Composer: Gustav Mahler
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 624 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
Part One
01. Movement I: Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt
02. Movement II: Sturmisch bewegt. Mit gro?ter Vehemenz
Part Two
03. Movement III: Scherzo. Kraftig, nicht zu schnell
Part Three
04. Movement IV: Adagietto. Sehr langsam
05. Movement V: Rondo – Finale. Allegro
The Fifth Symphony (1901-02) itself demonstrates Mahler’s principle of “progressive tonality,” moving from a Funeral March to a jubilant sense of triumph in D Major. In the course this monumental score, divided into three parts, Mahler juxtaposes the most extreme emotions and musical forms: learned counterpoint and simple country laendler, vociferous anger and grotesque fantasies, and grateful love and appreciation of Nature and human affection.
If martial energy and resentment dominate the first two movements, a blissful or triumphant note emerges from the chorale motifs later in the score, even anticipated, in the stormy second movement, when pantheistic and visionary elements in the brass interrupt the dreadful impetus of the music. In a letter to his wife, Alma, Mahler expressed his own reaction to the originally-scored brass turbulence: “Heavens, what is the public to make of this chaos in which new worlds are forever being engendered, only to crumble into ruin the next moment? What are they to say to this primeval music, this foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound, to these dancing stars, to these breathtaking, iridescent, and flashing breakers?”„Listening to the recording . . . I felt aware of a powerfully unifying, interpretive force that was pushing and pulling the music in the most subtle, natural way. Realizing that this must be the ‘silent’ personality of the conductor, I immediately cemented my reactions to the name ‘Claudio Abbado’. The link had been made and I was a fan from that day on, without really knowing it.“ –Dinuk Wijeratne, Musical Toronto