Mahler's protege unveiled
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 02/28/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Bruno Walter was Gustav Mahler's protege and confidant, the man that carried his music forward from Mahler's 1911 death another half-century into the stereo era. Until rich businessman Gilbert Kaplan came along and made the "Resurrection" symphony his specialty, Bruno Walter was the unquestioned leader in Mahler recordings and is still our only direct link to the composer.
That link is displayed here in three of Mahler's most famous works -- the 2nd and 4th symphonies and "Das Lied von der Erde". This "Resurrection" symphony is more dramatic, biting and fervent than Walter's late life stereo version for Sony.
He displays the traditional Germanic tendency to vary the musical pulse within the first movement's development section. This is a tempestuous version interspersed, when appropriate, with the pastoral flavor Mahler felt when composing this opus at an Austrian lake.
The 1948 sound is boxy but has very good bass response. The timpani and lower strings come through fine with no obvious distortion in big moments. It is not perfectly clear but more than acceptable by any standard.
The Vienna Philharmonic was having a good day during this performance, taken from Austrian radio, with all members up to the important task. The singing of alto Rosette Anday is good, even though she is flat at the beginning of "Urlicht" and slides several times, while the work of soprano Maria Cobetari is wonderful.
The 4th symphony, recorded in 1955, is even better and more universally Mahlerian than the 2nd. This is music where Walter's sense of beauty, proportion and humanity meld perfectly with the nature-driven score. Hilde Gulden sings the heaven music and contributes three Mahler songs captured at the same November 5, 1955 performance in the Great Hall of the Musikverein.
The May 1952 recording of "Song of the Earth" with contralto Kathleen Ferrier and tenor Julius Patzak is in every way a peer of their famous studio collaboration. Certainly it made sense for this team to perform the music live that May 17, a day after making their historic recording.
All told, this set helps 21st Century listeners more fully understand the connection between Bruno Walter and Gustav Mahler that must have existed early in the 20th Century when Mahler was conducting these scores in Vienna and New York. This recorded tribute must then be considered near definitive for everything herein, even though I've heard many better songs from later recordings.
As is their custom, Andante surrounds the 4 CD pack with 166 pages of notes, photos and collectibles in three languages and hardcover front and back. A true collector's item for any Mahler addict."
The most fascinating reissue of historical Mahler in a long
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/17/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This histroical release of Mahler conducted by Bruno Walter in Vienna will largely appeal to collectors. The Sym. #2 is a familiar document, long available on pirate labels. This concert marked bruno Walter's return to Vienna after wartime exile, and I find the symphony very moving. However, the pace is often too leisurely and the sound is very limited, even for that era -- it's like an AM radio playing from another room. I find it hard to choose between Andante's version, which is scrubbed clean of all surface noise or the alternatives that retain various gritch. The Andante version seems unusually dim and trunctated on top.
The Sym. #4 from 1955 is a new release from the archives of the Vienna Phil. and is therefore a surprise addition to Walter's discography. There are several other Fourths from him in concert; collectors seem to agree that this is the best and the best-sounding.
The 1952 live 'Das Lied' directly competes with a studio recording made by Decca during the time period May 15 - 20 when the live concerts were given. Rob Cowan, writing in the Gramophone, claimed that this new recording was a fraud, a dim-sounding duplication of the Decca LP. The waters were muddied for a while until Andante (whose source was the Vienna Phil's own archives) rebutted the accusation in an interesting article at their website. Here's a link:
http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=20749
Finally, in a new wrinkle, the Decca studio "Das Lied," which always had iffy sound, has been remastered by Pristine Audio (www.pristineaudio.cm), whose unique technology can restore far more natural sound to a historical tape or LP than ever before. I have not heard this remastering, but now there's a contest between Andante's live version (considered susperior on musical grounds) and Pristine's (for sonic superiority). The curious and/or obsessive listener is left to decide."
