of the first was one 'spring without end', the second 'under full sail'. For the third, mahler paid tribute to the flowers in the meadow, the animals in the forest, man, angels and love, respectively, for its five movements. Both the mehta recordings have a real sense of presence and space about them, and the elegiac finale of the third was recorded in a single take. "mehta in his years in los angeles rarely recorded a performance so authentically viennese as this decca account of mahler's third. The crisp spring of the first movement leads to a fruitily viennese view of the second and a carefree account of the third in which the wunderhorn overtones come out vigorously. The singing is excellent, and the sharpness of focus of the reading as a whole is impressive, underlined by the brilliant . recording" penguin guide to cds