Zdenek Macal

Zdeněk Mácal, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No.2 “Resurrection” (2008)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 81:15 minutes | Front/Rear Cover | 3,25 GB
or DSD64 2.0 Stereo (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Front/Rear Cover | 3,2 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front/Rear Cover | 1,52 GB
DSD Recording | Exton / Octavia Records Japan # OVCL-00370

Once the least performed and recorded of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, due mostly to its taxing length, the Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” in C minor now appears with some regularity on disc and with increasing frequency on SACDs. This recording from Exton, featuring Zdenek Mácal and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, is remarkable for its spacious sound, close-up details, and wide-frequency range, and the interpretation is on a par with many other first-rate performances, so finding points of distinction between them is perhaps a futile endeavor, especially since only aficionados of this work will detect them. Mácal is certainly attuned to Mahler’s extreme mood swings and a unique mix of innocent reverence and sardonic parody, and there is nothing lacking in the CPO’s brilliant execution of the score, which displays many extended techniques and an extraordinary palette of tone colors.

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