COMPOSERS: Mahler
LABELS: DG Classikon
WORKS: Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)
PERFORMER: Edith Mathis (soprano), Norma Procter (contralto); Bavarian RSO & Chorus/Rafael Kubelík
CATALOGUE NO: 449 848-2 ADD 1969
Kubelík’s may not be the last word in apocalyptic breadth; but there has never been a clearer or more personable guide to the structural and instrumental wonders of the Resurrection. The Bavarian orchestra turns in a truly vocal performance, from graphic first-movement wails and shrieking Wunderhorn grotesques to the brass chorales of the Panavision finale (you can hear the congregation singing long before the choir’s magical entry).
The sound can be a little glassy at climaxes, but generally freer and more open than several others in Kubelík’s Mahler cycle. David Nice