Composer: Gustav Mahler
Performer: Anna Lucia Richter
Orchestra: Bamberger Symphoniker
Conductor: Jakub Hrůša
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Accentus
Catalogue: ACC30532
Release: 2021
Size: 949 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 4
01. I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen
02. II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast
03. III. Ruhevoll
04. IV. Sehr behaglich
Some orchestras more than others reveal with natural acuity the sonic and poetic imagination of a composer. For Mahler, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra seems the ideal instrument. Something very deep in the textures of this orchestra invariably sets it apart: the acoustic space always seems wider than the senses might suggest; the sound takes the time to live, in the moment and in its extension. The orchestra immediately moves Mahler’s world away from a post-romanticism that diminishes him, and likewise it declines to plunge him into excessive modernity. This is not Klemperer, Bernstein or Boulez. This is a very singular world, whose rhetoric is really nourished by the freedom granted to each timbre, and by the combination of what makes them unique. In concert, the experience remains as memorable as it is breathtaking. Parisians for example had the chance, in February 2019, to hear the Third Symphony at the Philharmonie by the same artists, then on tour, at an evening performance recorded by France Musique.
Musical director of the Bamberger Symphoniker since 2016, the excellent Jakub Hrůša, always concerned with balance, lets the orchestra flourish and open like a flower, with multiple layers, while making sure to keep the line flowing. In this regard, Ruhevoll is a moment of pure beauty, unheard of sensitivity, with phrasing, polyphonic balances – the opening theme! If you really like Mahler, you cannot miss this absolutely essential, immersive journey into the heart of nature.
“When the Bamberg Symphony and their principal conductor Jakub Hruša went on tour in Germany with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony in January 2020, no one would have thought that this symphony in particular would become a kind of “”symphony of fate”” of the year, for only two months later, the performance of major symphonic works was impossible for a long time after the “”corona lockdown”” in Germany, which hit cultural institutions particularly hard. The Bamberg Symphony were involved at an early stage in investigating the effects of making music together on the spread of the virus and helped to develop concepts for safe concert performances. This enabled their renowned Mahler Competition to take place in early July 2020, with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony at its center. Even though it is the smallest Mahler symphony, these were the first symphonic performances after months, which then led to one of the first symphonic CD recordings in times of the pandemic – seated apart, but musically closer than ever. Recorded at Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal July 2020 A co-production with BR Klassik”