Octo_Russ

Mahler - Symphony 5 [Ozawa-Boston Symphony Orchestra]

This was a great experience, listening to this while walking to Church today, it's a live recording [applause at the end], yet very well recorded indeed, lovely crashes of cymbals, very realistic, the sound adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of this work, i played this at the end of 2010 [5th December 2010], on that listening i highlighted the individual little ideas and sonorities that Ozawa can bring out, maybe at the expense of the whole work [focusing on individual trees instead of the whole forest], but on this listening i took on a more broader view, noticing Ozawa's forest, i just love the way it all seemed to gel together today.

Seiji Ozawa is 76, he's Japanese, in the last 2 years he's had health problems which has kept him off the concert hall platform, he recorded this work in 1990, i like the booklet front cover [photo by Michihara Okubo], showing a close up of Ozawa in action, i guess a rehearsal performance, but surprisingly sharp, a nice pose, dark background with white lettering on, really works out well, nicely positioned.

This is the third time i've played this disc, and on this listening i so much enjoyed the first movement, the opening solo trumpet fanfares are truly inspired [0:00-0:53], making a revolutionary and truly memorable impression, towards the end come crashes and outbursts, a lovely tone from the trumpet, and this fanfare returns a little later [2:14-3:03], i must admit in places Ozawa takes things at a fairly leisurely pace, maybe taking the edge off the bite this work can have, it's that damn trumpet that comes back again and again, trying to muscle in its opening fanfare again [5:27+, 5:59+ & 6:19+], this time competing against vociferous strings, and once you notice the trumpets contribution, you can hear Mahler creating an 'idee fixe' over the whole movement [7:04+], i like the way the timpani gets in on the act of soloing the trumpets fanfare [9:47-10:01], a nice touch from Mahler, at times you could consider it a Trumpet Concerto of sorts, and it's the trumpet that ends up having the last say with it's fanfare [11:37-12:40], albeit an offstage trumpet, a very satisfying movement of music.

Here's Daniel Barenboim conducting the first movement on YouTube.