Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan – Mahler : Symphony No.5 (1996/2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan – Mahler : Symphony No.5 (1996/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:37 minutes | 1,32 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

GBAs time has gone by in my collecting of Mahler on cd I have often been guided by the well known music critic ‘TD’. Most of the time TD proves invaluable in pointing the Mahler listener in the right direction but, on occasion, I have found myself disagreeing with him – and this is now the third time in which I must disagree. Anyone who has bothered to read through TD’s guide to Mahler recordings will already be aware just how dismissive he is regarding this recording by the BPO under Karajan’s baton, and it was that dismissiveness which led me to seek out other recordings first, in preference to this one. But, now that I have finally gotten around to purchasing this disc I feel compelled to review it, give it the five stars which it deserves, and say that I think TD was utterly wrong in being so dismissive of this recording. It may well be true that it is not ‘the greatest’ Fifth ever to be commited to disc but this is, nevertheless, a very fine reading indeed and sumptuously recorded / remastered by the sound engineers. It deserves to be amongst the other Fifth’s which you own and I, for one, look forward to giving it repeated listens.

When Karajan’s Mahler’s Fifth was first released in 1973, many if not most critics thought the old man was jumping on the Mahler bandwagon. This was back in the days when every Tom, Dick, or Harry who could wave a stick in the air was not conducting Mahler, the days when conducting Mahler was seen as new and daring and somehow a little dangerous, the days when Mahler was not accepted as a part of the standard repertoire and certainly not accepted by conductors who had been raised in a system that thought of his music as banal, bombastic, and even degenerate. But the tide was turning for Mahler’s music and that Karajan would record a Mahler symphony was a mark of how high Mahler’s tide had risen. But many if not most critics lambasted Karajan’s Fifth, calling it cold, efficient, and impersonal and declaring it harsh and hard and smelling faintly of condescension, Of course, they were wrong. Karajan’s Fifth is no labor or love — the Adagietto, Mahler’s declaration of love to his soon-to-be wife has no trace of affection in it — but it is a brilliantly played, thoroughly considered, wholly respectful, deeply dramatic, and ultimately quite moving performance. If Karajan’s performance is not as inspired as Bernstein’s, it is a much tighter and tauter performance and it holds up much better on re-listening. And if Karajan’s Adagietto is not about love, it is still one of the most ravishingly gorgeous, exquisitely sensual, and profoundly sexual Adagietto’s ever recorded.

Tracklist:
1-1. Berliner Philharmoniker – I. Trauermarsch (In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt – Plötzlich schneller. Leidenschaftlich. Wild – Tempo I) (13:03)
1-2. Berliner Philharmoniker – II. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz – Bedeutend langsamer – Tempo I subito (15:10)
1-3. Berliner Philharmoniker – III. Scherzo (Kräftig, nicht zu schnell) (18:07)
1-4. Berliner Philharmoniker – IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam (11:52)
1-5. Berliner Philharmoniker – V. Rondo-Finale (Allegro) (15:22)

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