Mahler - Symphony 4 [Hendricks/Mehta-Israel Philharmonic Orchestra]
I have roughly ten Mahler 4's in my collection, and this is certainly one of the better of them, from the cover, it presents itself as pastoral sunny work, and certainly it's the happiest of Mahler's Symphonies, i remember walking in the woods listening to this Symphony, seemed like the perfect place to hear Mahler's 4, the front booklet cover is fantastic [by Eric Bach], a castle on the hill, tiny in the picture, juxtaposed against the blossoms on the tree, i played this disc almost five years ago [21st June 2010].
Zubin Mehta is Indian, he's now 78, he recorded this in 1979, wow already over 35 years ago!, and yet it's still considered a 'modern' recording, i love these Decca Eclipse recordings, a great way to collect the back catalogue, and with seventy plus minutes of music.
On this listen i just love the slow movement, marked as Ruhevoll by Mahler, ruhe = rest, voll = fully, i think the idea was relaxing / refreshing, i guess like sleep, you get fully invigorated, the movement is long, clocking in at nearly 22 minutes here, but it never feels that long, maybe the same length as say a Schubert's Ninth movement [15 minutes], it indulges you, and you forget time!, the heavenly opening chords straight away introduce that beautiful tune, this to me represents a far more accurate portrayal of a possible heaven than the worded account in the following movement, supposedly built upon a set of variations, i love the way mahler takes the violins so high in the sweet treble, that at times they almost disappear, a wonderful swooning if you will [2:17-3:26], if the strings represent the brighter side of the movement, then the darker side of the movement is represented by the woodwind, or more perfectly by the brass, just over halfway through the movement Mahler uses some dance rhythms, some of it is quite jiggy [14:58-15:57], but after this the music almost descends into a deep pathos [16:17+], i guess a coda if you will, but the whole thing bursts into a loud fanfare of joy [18:30+], announcing the opening tune of the last movement before its time, and again those violins play high in treble, ending on an expectant pause, once you see more of the structure, you understand what Mahler is trying to say.
Zubin Mehta is Indian, he's now 78, he recorded this in 1979, wow already over 35 years ago!, and yet it's still considered a 'modern' recording, i love these Decca Eclipse recordings, a great way to collect the back catalogue, and with seventy plus minutes of music.
On this listen i just love the slow movement, marked as Ruhevoll by Mahler, ruhe = rest, voll = fully, i think the idea was relaxing / refreshing, i guess like sleep, you get fully invigorated, the movement is long, clocking in at nearly 22 minutes here, but it never feels that long, maybe the same length as say a Schubert's Ninth movement [15 minutes], it indulges you, and you forget time!, the heavenly opening chords straight away introduce that beautiful tune, this to me represents a far more accurate portrayal of a possible heaven than the worded account in the following movement, supposedly built upon a set of variations, i love the way mahler takes the violins so high in the sweet treble, that at times they almost disappear, a wonderful swooning if you will [2:17-3:26], if the strings represent the brighter side of the movement, then the darker side of the movement is represented by the woodwind, or more perfectly by the brass, just over halfway through the movement Mahler uses some dance rhythms, some of it is quite jiggy [14:58-15:57], but after this the music almost descends into a deep pathos [16:17+], i guess a coda if you will, but the whole thing bursts into a loud fanfare of joy [18:30+], announcing the opening tune of the last movement before its time, and again those violins play high in treble, ending on an expectant pause, once you see more of the structure, you understand what Mahler is trying to say.
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