Kyrill
Kondrashin was one of the greatest of Russian
conductors, some say the greatest, and in a time when none
of his colleagues, save perhaps Koussevitzky in Boston, performed
Mahler, he took it upon himself to do so, in the process
displaying a remarkable affinity for his music. His set on Lys
(now no longer available) featuring the first, third, fourth,
fifth and ninth symphonies (the vocal/choral parts in Russian
yet!), as well as the live performance of the seventh symphony
with the Concertgebouw Orchestra on Tahra Records bear testimony
to this. The Russian performances may have sounded more like
Shostakovich than Mahler, especially in the ninth symphony, but
this may have had more to do with the sound of the orchestra
itself rather than the performance.
This performance of the first symphony in the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw from 1981 is a fine tribute to the art of Kyrill
Kondrashin. It is also the last time he would ever conduct as he
passed away in his hotel room that same evening. Another Mahlerian,
Klaus Tennstedt was to have performed the work with the touring
NDR Symphony Orchestra, but Kondrashin took over at short notice
as Tennstedt was ill. Despite the lack of rehearsal time, the
performance is a magnificent one, with every passage guided by the
hand of the master, if seemingly improvised at times. Tempi are
generally swift but there is no lack of mystery in the first
movement, which unfolds with a fine balance of dramatic thrust and
poetry. Audience noise and coughing is apparent at the start but
quickly reduces as the performance progresses. The NDR Orchestra
play with plenty of youthful verve and joyful passion, with a
chamber music-like quality that would put many a great orchestra
to shame, even if they weren’t technically first-tier. Listen to
the way Kondrashin builds the music, establishing his famous
fortes in the first climax, and how naturally and lovingly he
shapes the themes. Sometimes when I listen to music I get chills
from the pleasure, and the performance had me shivering with
delight. Youthful music, to be played with youthful abandon, and
Kondrashin delivers it in spades.
The rustic Scherzo dances with joy – there’s no other word to
describe this. Listen to the way the fiddles dig into their
strings – pure fun here, and there’s a very charming, natural ebb
and flow to the Trio that is quite irresistible. The intimate
details in a Mahler symphony matter as much as the greatest
climaxes, and Kondrashin captures the spirit of both ends, and
everything else in between.
The funeral march that begins the
Frère Jacques movement begins
more blasély
than most. Scherchen and Mitropoulos (in his
Minneapolis Orchestra recording) took the chance to present the
grotesquerie in Mahler, Kondrashin (and Michael Gielen, soon to be
reviewed on TFI) takes a more straightforward approach, and the
music is no poorer for it. The lilt of the music is once again
gentle and unforced, a pleasure to listen to, smiling and
unsullied. We transit into the music from Lieder eines
fahrenden Gesellen as though in a dream, and the section is
played beautifully, but totally unmaudlin. More sarcasm informs
the music after, transformed and disillusioned, and Kondrashin
captures this perfectly.
Most impressive, however, is the last movement. Kondrashin
negotiates the structure of this unerringly, with no lack of
drama. The orchestra plays even more impassionedly than before,
raising Heaven and Hell in the opening passages and coming off
impressively, the excitement visceral. Kondrashin’s love of the
music is palpable, especially in the more lyrical music. In places
the playing turns a little scrappy, but this was probably due to
exhaustion on the part of the touring orchestra. He takes a longer
Luftpaus than normal, so that the key change after is all the more
effective. Here is storming, brilliant, eccentric, confident
Mahler, in the most inventive, original first symphony that any
one would ever write, and Kondrashin knows this. The coda rings
with thunderous authority, the battle well-fought, the victory
richly deserved. Marvelous! The applause has been edited out, but
I felt like cheering.
A last point - from a technical standpoint, what is amazing, is
the amount of attention to detail in the performance, particularly
at such short notice – if you hadn’t known that he had taken over
at the last minute you might have thought that he had rehearsed
for hours and hours with the orchestra – his trademark beauty of
sound is apparent and the orchestra play as if they were his own.
For one last evening, Kondrashin had the orchestra in the palm of
his hand, inspiring them to greatness. How sad, that he had to
leave us so soon, at just sixty-six.
A wonderful performance, not to be missed.
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