Mahler - words and music

MAHLER: Symphony No. 5; lecture on Symphony No. 5. Philharmonia Orchestra; Benjamin Zander, conductor. Telarc 80569; 2 CDs.

This is a two-CD production. The first disc is a recording of Mahler`s Fifth Symphony; the second a lecture about the symphony by conductor Benjamin Zander. The conductor talks about the work at hand and the composer`s works in general. He illustrates his lecture by playing recordings of Mahler`s works and, in addition, playing excerpts on the piano.

I`ll comment first on the second disc, the lecture, which is included as a bonus disc. This may seem a bit strange, but under the circumstances, I think it`s the best way to handle the total package. There are more than half a hundred recordings of Mahler`s Fifth Symphony listed as currently available in Schwann`s recordings guide Opus. These recordings range from adequate to excellent. Which is to say, we certainly do not want for fine recordings of this popular symphony.

It still seems so strange to me to call any work by Gustav Mahler "popular." I remember the days, as late as the middle of the 1940s, when there was but a small handful of the composer`s recordings available - all nine of his symphonies and also his great song cycles; and even then, we had to hunt for the handful.

It might be well, at this point, to explain that Benjamin Zander is a conductor who makes it a practice of giving lectures to his audiences before he plays a work. This is most unusual. And it is a practice frowned upon by many music lovers. They come to hear music, not listen to a lecture.

Once in a while, on some special occasion, perhaps the playing of a new work, a conductor might speak briefly to an audience before the work is played. And even this most generally is thought to be an unnecessary and unacceptable practice. But this is the practice of Zander, who has been conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra - not to be confused with the world-renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra - since it was formed in 1978. He also guest conducts other orchestras, teaches a class on orchestral interpretation at the New England Conservatory and travels extensively giving master classes.

Zander began working regularly with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in 1995. He is recording a series of Mahler`s symphonies on Telarc and so far has recorded Nos. 5 and 9. No. 4 is scheduled for release August 2001. He also has recorded Beethoven`s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 on Telarc.

The notes with this recording state, "He has become the center of an intense, at times almost cult-like following. In his case, however, the followers are not starry-eyed acolytes, but rather some of the most well-informed musical intellectuals in America."

His lecture on this disc - complete with orchestral and piano excerpts - is splendid. It is divided into six parts: The Orchestra, The Motives, The Structure, The Adagietto, The Scherzo and Experiencing the Symphony. Most of us will come away from the lecture with a wealth of information about Mahler, his Fifth Symphony and his work in general.

Zander is a splendid lecturer. He has a fine voice for lecturing, and he knows how to write and read his words in a manner that makes for easy understanding. As for the recording of the symphony itself, it is splendid and ranks with the best available. It would be very good to be able to evaluate it movement by movement, but the reality of a limitation of space requires a more general approach. And, in general, Zander reads the work with great care.

I particularly like the way he enables all voices to be heard in the many passages Mahler writes for multiple voices. One has no difficulty distinguishing each voice. And this is so much more difficult to accomplish than it might seem. The conductor adopts a softer, quieter approach to the parts of the work that are supposed to be played softly. It makes the sudden bursts of louder sections - so frequent throughout Mahler`s symphonies - all the more effective.

I am also very impressed by the ensemble the conductor achieves. I don`t see how it could be better. Mahler`s symphonies call for very large orchestras. And, the larger the number of instruments in each choir, the more a conductor must use his conducting skills in getting the instruments to play together and to achieve proper balances.

Zander does an exemplary job on this score. The conductor makes excellent use of the solo instruments that play extensively throughout the symphony. The staccato he gets from the trumpet section is splendid. Each note is distinctly heard. Also most impressive is his conducting of the double-dotted notes so pervasive throughout the work.

In general, Zander reads a very smooth performance in the score that calls for so many changes in mood. He plays the work phrase by phrase, making the ending of each phrase lead effortlessly into the succeeding one. I like the way he builds his crescendos, moving in a kind of seamless fashion from the softer to the louder notes. And never letting the louder notes blare. And, of course, the symphony - certainly for me, at least - lives or dies on the performance of the Adagietto - and hear Zander take issue with the prevailing impression that it is a work of great sadness, even sadness about death.

The movement has, by the way, been played often at funerals. Leonard Bernstein`s own recording of it was played at his funeral. But it is not funeral music, insists Zander. It is music that bespeaks love. Indeed, Mahler wrote it and declared it to be the music of love. Even so, it would be difficult to get that idea across to so many who have always heard the Adagietto to be the music of a quiet, even peaceful death.

You may remember how appropriate it was as music in the motion picture "Death in Venice," after Thomas Mann`s great novella. Dirk Bogarde, playing the role of a dying composer (Mahler?), changed from the story in the book of a dying author (Mann?), looks out to sea as he sits dying in his beach chair. Ah, you might say, but the composer was looking at his idealization of love in the form of the young Tadzio. So was not this love music? Wouldn`t argue with you on that one bit.

And I see no matter for argument here - Zander plays it beautifully, softly, but not letting the music become in any way maudlin. A very fine recording of the Mahler Fifth Symphony and an equally fine lecture to go with it.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: King Durkee