Mahler’s Ninth is Vänskä’s Eighth Release

courtesy of Naxos of America

According to my records, it has been well over two years since BIS Records released the seventh installment in its project to record the symphonies of Gustav Mahler performed by the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Osmo Vänskä. Presumably, the delay can be attributed to the COVID pandemic, since that previous release was recorded at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis in June of 2019, long before the onset of pandemic conditions. However, the project now appears to be “back on track” with the release of the ninth symphony album at the beginning of this month.

That means that only two albums remain to be released. However, I use that modifier “only” with great caution, since the two symphonies that have not yet been released are the two “monsters” in the full canon. Both the third and the eighth require extensive vocal resources, both solos and choral, along with a full symphony orchestra. The ninth, on the other hand, is a relatively straightforward four-movement affair, although it is probably unfair to think of any Mahler symphony as being “straightforward.”

Those that know their Mahler know that the ninth was his last completed symphony. Mahler had been aware of his heart condition back when he was composing his sixth symphony. His diagnosis accounted for one of the “hammer blows” in the final movement of that symphony. Whether or not the ninth was conceived to parallel the sixth is open for debate, but it is worth noting that both of those symphonies have four movements. (Over the course of his career, Mahler never saw himself as a “slave” for the four-movement structure.)

I have come to know the ninth rather well, particularly since Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) gave several performances of it during his tenure as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Indeed, there is a dark irony to the most recent of those concerts in the context of Mahler’s heart condition. That concert took place in June of 2019; and, following the last of the performances that MTT conducted, he traveled to Cleveland for a cardiac procedure.

I should also offer a disclaimer of sorts to the effect that the dynamic range of the Mahler ninth is so wide that I doubt that even the best recording technology can accommodate it. Indeed, when I listen to this new recording, I find that I have to “ride” the volume control. If I want to appreciate the subtleties of the softer passages, I have to “crank up” the volume, after which I have to remember to turn it back down before being overwhelmed by louder passages!

Nevertheless, such “active listening” is worth the effort. Vänskä has clearly put considerable thought into tempo management. It is almost as if every phrase establishes its own identity through its own tempo selection. This is particularly the case in the second movement. One may call this a “scherzo in spirit,” even if Mahler rejected that label in favor of “Ländler.” Taken in its entirely, the movement is a wild roller-coaster ride; and I have the greatest admiration for how Vänskä served up that ride.

Still, while I now have a rather generous number of recordings of the ninth symphony, I have to confess that my preferences will always be with concert performances.