Telarc 8.110861 (5 & 6)
[62:01] budget price
 

Current Reviews

        by Geoff Woods

Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 1-3

Martha Argerich, piano
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor



Samuel Barber
Orchestral Works and Concertos
Leonard Slatkin, Charles Munch



Rimsky-Korsakov
Evgeny Svetlanov


Beethoven
Symphony No.9
Piano Transcription by Franz Liszt
Konstantin Scherbakov, Piano



Kronos Caravan

Under its Romanian music director Yoel Levi the Atlanta Symphony has reached unprecedented heights of technical brilliance and must now be ranked amongst the top US orchestras. Its sections are flawless and complement each other perfectly; its winds in particular are highly accomplished. It has not acquired that sheen of elegance which characterizes the Boston Symphony, or the peculiar brassy boldness of the Chicago Symphony, but its responsiveness, blended textures, and coloristic range bear comparison with Cleveland and Los Angeles. It plays with verve and finesse, and can pile on the power where necessary; in short, it’s a magnificent instrument, showcased to the hilt in Telarc’s stunningly clear recording.

Interpretatively, however, this Mahler 6 falls far short of magnificence. The power of Levi’s performances arises more from meticulous calibration of tempi and balances than from spontaneity, rhetoric drive, or poetic imagination. This approach worked wonders in his recording with the same orchestra of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, but here it comes off as clinical and trite. The Sixth Symphony is an architectonic work, not a scenic one like the first five Mahler symphonies; spontaneity, rhetoric drive, and poetic imagination are consequently just what a good performance of it needs. Otherwise it comes off as just what it is not—pessimistic prolix. That this can be done without losing sight of the work’s architecture has been proven by Karajan (Berlin Philharmonic) and, surpassingly, by Boulez (Chicago Symphony).

Besides these juggernauts Levi looks dull and superficial. Little differentiation is made between the emotional temperatures of the variously contrasted subject groups; the pervasive sharp accents and swift tempi seem to be ends in themselves rather than organic components of the musical argument. Sample the first five bars of Levi and, say, Mitropoulos (WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln) respectively: the latter’s raw, weighty sonorities convey gut-crunching drama, the former’s clipped accents a mere brisk march that has little to do with what follows. The slow movement, in particular, is woefully dry, and the finale is undercharged, even despite the spectacular dynamic range of the recording. It unfolds like the minutes of a corporate meeting and one senses that the players are dutifully following orders rather than really playing their hearts out, as they do for Mitropoulos, Bernstein, and Barbirolli, to name but a few. There is definitely much orchestral playing to admire, but one must look askance at any recording of this symphony whose defining feature is the quality of its execution. I’m afraid that this a recording best suited to the boardroom—brusque and businesslike without being too bullish.
 

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