Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti

Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti

Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti
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CD Details

Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 1992-02-11
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut
  2. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 2. Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
  3. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 3. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen
  4. Symphony No. 1 in D major ('Titan'): 4. Stürmisch bewegt
  5. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection'): 1. Allegro maestoso
Music CD 2
  1. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection'): 2. Andante moderato
  2. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection'): 3. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung
  3. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection'): 4. Urlicht. Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht
  4. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection'): 5. In Tempo des Scherzo
Music CD 3
  1. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 1. Kräftig - Entschieden
  2. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 2. Tempo di Menuetto. Sehr mässig
  3. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 3. Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast
  4. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 4. Sehr langsam. Misterioso
  5. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 5. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck
Music CD 4
  1. Symphony No. 3 in D minor: 6. Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden
  2. Symphony No. 4 in G major: 1. Bedächtig. Nicht eilen
  3. Symphony No. 4 in G major: 2. In gemächlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast
  4. Symphony No. 4 in G major: 3. Ruhevoll
  5. Symphony No. 4 in G major: 4. Sehr behaglich
Music CD 5
  1. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor: 1. Trauermarsch
  2. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor: 2. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit grösster Vehemenz
  3. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor: 3. Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell
  4. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor: 4. Adagietto: Sehr langsam
  5. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor: 5. Rondo-Finale: Allegro
Music CD 6
  1. Symphony No. 6 in A minor ('Tragic'): 1. Allegro energico, ma non troppo
  2. Symphony No. 6 in A minor ('Tragic'): 2. Scherzo: Wuchtig
  3. Symphony No. 6 in A minor ('Tragic'): 3. Andante
  4. Symphony No. 6 in A minor ('Tragic'): 4. Finale: Allegro moderato
Music CD 7
  1. Symphony No. 7 in E minor ('Song of the Night'): 1. Langsam - Allegro
  2. Symphony No. 7 in E minor ('Song of the Night'): 2. Nachtmusik 1: Allegro moderato
  3. Symphony No. 7 in E minor ('Song of the Night'): 3. Scherzo
  4. Symphony No. 7 in E minor ('Song of the Night'): 4. Nachtmusik 2: Andante amoroso
Music CD 8
  1. Symphony No. 7 in E minor ('Song of the Night'): 5. Rondo - Finale
  2. Symphony No. 9 in D major: 1. Andante comodo
  3. Symphony No. 9 in D major: 2. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb
Music CD 9
  1. Symphony No. 9 in D major: 3. Rondo-Burleske. Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig
  2. Symphony No. 9 in D major: 4. Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend
  3. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Veni, Creator Spiritus
  4. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Imple superna gratia
  5. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Infirma nostri corporis
  6. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Accende lumen sensibus
  7. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: [Veni, Creator Spiritus]
  8. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Gloria Patri Domino
Music CD 10
  1. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Poco adagio: Waldung, sie
  2. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Ewiger Wonnebrand
  3. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu F
  4. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Gerettet ist das edle Glie
  5. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Uns bleibt ein Erdenrest /
  6. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Höchste Herrscherin der We
  7. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Bei der Liebe, die den Fü�
  8. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Neige, neige, Du Ohnegleic
  9. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Blicket auf zum Retterblic
  10. Symphony No. 8 in E flat major ('Symphony of a Thousand'): Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Alles Vergängliche

Music reviews of Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti

Music Review: Solti Reconsidered
Rating: 4 Stars

The recent tenth anniversary of Solti's death has prompted me to renew my acquaintance with this conductor's work. Over a period of several months I have been listening to recordings from various phases of Solti's career of diverse repertoire from Bach to Bartok. As a result of this effort, I have come to a new estimation of an artist of whose work I had previously a fairly low regard. This estimation was, I believe, based more on the received opinions of record reviewers than my own perceptions. I had always believed Solti to be a "high-voltage" sensationalist who tended to brutalize the standard repertoire. That assessment, however, misses both the abiding accomplishments of Solti's career as well as the many ways in which his interpretive proclivities matured over the years.

The set under review here presents Solti's work with the CSO over a span of about fifteen years. Earlier versions of certain symphonies with other orchestras, and in some cases later versions with the same orchestra, have been passed over for the sake of presenting a maximally coherent interpretive profile. In some cases, the compilers' decisions concerning which versions to include were regrettable, though overall one can derive from this set an accurate estimation of Solti's approach to this composer, with its characteristic virtues and vices. What is most striking about these performances, perhaps, is the sheer virtuosity Solti evokes from the band with which he was associated for such a large portion of his career. They respond instinctively and with remarkable unanimity to his every gesture. This is playing that, in purely technical terms, approaches perfection. Another virtue is Solti's ability to balance detail and structure in unfolding Mahler's densely contrapuntal textures and sometimes convoluted symphonic arguments. Like his fellow Hungarians Fritz Reiner and George Szell, Solti combines intellectual brilliance with a consummate understanding of orchestral sonority at every level. But unlike them, his approach to Mahler (and other composers) is warmer, more affectionate, and ultimately more compelling. Indeed, the very intensity of his involvement with this music can be disturbing, and may account for the impression of sensationalism that has worried many reviewers over the years.

However, no single conductor can interpret every work within a composer's symphonic output with equal insight or enthusiasm; and so Solti's Mahler cycle is predictably uneven--though no more so perhaps than Bernstein's, Kubelik's or Abbado's (to name just a few).

Here is a brief run-down of my (mostly positive) impressions of each performance in this set:

No. 1: Solti's earlier version of this symphony with the LSO is a riveting account, justly praised for its brilliance. The later CSO version, included here, is warmer, more evocative, and also more hazily recorded (early digital). The introduction to the first movement is quite magical, but thereafter the tension begins to flag, and despite some gorgeous playing, the overall impression is one of fits and starts. My own preference would be for the superbly remastered LSO version, or better yet for Horenstein.

No. 2: Solti also recorded this with the LSO in the early Sixties. The later version may lack the grip of the earlier, but it is more sensitive to nuance and atmosphere, particularly in the long Finale. I prefer the soloists in the LSO version, but otherise the later performance is to be preferred; it conveys a greater sense of occasion. On the other hand, Solti doesn't begin to convey the spiritual depths of the work as searchingly as Klemperer, Walter or Bernstein.

No. 3: I have not heard Solti's earlier, LSO version of this work, but it was almost universally regarded by critics as unsympathetic. The later version conveys a welcome cogency in a work that can seem to ramble, but otherwise this is one of the less impressive performances in Solti's Mahler Cycle. Solti doesn't seem entirely in sympathy with the work's evocation of cosmic forces in the first movement, or pastoral epiphanies in the second and third. The fourth movement with its Nietzsche setting manages to convey a haunting quality, and the Morning Bells of the fifth are exuberant enough. But then in the finale, Solti fails to convey a sense of rapt contemplation; the dynamics are marginally too loud, and there is a certain nervous quality that militates against any sense of spiritual exaltatio. For that, go to Horenstein or Bernstein/Sony.

No. 4: Solti's earlier recording of this work, with the Concertgebouw (and Sylvia Stahlman as soloist) was more rambunctious and less well controlled than the one under consideration here. Though the earlier version arguably has more character, many will find the later, digital version preferable. Solti's interpretation had evidently "settled" in the interval between the two recordings. The latter is more of a "mainstream" or consensus account which effectively conveys this work's nostalgia and whimsy. Dame Kiri is a splendid soloist in the finale. In the end, however, I would opt for Walter, Reiner, Kubelik or Kletzki in this work.

No. 5: An unpleasantly hard-edged, even hard-nosed interpretation, though that impression may be partly due to poor engineering (as many critics have opined over the years--including Solti himself!). Solti's later CSO recording, done live on tour in 1991 is far more effective in conveying the work's agonies and ecstasies--and the sound falls far more pleasingly on the ear..

No. 6: A thrilling performance--maybe not a profound as Bernstein, but superbly played and vividly recorded, with devastating cumulative effect. One of the better sixths around, in my estimation. Far better than the overpraised Karajan.

No. 7: Bernstein evokes a more haunting atmosphere in movments 1-3, but Solti's incisiveness is also welcome. Solti is surprisingly seductive in the fourth-movement serenade, and second to none in his ability to hold the ramshackle finale together. Overall, a compelling account, and once again the CSO cover themselves in glory.

No. 8: Arguably Solti's most famous recording, and justly so. A performance of a problematic work that successfully combines rigor with sensitivity. No imporant detail escapes Solti's attention, yet he has the measure of Mahler's "cosmic" vision. Tennstedt conveys the work's religious ardor more effectively, and Bernstein is uniquely propulsive in the first movment; but Solti's grasp of the work's architecture is so complete that everything proceeds with a sense of dramatic inevitability. The solo and choral singing are first rate--indeed, unsurpassed on record.

No. 9: Solti would not seem to be an ideal expositor of this elusive, death-haunted work, and indeed his earlier LSO version could be accused of exposing every dark corner of the piece with a searchlight brilliance. The later CSO account, however, reveals how much Solti matured as a Mahler interpreter. It conveys the hushed intensity as well as the tragic import that were lacking the first time around. Solti's is a dark, turbulent vision of the work--no easy consolations here. Even the second movement--which is often given as "comic relief" in the midst of overpowering tragedy--is dark and menacing here, thanks to a slowish tempo and heavy accents. Throughout the CSO revel in Mahler's kaleidoscopic scoring. A superb Ninth, in my estimation--though it doesn't quite achieve the catharsis of Bernstein or Karajan.

In sum, then, the prospective purchaser would probably do better to acquire individual versions of each symphony rather than opting for an integral set under one conductor. However, if the idea of a modestly priced box appeals to you, and if you are open to Solti's intensely dramatic and hyper-virtuosic style of interpretation, then I wouldn't hesitate to acquire what is ultimately one of the better Mahler cycles around.

UPDATE: As part of their "Masters" series, RCA/Sony have just reissued in a ridiculously inexpensive bargain box all of James Levine's Mahler recordings made made for RCA during the '70's and early '80's, with three orchestras --the LSO, Chicago and Philadelphia. Though Levine, regrettably, never got around to recording 2 & 8 (was expense a factor?), his incomplete cycle does include all of the remaining symphonies plus the revised Cooke completion of no. 10. Since single-issue bargain editions of 2 & 8 are readily available, and since Levine remains unsurpassed (in my estimation) among recent Mahler interpreters (warmer than Solti, more disciplined than Bernstein/CBS or DG, to name just two), I would not hesitate to recommend this newly-reissued set as a "starter collection" for neophytes, or an add-on for Mahler aficionados. As for the two "missing" symphonies in Levine's cycle, I would recommend Solti for both: his classic LSO account of the "Resurrection" has recently been reissued on a single Decca CD in stunning 24-bit remastered sound (and it always *did* sound great); his equally classic Chicago recording of the Eighth is also available on a single CD in the same series.
More Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti free music reviews:
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Description of Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti

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György Solti has come in for his share of hard knocks as a Mahler interpreter, and no one will pretend that he has the same sort of intuitive empathy for this music that Leonard Bernstein has. But he does have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra--no mean advantage--and many of these performances have come up sounding rather well. London also has been smart to include his first (and better) performance of the Fifth, and he generally does quite well by Symphonies Nos. 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as well. There may be better performances of the other symphonies available, and every music lover will have personal preferences, but at a budget price this set offers pretty impressive value for the money. It deserves its success. --David Hurwitz

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