Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)
Published:
COMPOSERS: Mahler
LABELS: Millennium
WORKS: Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)
PERFORMER: Mimi Coertse (soprano), Lucretia West (contralto)Vienna Academy Chamber Choir, Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Hermann Scherchen
CATALOGUE NO: MCD 80353 ADD 1958
‘Resurrection for what? Resurrection from what?’ demanded that tenacious modernist Hermann Scherchen, conducting Mahler’s Second in Twenties Germany. Over three decades later in the recording studio he still refused to see any shining optimism. Once the first movement’s hazy visions of assurance, beautifully sustained here, have had their say, it’s a very steady downhill journey, with a mechanical minuet, a lazily slithering mass of humanity in the scherzo and sobriety rather than apocalyptic gravity on Judgement Day. Unfortunately, variable execution and recorded balances obstruct the clarity of Scherchen’s viewpoint. David Nice