Search - Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mahler: Symphony No. 9

Martha L. from LA PINE, OR
Reviewed on 8/10/2006...

This is a 2 disc set.
Disc 1: Andante comodo (tracks 1-9); Im Tempo eines gemachlichen Landlers (tracks 10-17)
Disc 2: Rondo-Burleske (tracks 1-8); Adagio (tracks 9-16)

To grieve, to heal...

Jason | 10/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University in 1973, Leonard Bernstein eloquently expressed his thoughts about the contemporary meaning and relevance of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony during his lecture on "The Twentieth Century Crisis" in music. Besides Mahler's own personal demons, Bernstein felt that Mahler's Ninth represented the death of Romanticism in the wake of Arnold Schoenberg's advocacy of atonality, and foreshadowed the very real horrors of the 20th Century: two World Wars, mass genocide, the threat of nuclear annihilation, and the period of crisis the U.S. was facing at the time with its involvement in Vietnam.Nearly 30 years later, we have confronted our own crisis in the beginning of the 21st Century. My heart sank while I was watching live television coverage about the first plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center Towers, and then saw another plane explode into the other tower. I finally wept when I saw that a third plane had hit the Pentagon. I realized that many people had lost their lives, and that the lives of many more would change profoundly.With the events of 11 September 2001, I thought about Mahler. He wrote his haunting Ninth Symphony and began work on his 10th Symphony just a few years before World War One devastated the seemingly placid status quo of the great European empires and profoundly changed the "Western world." At least two major U.S. orchestras had already scheduled performances of Mahler the week of the attacks, with the Fifth Symphony in Cleveland (other works on the program were eventually dropped in memoriam) and the Sixth Symphony in San Francisco. With the many casualties among firefighters in New York, I also thought about the story of how Mahler had been moved upon seeing a funeral procession for a fireman when visiting New York in 1908, and incorporated a drum stroke he heard from the procession into the sketches of his unfinished 10th Symphony. I also thought about Bernstein's musings that Mahler's Ninth symbolizes the cataclysms of the Twentieth Century ("the death of society, of our Faustian culture"), as well as the late-night drunken parties, keeping-up-with-the neighbors, and other quotidian things we do when death is waiting to swallow us without warning. This Deutsche Grammophon release documents a stunning performance of Mahler`s Ninth, and was the only collaboration between Bernstein and the Berlin Philharmonic. The initially tentative partnership between Herbert von Karajan's orchestra and Bernstein yielded two intense performances of this symphony, if the first performance (the one preserved in this recording) is any indication. Between Bernstein's personal investment in this symphony and the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic, the result documented on this recording is incredible. Unfortunately, this recording is now "out-of-stock." I can only hope that it will be re-released on Deutsche Grammophon`s mid-priced "Legendary Recordings" series, perhaps accompanied by Bernstein's Vienna recording of the Adagio from Mahler`s 10th. Compared to von Karajan's recording of the Ninth from a few years later, Bernstein's version may sound a bit overindulgent. However, what may be "overindulgence" for some may be an urgency of emotion for others, and that urgency is what makes this recording special to me. It's the orchestra unapologetically giving in to Mahler's music and Bernstein's direction with sweetly screaming strings, blasting brass, and thundering timpani; it's the pounding fists of fate in the first movement, followed by meditative yet wistful calm; it's the distended second movement laendler trying desperately not to collapse into chaos; it's the protest and struggle against fate in the third movement, re-emerging sporadically amidst the fourth movement's hymn-like Weltschmerz; and it's the fourth movement's Zen-like conclusion in the strings, transcending our fears and struggles, and dissolving into the vastness of the universe.I ascribe to Bernstein's belief that there is something life-affirming and refreshing about Mahler's Ninth, even though it takes us to the precipice of death... and perhaps beyond. Reflecting on this symphony is like a meditation, a genuine prayer. And in difficult times such as we have been experiencing, we need Mahler's music more than ever to help us grieve, and to help us heal."

Comparing Bernstein's three Mahler Ninths

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since all three of Bernstein's Mahler Ninths have been reviewed on Amazon as the "best," I thought I'd sit down and compare them side by side. The two commercially recorded versions are with the New York Phil. from 1965 (Sony) and a live Concertgebouw concert from 1985 (DG). There is another live concert with the Berlin Phil. on DG from 1979 that derives from a radio broadcast. As other reviewers have detailed, this version was released posthumously; it commemorates Bernstein's only appeaarance with the Berlin Philharmonic--I think he had stayed off Karajan's turf by mutual agreement, although no doubt there were anti-Nazi feelings as well.



Timings: Although Bernstein's tempos grew slower with age, his Mahler Ninth was never one of the faster ones. The first movement takes 28 min. in NY, speeds up to 27 min. in Berlin, then reaches 29 min. in Amsterdam. (By comparison, Abbado takes 25 min. in his recent Berlin Phil. reading on DG.) In the second movement scherzo NY and Berlin are around 15 min. (the same as Abbado), and again the Concertgebouw performance is notably slower, 17 min. All these vresions, along with Abbado, take roughly 12 min. for the third movement Rondo-Bulreske. As others have noted, the biggest change in tempo ocurs in the fourth movement Adagio, where Ny is 23 min., Berlin 26 min., and Amsterdam a very prolonged 29+ min., compared to Abbado's 25 min. or Boulez's brisk 21 min.)Bernstein always permitted himself expressive freedom, and frankly a case can be made for all three tempos, including the agonized farewell from Amsterdam.



Sound: The NY recording never sounded all that clear or detailed on LP, but the Sony remastering is very good. It is warm in the string tone and there is a good orchestral blend. One doesn't feel that individual mikes are highlighting various solos. The Berlin broadcast recording is bright, somewhat thin, and considerably more aggressive. The balance keeps strings and winds a bit far back, while at times the brass and percusison leap out. Through earphones one can detect a low-level buzz, but overall this is excellent radio sound. With the Amsterdam recording we are back to higher standards, but not as good as in New York; the orchestra sounds thinner and consierably more distant. The Sony set is a clear winner here.



Orchestras: The New YOrk Phil. plays very well but without any particular Mahler sound, and there isn't a great deal of personality in the phrasing. The Berlin Phil. is more distinctive, alert, and quite diverse in phrasing; the string section is sweeter as well. (The Amazon reviewer who says that the orchestra learned the Mahler Ninth under Bernstein has forgotten the excellent Barbirolli recording they made for EMI in 1964, admittedly 15 years earlier. The further claim that Karajan piggy-backed on Bernstein's tutelage is silly.) The Concertgebouw sounds very fine but not distinctive; the overall feeling is mellow and not extremely detailed, but they are certainly premiere in their own right. All three orchestras are, really, and only the sonics let down berlin and Amsterdam.



Interpretation: Considering that Bernstein was considered a Mahlerian firebrand, his NY Ninth struck me as a bit bland on its initial release, but now it sounds very musical and balanced. For anyone who wants Bernstein without excessive personality, emoitonal underlining, and over-dramatizing, this is the version for you. In Berlin the interpretation is more intense but controlled; the sense of a great orchestra giving its all is palpable. There are many new insights not heard in NY, and Bernstein has found a sense of mystery and dramatic suspense that must have kept hte audience on the edge of their seats. In Amsterdam this special ambience isn't present. Despite the long drawn-out finale, Bernstien is not at an expressive extreme here. He doesn't have a hysterical approach to this work in any of his three readings, but I'd say the concertgebouw performance comes in third, with Berlin first and nY second.



Overall, I feel drawn into Mahler's world with all three readings, yet that feeling is most intense in Berlin. In Amsterdam Bernstein sounds autumnal, a bit weary and resisgned, and in the last movement he holds on to every note of farewell for dear life. But one msut remember always that this is Bernstein--all three readings rise to a very high level of artistic expression, and if only the NY and Amsterdam readings existed, they would be in the front rank of Mahler Ninth recordings."