Jaap van Zweden reviews

Naxos’s recent Rheingold featured exceptional cast and recording. I was less impressed with Jaap van Zweden’s conducting, a decent first stab but lacking detail, and Matthias Goerne’s surprisingly stolid Wotan. Not so this Walküre.

This Mahler Symphony No. 3 begins impressively with Dallas horns round and resonant in their resident concert hall. It ends with a very naturally shaped finale, strings articulating beautifully as one would expect under a conductor who used to be the leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Jaap van Zweden has wrought an impressive identity for the orchestra in his eight years to date as music director, a feat analogous to the still-underrated days of Eduardo Mata. But is it enough to put this live interpretation up there among the greats in a crowded market?