 |
Recording Mahler's Third Symphony with the London Philharmonia by Jim Pritchard, Mahler Society U.K.
1/13/2004 11:00 AMThe January release of Ben Zander's wonderful - almost otherworldly - account of Mahler's Third Symphony on Telarc sent me back to my diary about the recording early last year in the faux- Edwardian splendour of the Walthamstow Assembly Hall. The recording of one of the movements 'What the cuckoo tells me' illustrates quite well the collaborative effort involved. (As most of you are aware this Scherzo opens with an orchestral version of the Wunderhorn song 'Ablösung in Sommer' ('Relief in Summer') telling how the nightingale sings throughout the summer once the cuckoo is dead.)
Sunday 2 March. The Hall has a relaxed purposeful air with everyone comfortably and casually dressed. Zander calls for the playing to be 'humoresque' and later illustrates this clearly by 'dancing' left and right on the podium while conducting. He calls for more accents from the woodwinds to give him a sound 'as if screaming'. The divided strings section (led by the enigmatic Maya Iwabuchi) on either side of him play splendidly as though answering each other. The recording's producer David St George (whose voice throughout emerges amplified into the hall like the portentous utterances of a pantomime's villain) calls a halt to the proceedings to consider the sound levels. Alistair Mackie is relegated to the foyer of the Assembly Hall some 50 yards from the conductor to play an authentic three-valved post horn in B flat. Loudness is a problem and all doors at the front of the hall have to be closed. Zander calls for a 'sound as though it comes from the real world as the first entrance of humanity'. The opening and closing of one door controls how close the post horn sounds. The piccolos initially cause a problem by obscuring the entry of the post horn. Zander asks for a 'shimmering haze on a summer afternoon' then ' a little more shimmer' so he instructs both cellos and basses to 'put fingers on strings in the softest way'. David St George calls for the orchestra to 'exaggerate the dynamics because the hall is rather swampy and everything needs to be played with more clarity'. Zander reminds the musicians that Mahler said about the music that 'All Nature is pulling faces and putting out their tongues'. He illustrates points on a small electronic keyboard and gives an opportunity for members of the orchestra to make suggestions about his conducting that would make it easier for them to follow what he wanted from them.
Repetition is the key to getting it right. Zander calls for 'lots of sparkle' again for the opening but even this must be redone as it was slightly under the required tempo. Then the post horn solo was broken down and repeated in its three parts to cover the recording. Finally the orchestra was told to 'go wild and be as rude as possible' for the closing bars. (So wild was it that during this final ensemble Zander's baton broke and flew over the second violins.) David St George worried that the 'warm exquisite Philharmonia sound' was not coming through sufficiently and so with time for this particular session running out a further three sections - involving the post horn and other horns, as well as passages towards the end of the movement were played once more. Finally there was a break for lunch and the orchestra returned later in the day to continue their painstaking path to the perfect Mahler Third.
===============
This recording (that is released to coincide with the Zander/Philharmonia concert of Mahler's First Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 25 January) is available on Telarc 80599 and includes as usual the bonus CD where Benjamin Zander discusses the work. I highly recommend it.
|
|
 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
