Mahler, G: Symphony No 1 in D (including Blumine) – London Philharmonic; Vladimir Jurowski

×

Mahler, G: Symphony No 1 in D (including Blumine) – London Philharmonic; Vladimir Jurowski

Close

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No 1 in D major (including "Blumine") –
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 300 Mb (3% recovery)| FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans
Publisher: London Philharmonic Orchestra | Recorded: 2010 | Published: 2013

The Europadisc Review

Although one of the most spontaneous-sounding of all Mahler’s works, the First Symphony had a lengthy genesis. It took him four years (1884–88) to compose its first version, a five-movement symphonic poem in two parts, which then underwent a series of revisions and performances, gaining the title ‘Titan’, before being further substantially revised and pruned of the ‘Blumine’ slow movement (rediscovered by Donald Mitchell in 1966) as well as its overt programme, to emerge in 1896 as the four-movement work more or less as it’s known today.
This new release on the London Philharmonic’s own label, recorded live at London’s Royal Festival Hall in December 2010, is a handsome by product of the double Mahler anniversary of 2010–11. The accompanying booklet notes state that ‘[t]his recording presents [the Symphony] in its original form, reinstating the movement dropped by Mahler’. However, what Vladimir Jurowski and his players actually perform is the familiar final version of the First Symphony, with the previously discarded ‘Blumine’ restored to its place after the first movement.
Purists may frown on this mix-and-match approach to versions, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and such is the conviction with which Jurowski and the LPO present the work that any criticism is quickly disarmed. The conductor’s reasons for including the movement cut by Mahler are themselves of interest: ‘I felt quite strongly about the multi-layered philosophical concept of the early symphonies (i.e. 1, 2 and 3), where the first movement is always followed by an intermezzo-type slower movement, then a much rougher Scherzo. I think the inclusion of the “Blumine” movement makes the links between the three early symphonies much more apparent.’ It also arguably makes more sense of the quotation from ‘Blumine’ that remains in the final version of the Symphony’s last movement.
The performance itself is an exceptionally fine one, unlikely to disappoint anyone already familiar with the widely-acclaimed ‘Resurrection’ Symphony from the same team — in fact, it’s probably even better. The recording is a close one, placing the listener in the front row of the stalls, yet not unduly dry, but rather brimming with detail and expressive immediacy. Violins are arranged antiphonally, left and right, so that the string writing comes across with the greatest clarity even in the loudest tuttis.
In the first movement, Jurowski creates a sense of natural space with a broad basic pulse and beautifully hushed string playing, against which the pert woodwind solos emerge with particular freshness. The exposition repeat is observed, and the tuttis are brilliantly animated, pushing towards an exhilarating close. The reflective ‘Blumine’ movement, its trumpet solo clearly anticipating the posthorn of the Third Symphony, flowers beautifully, to set up a gripping transition into a wonderfully earthy reading of the following Ländler, with gutsy portamenti and a nicely contrastive, relaxed Trio section.
The macabrely funereal ‘Frère Jacques’ movement (or ‘Bruder Martin’ as it would have been for Mahler) is perfectly poised between tragedy and comedy (its early version was described by the composer as ‘a funeral march in the manner of Callot’). The klezmer sections are especially idiomatic, and there’s a magical stillness in the section that quotes Mahler’s song ‘Die zwei blauen Augen’.
From its tempestuous opening, through the abundantly lyricism of the secondary material and the quotes from other movements and works, to its exultant close, the LPO play the last movement as if their collective lives depended on it. The range of tone colour in the strings in particular is astonishing, and the whole is animated with superb assurance by their Principal Conductor. It’s a thrilling conclusion to a recording that easily stands comparison with such past greats as Kubelík, Kondrashin and Walter. A must for Mahlerians everywhere!