Re: Today's perfect Mahler 5

On 10/07/2024 19:32, Rachmaninoff wrote:
 > Is there a Mahler 5 that you are familiar with that seems to fit the
 > description of the way Mengelberg conducted it?
No. (NB: I am not an expert, just a listener without any training or background in music.)
The only Mahler recordings by Mengelberg known to exist are:
-Symphony #4
-Adagietto of Symphony #5
-Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
According to the liner notes to TAHRA CD TAH 504, Mahler #1 conducted by Bruno Walter on 16 October 1947 may be influenced by Mengelberg's interpretation to some extent, in some respects, but not in some others. I cannot judge this.
Concerning _Das Lied von der Erde_, Benjamin Maso posted this on rec.music.classical.recordings on 31 March 1999
[BEGINNING OF QUOTATION FROM MESSAGE BY BENJAMIN MASO ON rec.music.classsical.recordings DATED 31 MARCH 1999]
<< This afternoon I did a little research in the municipal archives of
Amsterdam and found 10 reviews of the concerto of 5 oktober 1939 when
Schuricht conducted Mahler's Lied von der Erde. Not without interest.
BACKGROUND.
The concerto scheduled for 5 oktober was the opening of the season 1939 -
1940. Of course it should have been conducted by Mengelberg, but being ill
he cancelled a few days before - not for the first time. In the years before
Bruno Walter and Pierre Monteux had replaced Mengelberg already more than
once at the opening night, but this time they were not able to themselves
free at such a short term.
The logical replacement should have been Van Beinum, but with the
outbreak of the war a general mobilization had been proclaimed and being a
reservist he was under arms. Another problem was that Martin Oehmann and
Kerstin Thorborg had already been engaged for Mahler's Lied and none of the
other Dutch conductors were considered to be capable enough to conduct such
a complicated work. So the direction of the Concertgebouw decided to ask
Carl Schuricht, who as a guest conductor of the orchestra's of The Hague and
Utrecht was temporary living in Holland.
The Dutch papers weren't very happy about this choice. They expressed
their doubts of Schuricht's experience with Mahler's work. "We are certain
that Schuricht doesn't have this work on his repertoire since 1933", sneered
the socialist newspaper Het Volk. That was a problem indeed. Schuricht,
Generalmusikdirektor of Wiesbaden, was extremely pleased about the
invitation, but was prudent enough to ask permission from the German
authorities to conduct a work of a Jewish composer. Which he received.
THE PERFORMANCE.
Das Lied von der Erde was very well known in Amsterdam. It had been
performed several times under the baton of Mengelberg and Bruno Walter. So
it was obvious that most critics made a comparison with the performances
they had heard before. This of course is for us the most interesting part of
their reviews. Is Schuricht's recording indeed the closest we can get to
Mengelberg's interpretation of Das Lied von der Erde? If we believe the
Dutch critics of 1939 the answer is: yes and no. See for yourself:
"Schuricht, who has the same view on Mahler as Mengelberg..." (Standaard)
"The performance of Das Lied von der Erde was insofar curious that it
showed a view principally different from the view with which prof. dr.
Mengelberg and also Walter have made us familiar. Schuricht is seeing more
the broad outlines than the detail, he is just making music instead of
romanticizing, with the consequence that he is sparse with rubato's and
expressivo's. In some respects it had its advantages, because the
hypersensitive and theatratical elements are less accentuated, but one is
wondering if the most characteristic aspects of the work don't disappear
that way (...). The real Mahler we didn't see" (Handelsblad)
"We're used to a more impassioned performance of the same music ... The
deep core of Mahler's music remained absent. This style of maximal
expressivo demands a intensive care for each detail. With Schuricht it was
only a well polished exterior... " (Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant)
" .... concerning artistic mentality Schuricht is close to Mengelberg.
His Mahler interpretation is therefore spiritually oriented the same way as
"ours". It has the same love of sound, the same kinds of emotion, of joy and
of sorrow. Its practice, its realization runs parallell to our tradition.
Under the baton of Schuricht the orchestra can therefore play much more as
it is used to than under Walter - for this art the very antipode of
Mengelberg ( ...) Yesterday's performance differed only in details from
Mengelberg's: the best definition is `reflection'". (...) which also means
it was missing the three dimensions, the personality of Mengelberg's
evocation" (De Telegraaf)
" ... in the Concertgebouw we are used to a Lied von der Erde with more
tension, charged with tragedy and sorrowful humour, a more saturated sound,
more vigourous tempi, a broader elan, an intenser pulse" (De Tijd)
"Although [Schuricht] didn't succeed to give it the same tension and
expansiveness as Mengelberg, we must express our appreciation that at such a
short term he succeeded to establish such a good relation with the orchestra
..." (De Nederlander)
"It was a clever and smooth performance, but one missed with these
deliberate tempi the sharp tension, the grand elan, the dazzling vision we
are spoiled with" (Gooi en Eemlander)
Concerning the singers, the critics were much more on the same line.
Oehmann was good, but not an Urlus. Thorborg was also good, but being a
mezzo instead of the usual contralto lacked the proper voice for Das Lied.
They probably would have shuddered if they had heard Jessey Norman, Janet
Baker or Waltraud Meier.
THE INCIDENT: "Deutschland ueber Alles, Herr Schuricht".
Not all the critics reported the incident and some of them hadn't
understood what had been said. But most of them agreed in concerned "a
lady, or rather a member of the female sex" (De Telegraaf) or even "a
bespectacled young lady" (De Courant) sitting in one of the front seats who
stood up just before the alto should begin the second part of der Abschied,
walked to the rostrum of the conductor, said calmly "Deutschland ueber
alles, Herr Schuricht" (with a clear Dutch accent as can be heard on the
recording), and left the hall.
Why? Didn't she agree that is was Schuricht who was engaged? Didn't she
like Mahler? Was it a protest against Nazi-Germany? Or wanted she to rebuke
Schuricht because of he was conducting music of a Jewish composer? None of
the critics was sure, but most of them simply wrote that nobody understood
what she was saying, and that she must have been a bit delirious.
Some critics noted that Schuricht hesitated before continuing, another
wrote he looked back and shaked his head. But according to another critic he
became deathly pale. And the audience? "... by means of the applause it made
perfectly clear that it doens't want to have anything to do with politics in
the concerthall of a neutral country" (De Standaard).
A memorable evening, but it would have been much more memorable if
Mengelberg hadn't been ill and instead of a curious incident we would have a
recording of Das Lied von der Erde conducted by what might have been its
best interpreter. >>
[END OF QUOTATION FROM MESSAGE BY BENJAMIN MASO on rec.music.classical.recordings DATED 31 MARCH 1999]