Gustav Mahler Claudio Abbado Berliner Philharmoniker - Mahler Symphony No7 (6 tracks) +Album Reviews

Abbado and Berlin in a triumphant performance

Bruce Hodges | New York, NY | 10/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This outstanding new Mahler 7th is a testament not only to the piece itself - one of the most difficult of Mahler's symphonies to bring off - but to one of our greatest living conductors. Abbado's earlier version with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was excellent, but this live recording is really very special. From the opening measures of the sober march, to the riotously exciting pages of the finale, the performance seems to cohere in a way that lesser conductors can only imagine.In between, Abbado directs possibly the spookiest sounding "Scherzo" I have ever heard, sharply articulating the bizarre sound effects, and the two shorter "Nachtmusik" sections are lovely. The final "Rondo," however is the section that I will replay most often. Somehow this movement never quite seems to be the climactic ending that it should be, but not with Abbado. As in the rest of the symphony, he takes it at quite a clip; perhaps for this particular work, faster is better. And "fast" only begins to describe the richness on display. This is utterly thrilling music - as wild and Mahlerian as it gets - and the ending is capped by a long ovation from an obviously enthralled audience. With the Berlin Philharmonic in cracking form, this is a magnificent document and a superb example of live recording at its best."

Among the finest

R. J. Claster | Van Nuys, CA United States | 01/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my opinion, this is the pick of the lot among the latest series of live Mahler performances (the other two being the 3rd and 9th, both of which I find to be distinctly underwhelming, the 9th more so, compared to the best) by Abbado and the Berlin Phil. Here, Abbado's effectiveness in bringing out voicings and textures, together with his sensitivity to the Wunderhorn qualities of this music, impart both a lyric grace and beauty to the two Nachmusik movements, and a spiky spookiness to the Scherzo, that make both Bernstein-Sony and Solti sound rather plain by comparison. Moreover, Abbado also surpasses both of them in achieving a grandeur in the closing pages of the final movement, which, to me, renders it a truer climax for the whole work. The only criticisms of this recording I would make is that the epic first movement in Abbado's hands just sort of lays there, lacking either Bernstein's emotional intensity or Solti's muscular rhythmic drive, and the recording is somewhat lacking by current standards in both dynamic range and upper octave extension. Nevertheless, this is one of the best performances I have heard on CD."

A Whole New Mahler's Seventh!

R.Vandlac | Sherwood, OR USA | 07/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hearing the new Berlin/Abbado version of Mahler's Seventh Symphony was like hearing this music for the first time. The 7th symphony deservedly earns it's repuation as the weakest contructed of the Mahler symphonic canon, however Abbado and the BPO have managed to illuminate each nuance with a subtlety and precision that allows every musical idea and melody to flow together naturally. The second movement (the first of two "Nachtmusicks") is quite magical with the "echo effect" of the opening horns a suprising and charming interpretive surprise. The ensemble playing throughout the movement (and the entire symphony) is peerless and exactly what we have come to expect from the magnificent Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.The recording was taken from a live performance from 2001 at the Philharmonie and is quite excellent if not quite as "perfect" as the best digital studio recordings. However, the performance is really in a league of its own. Compare this recording with the "critically acclaimed" Cleveland/Boulez version (also from DG) and you can hear the difference between playing all the notes and "Playing the Music". This is truly a performance that you will want to play over and over again.Even if you have other performances, you are going to want to own this one."

Spectacular Mahler/Abbado.....a definite must-have!

DAVID A. FLETCHER | Richmond, Va United States | 06/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Listeners have for some time been told that the 7th is Mahler's toughest nut to crack, that conductors bravely recording their way through their cycle of Mahler symphonies seem to always founder when confronted with this score. And indeed, I can think of a few outings that were less than stellar.

Fortunate for us, then, that the Mahler 7th has evolved into something of an Abbado specialty. His earlier recording with the Chicago Symphony has been a catalog mainstay for years, and still sounds quite well. So, what is there to say anew in this 2001 live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic? As luck would have it, plenty. This is simply one of the most brilliant, incisive, thrusting, and supremely artful performances of a Mahler symphony that I've ever heard.

Pacing is a bit on the brisk side. From the opening string figures, tenor horn solo, and wind accents, it's quite evident that Abbado is building momentum. And, it's achieved without any neglect of any of the ur-Mahlerian color and instrumental effects that lend his music the ability to conjure nightmare and ecstasy in the same phrase. The second and fourth movement Nachtmusik interludes are completely magical, with time standing still one minute--trademark cowbells and distant solo voices at their spookiest--and then twirling forward in gossamer fashion. Guitar and mandolin in the fourth movement "andante amoroso" are splendidly caught, enhancing the chamber-like moment.

The fifth movement "rondo finale" soon arrives, generously recapitulating all that has gone before. Here, as they have indeed in each preceding movement, Abbado and the Berliners emphasize the classic symphonic structure that lies just below Mahler's rich late-romantic palette. One senses the spectre of Karajan in the Berlin orchestra's commitment to presenting the musical architecture with characteristic vigor, but it is enhanced by a mercurial quality, an ingredient with which Abbado seems to imbue almost every live recording--not only with this orchestra, but others (his recent outings with the reconstituted Lucerne Festival Orchestra come strongly to mind). It truly is a musical magic spell that has been woven here, with Abbado's wand deftly applied to this, Mahler's most magical score.

No matter whose Mahler 7th you're personally devoted to, you really need to hear this."

Sustained beauty and energy, moving on deliberately and purp

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 03/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While I have some favorite recordings of this symphony - I think of (quite different) performances from Michael Tilson Thomas [2005 (live) as well as his quite different approach from 1997], Bernard Haitink [1981 & 1985 (live)], Simon Rattle [1991 (live)], Eliahu Inbal (1986) -, this truly magnificent Mahler 7 surely fits within that high rank of best recorded performances.

Aside from the precision and beauty of playing, which is magnificent, I believe that the very special quality of this performance (and maybe in Claudio Abbado's conducting in general?) lies in the way that Claudio Abbado manages to sustain notes and melodies, 'energy', over the longest possible arcs, never lingering, providing the music with a sense of coherence - a feeling of the music continually moving ('flowing', 'singing') on deliberately and purposefully - almost unheard of; a dramatical, almost operatical approach. It must be this feeling of sustained flow and energy - its dramatic purposefulness -, combined of course with extremely beautiful and disciplined playing, that lifts this performance into those regions of greatness that is inhabited by only a few others. In this sense of dramatic tautness, I feel it is even better than his 1984 recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also, to my ears there is a nice sense of occasion in this Berlin live performance. Anyhow, Maestro Abbado's Mahler Symphony No. 7 with the Berliner Philharmoniker sounds as tightly coherent, as highly convincing and as beautiful as one might ever wish. And all of the same is true, by the way, for his magnificent Mahler 9, recorded two years earlier, with the same orchestra on the same label. (And also be sure not to miss his wonderful dramatically sustained and at the same time almost lyrical Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and Thomas Quasthoff as well!)

Claudio Abbado's Mahler, taken as a whole, as well as in any specific performance, is as consistently rewarding as can ever be wished for, I believe. And this particular recording of Mahler's 7th Symphony can IMHO be as highly recommended as any other great recording of this symphony."

Search - Gustav Mahler, Claudio Abbado, Berliner Philharmoniker :: Mahler: Symphony No.7

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