WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW
5
By Azunai the Defender
I am an insufferable Chailly fan when it comes to Mahler, but being an insufferable Barenboim fan in all else I had to try this. Wow, wow, wow, was I extremely pleasantly surprised. Orchestral quality aside (as both Chicago and the Concertgebouw are fabulous though I would have gone with Chicago back when this was recorded) the conducting of Barenboim was a match made in heaven by Mahler's fifth symphony. The enormous emotion and all-encompassing feeling of the symphony is perfectly and divinely exemplified here. The "sorrow march" of the opening is crisp and very much a march, but Barenboim maintains a wonderful sustaining quality of sound with Chicago that can be heard in very little other places. The climax of the movement is easily one of the best executed moments in music that I have heard. Ever. The next movement is Vehement and Stormy, it seems alive and thrashing until the "slow" (langsam) movement comes around and drags along moodily, darkly, and ever so darkly. The Scherzo is truly all encompassing, and Dale Clevenger gives us horns a good name and Mahler himself a run for his money in his EXTREMELY powerful and beautiful rendition of the obligatto part. Let us not forget the tuba, who I can actually HEAR for once. The adagio is divine, without any question about it. I would spend twice 9.99 just for that movement. And finally, and most importantly, the Finale MOVES. So often when I hear this movement I hear the same themes over, and over, and over and OVER, but no not here. In this miraculous interpretative work of art I feel like something is inevitably coming, the constant movement is an EXTREMELY refreshing change, and for once I enjoyed the rest of the movement as much as I enjoyed the ending of the symphony, which executed like no other. Truly the best recording of any Mahler symphony and my favorite recording of all time. Listen and FEEL the very spirit of the world itself!!!
