Pierre Boulez - G Mahler Symphony no 8 (24 tracks) +Album Reviews

A diaphanous, spiritual and very sophisticated Mahler 8

Mahler Fan | Hamburg, Germany | 01/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After a profoundly insightful reading of Mahler 2 recorded in Vienna, Boulez again opts for structural clarity, pure subtle tone and delicate textures in this gargantuan piece, bringing out details hardly heard before and finally saves the work from its latent aura of regression (thanks to Adorno's verdict): it never sounded more like a perfect link between the 7th and 'Das Lied von der Erde' than on this disc.

In so many other recordings it seems as if increasing tempi would keep the work's immense forces from falling apart or, worse, delicate details are buried under crashing drums and full-throated choruses for dramatic effect. Boulez, who delivers one of the slowest Eighths on record, obviously had thought through the score far more perceptively. A composer-conductor like Mahler himself, Boulez demonstrates Mahler's unparalleled transparent instrumentation - every single note at its place, without frills, only serving the score's architectural clarity and overall trajectory. This approach already worked amazingly well in his reading of the 2nd : incredible, how down-to-earth and un-kitschy this work can be performed and how intense and colourful it suddenly sounds, liberated from obscure metaphysics.

Boulez, whose ears have a reputation of being able to detect one single note played out of tune in a fortissimo cluster of sound, x-rays the score, revealing an architecture of steel and manages to keep the work's inherent passion and sensuality in balance with his crystal-clear objectivity and French esprit. For example, just listen to 'Gloria Sit Patri Domino', with its multiple themes kept distinct and clear while ecstasy and exuberant joy are constantly increasing in the repetition of the words Gloria! Gloria!. This is not just a roaring apotheosis, but shows how the movement had built up. In Part II, Goethe's poetry, with its forests, cliffs, deserts and mountain gorges, is transformed into a magnificent landscape. However, while Boulez is painting colours with sound, ascending ever upwards, it is the spiritual imagery he is evoking, not the picturesque. His reading comes very close to the image of a universe beginning to ring and resound that Mahler reportedly had in mind - with planets and suns revolving instead of human voices. Every little detail of the score is vividly laid bare - as if a bright light is radiating from within rather than spotlighting from outside.

It is very interesting to learn that Goethe knew the 'Veni Creator Spiritus' hymn very well and even though it was intentionally illustrating the descent of the Holy Spirit, found it very appealing to the genius, attracting spiritual and creative people. Mahler must have felt the same way. Both parts of his 8th, although using words written a thousand years apart, are celebrating the triumphant universal power of the creative.

With this recording, completing his Mahler cycle, the French Maestro again clearly defines Mahler's music as beyond a solely romantic emotional world. Leaving this composers many biographical subtexts completely aside, Boulez reveals Mahler's work as one of the most impressive examples in music literature of how expression totally assimilates into form and how the subjective objectivizes in art.

I always had some reservations about Mahler 8, like Hans Pfitzner once has put it, responding to the opening chorus 'Veni,Creator Spiritus': But supposing He does not come. What if all the efforts go for nothing. After listening to Boulez's magnificent, ear-opening recording, the work no longer appears as such a throwback to me."

Wonderful, but.......

Good Stuff | 03/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here we have another fine account of the Mahler 8. How strange it is to think back to the days when just a single stereo recording of this Olympian work in the catalog was thought to be a miracle. Also, this brings to a conclusion Pierre Boulez' traversal of Mahler's Symphonies. It has been, in all, a worthy undertaking and obviously yet another jewel in Boulez' crown.

I like this Mahler 8 very much. I like several Mahler 8's very much. I like the clarity, the control, offered here. I like what I consider to be this maestro's ability to allow the music to speak for itself, perhaps the hallmark of a great conductor, which Boulez certainly is. He is to be congratulated for a career of artistic excellence, for a fine Mahler cycle, and for an excellent Mahler 8.

However, after basking in the newness of this version, I find myself, yet again, going back to my old standby, the Solti/Decca 8. I've long since given up trying to figure out which is the best recording of a work so complex as this. All I know is that after every new version comes out, many of which I like very, very much, I always find myself returning to the Solti. And even though Solti is far from being my favorite conductor, it seems that, at least to my taste, he gets everything just about right here.

Add to that the fact that he has a set of vocal soloists almost beyond belief, a dazzling orchestra, and, especially considering when it was recorded, those marvelous children of the dials - the Decca engineers, all working, it seems, as one, and you have what is, at least to me, a just about perfect recorded performance.

I'm grateful for this new Boulez recording and I'm sure I will listen to it often and come to appreciate it all the more as time goes on.

However, I will never part with the Solti. It, and I like to think I, have aged well together."

A msterful Eighth, full of excitement and nuance, to crown B

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of Boulez's most committed, heartfelt Mahler recordings, a major surprise after his coolly analytical Second. Part 1 is supercharged with excitement, and DG's engineering makes the orchestral and choral sonorities stupendous -- the visceral impact of Mahler's gigantic forces comes through as never before in my experience. The expected lapse of intensity when Part 2 begins isn't present at all.

Before hearing it, I wondered if an 80-year-old could marshal the number of perforrmers involved in the Eighth, but as ever, Boulez is a master of orchestral texture and detail. The Berlin Staatskapelle isn't in the same world-class league as the Vienna or Berlin Phil., but they play with conviction, and the chorus is among the best I've ever heard in this work. (The choral forces called for are so immense that a full professional complement can't be hired; we rely on amateurs, and these are top notch.)

Assessing the soloists is more difficult. The light-voiced sopranos have probably been aided by the microphone, which suits me -- rather that than not hearing them at all. The men, as another reviewer points out, are stronger. But all are very good. Far more important to me than the pluses and minuses of the cast was the care that Boulez took to interpret every phrase. The Eighth isn't first-rate Mahler all the way through, and Boulez serves the score carefully and well, thinking about the expressive meaning of every episode.

We've gotten past the point where performances of the Eighth sound like a struggle for all concerned. Ensembles around the world have conquered its difficulties (the way Gurre-Lieder, another hypertrophic masterpiece, has been tamed). As a result, actual interpreation is possible, and Boulez moves through the thinner passages of Part II with exceptional feeling. In all, I have no reservations -- this is a great Mahler Eighth and the crowning glory of Boulez's long traversal of the symphonies."

Very musical, and a strong finish to Boulez's cycle

B. Guerrero | 01/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm fudging a tad by giving this five stars - it's really more a 4.5 for me. But hey, I'm thankful that any major label is still recording the Mahler 8th at this point! For DG, this is a huge improvement over their Abbado M8 recording, but not fully superior to their Sinopoli one. Sinopoli has the stronger female cast, but Boulez has the stronger men; especially the tenor (Johan Botha for Boulez; Keith Lewis for Sinopoli). For anyone who is familiar with Boulez's middle '70s Mahler 8th from the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony Orch. (it's been floating around on various Italian pirates for years), not much will come as a big surprise here. On the whole, Boulez opts for slower tempi throughout most of Part II. In Part I, Boulez is pretty much up to normal speed, but he takes the ending to Part I at a tempo that's so stately that it's almost beyond belief. I like it very much, but it has the odd effect of making the end of Part 1 seem more grand and important that the ending to Part II (which should be the grand summary of the entire symphony, if not all of western music up to that point!). This is especially true in light of the fact that the series of simultaneous cymbal and tam-tam smashes near the end of the symphony, barely register through the dense sounding Eb Major chord (offstage brass are perfectly audible, however). Still, there's much attention to small detail, as well balances throughout Part II - so much so that the entire symphony comes off as being thoroughly musical, and not just a sequence of pretty filler material that's mostly there to bide one's time between important climaxes.

While Part II was a bit slow to take flight under Boulez (he's like Kent Nagano in that regard), I found the entire passage from the tenor's first big solo - "Hochste Herrscherin der Welt" -up to Una Poentitetium's (Gretchen - same gal) magical appearance some eight minutes later, to be practically spellbinding. That said, the almost Wagnerian sounding orchestal passages near the start of Part II have far more intensity here than they do under Nagano. That in itself is a testament to the fine and idiomatic playing of the Staatskapelle Berlin. After that excellent middle section, I found the passage work for the three penitant women to be a tad droopy under Boulez, if also well detailed. And speaking of details, one that I really appreciate is that Boulez used a true harmonium (chamber organ) wherever Mahler called for one, thus making a strong contrast to the big concert organ. Anyway, following those penitant women, things hit their stride again with an outstanding "blicket auf" passage, with Botha sounding even better here than he did previously. The slower than normal tempo for the symphony's ending might not be to everyone's taste either, but I prefer it to being too fast (Solti, Bernstein, and Tennstedt - I hate to say!)

I also very much like the very start of the symphony here. The tempo is just right - not too fast; not too slow. The amount of organ is also just right - not too little, but not too much either. A previous reviewer complained of excessive bass eminating from the organ. On my system, it didn't overbalance everything else. Since this is the first Mahler recording to have been made in the excellent acoustics of Berlin's Jesus Christus Kirche since the much celebrated Karajan Mahler 5th came out in the early 1970s, I suspect that an electronic organ was being employed - at least for the lower end of the organ's spectrum. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste, but I didn't find it excessive. In fact, I'm very pleasantly surprised by just how good DG's sound is here - for once.

So, with this fine finale to Boulez's decade long Mahler cycle (over a decade, really), can we finally bury the much celebrated Solti Mahler 8th once and for all? Well, not really, as they're nearly polar opposites. Even if I find it more technically polished than moving, the Solti still has an excellent cast throughout (Kubelik has an even stronger cast). But Boulez certainly has the more interesting details, and he takes his time to smell those roses along the way as well."

Yet another Mahler 8

John J. Allen | Brisbane, Australia | 03/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When I was in my late teens and early 20's (now 62), I attended many performances of the big Mahler symphonies at both the London Proms, and the Royal Festival Hall. Once you've heard Mahler 8 at the Royal Albert Hall, with the enormous choral forces that it's capable of accommodating, the memory stays with you forever. You then probably do what I did....set out on a search for a recording of it that will recreate the experience. I did the same with Mahler 2 ('Resurrection'). As a result I now have a collection that's best measured in metres of shelf space, and the search continues! The recent Channel Classics/Fisher recording of Mahler 2 got me as close as I'd been able to get on that one, and is now my preferred version. With Mahler 8, I guess I'm still searching, but in the meantime, this issue will do very nicely. The BBC/Horenstein mono version, despite it's limitations, really conveys the sense of scale in a large venue. It was, of course, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, an acoustically challenging venue for a recording engineer, but the result is really excellent.

As far as this new version of Mahler 8 is concerned, I should first say that I have no qualifications to be writing a review. I'm neither a musician or a musicologist, and readers will also realise for themselves that I'm not a writer! I can therefore only comment meaningfully on the quality of the recording, and the extent to which it recreates the concert hall experience. It's not that I don't have an opinion on the performance though. There would be few who would not be aware of the reputation that Boulez has for being somewhat 'cool' and analytical with Mahler. Whilst I'm a huge fan of Bernstein's Mahler (what a shame he didn't finish his DG cycle, the eighth being the casualty), I can't say I've ever been dissappointed with Boulez performances I've heard. I especially admire his DG Mahler 6, and play it often. I find this current issue quite involving and enjoyable, and certainly not lacking anything in terms of performance. For my money, the solists and choirs are up with the best, including both Solti and Tennstedt. For me, however, the big plus is the sheer brilliance of the recording. I usually grit my teeth in anticipation of the opening bars, in expectation that 'listening fatigue' will set in within the first few seconds, and the CD is added to the pile, never to be played again. Not so here. The opening organ part and the entry of the choir immediately struck me a warm, fullsome, and very listenable-to. For once the choral sound has body, scale, and presence, without any of the accompanying harshness and thinness of sound that besets so many recordings. For once, the balance between orchestra and chorus seems just right. In contrast to the Solti version, where solists are very 'up-front', here they are placed in a realistic concert hall perspective without ever being lost in the crowd. I suspect that the success of this recording is in large part due to DG's decision to return to the Jesus-Christus Kirch in Berlin, the venue in which (in my opinion) they made much finer recordings than they's ever made in the Philharmonie. So for now, this will be my version of choice, not because the performance is any better than some in my collection, but because it comes closer to the live experience than any of them. Only the Horenstein version, despite being in mono, rivals it for sheer frisson in the closing pages."

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