Mahler Symphony No.2

My views about Rattle's performance of Mahler's 2nd symphony, from May 12, 2007.

Mahler: Symphony No.2
CBSO
Simon Rattle
1990

Performance: *****
Sound: ****




I found this performance very interesting. The first thing that caught my attention was the slower tempo compared to other performances I had heard (Klemperer, Abbado). Bernstein’s is slower than the latter performances but Rattle’s version sounds more sonorous. Slower tempo gives him a wider field to focus on the coloring of sounds. The opening bass is expansive and sonorous. Also his focus is more on the melodic line than the transitory motivic shifts in orchestration that characterizes Mahler’s orchestration. The effect is something very new. The closing of the first movement (the chromatic descent), however, sounded artificial to me. I liked the more “resoluto” fast ending of Abbado better. Of note, are the nicely audible harp notes within the movement and at the end of the movement. The first movement is long enough to occupy the first CD of the two CD set.

The sound is not as good as Bernstein’s DG recording, and Abbado’s first DG recording in 90s. The violins sound dull and the orchestra sound a bit remote altogether.

Rattle is very successful in creating the anxious atmosphere of the last movement. I specially liked the way he interpreted the crisis/climactic moment with stressing the bass drums. The finale’s organ is spectacular.

Penguin guide names this performance a “key” performance. But I am not sure about this. Sound-wise it is not as good as previous performances. Performance-wise it’s another reading, but is it better because it is newer and we are used to older performances?