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Mahler - Symphony no.5

£12.69

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Label: C-AVI

Cat No: AVI8553395

Barcode: 4260085533954

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 11th May 2018

Works

Mahler, Gustav

Symphony no.5 in C sharp minor

Artists

Dusseldorfer Symphoniker

Conductor

Adam Fischer

Works

Mahler, Gustav

Symphony no.5 in C sharp minor

Artists

Dusseldorfer Symphoniker

Conductor

Adam Fischer

About

The fourth release in the critically acclaimed Mahler Symphony cycle by Adam Fischer and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker.

“Unlike certain other Mahler symphonies, I have no personal story I associate with the Fifth. This doesn’t imply that it is not just as close to me as the other ones; it is just more difficult to express the connection in words. In 1905, Mahler recorded his own interpretation of this symphony’s first movement on a Welte-Mignon piano roll.

“We should try to grasp Mahler’s intentions, but we should not apply them without using our own discretion. The Welte-Mignon recording is an important document to help us learn how to deal with Mahler’s tempo indications. There are those well-known indications of the length of his own orchestral performances: they show, for instance, that the Adagietto, in particular, should be played much more rapidly than we think. Incredibly fast runtimes were clocked in Saint Petersburg and also at the Concertgebouw: when we compare them with the movement runtimes as performed by famous conductors of the 1950s and 1960s, we can tell that “slow”, for Mahler, does not mean “dragging”. Most of all – this is my fundamental conviction, and here I find it confirmed – slow and fast aren’t just metronome values. You can play faster while sounding slower, and vice-versa. It does not just have to do with maintaining a slow tempo, but with managing the accents so that it also sounds slower. Sounding slower is more important than merely being slower. You can hear this in the Welte-Mignon recording: Mahler treats his own music in a thoroughly rhapsodic way.”

– Adam Fischer

“Its Wunderhorn playfulness offsets a knowing old-world charm where phrases turn on a sixpence and all manner of characterful nuance lifts it out of the commonplace. I love that all the Mahlerian exaggerations and heightened contrasts are in almost wilful defiance of the finesse of the reading...I eagerly anticipate the rest of this Mahler cycle.” – Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Jan 18 (Symphony No.4: AVI8553378)

“This is a terrific account of Mahler’s fledgling symphony - full of the rashness and impetuosity of youth and the wild imaginings that go hand in hand with it...There is an extraordinary kinship and telepathy between Fischer and his Düsseldorf orchestra...the heart and spirit of the playing sweeps all before it. This is shaping up to be the most idiomatic and exciting cycle of Mahler symphonies since Kubelík and Bernstein.” – Gramophone Editor’s Choice, April 2018 (Symphony No.1: AVI8553390)

Reviews

Adam Fischer’s kinship with this music seems to grow exponentially with each successive instalment of what is already proving an exceptional Mahler cycle. There’s a stylistic and emotional understanding which goes beyond the precisely annotated scores. ... Perhaps the most impressive thing about this account of the Fifth Symphony is the ‘in the moment’ feeling it engenders from first to last. ... I can’t wait for the symphonies to come. I feel sure that he won’t disappoint. Edward Seckerson

Gramophone July 2018