Gustav Mahler Symphonies, CSO/George Solti

Much Noise About Nothing

Throughout his long career, Sir Georg Solti made a slew of recordings for Decca, which include quite a few memorable performances, particularly of operas. An outstanding conductor, he was widely admired for his tremendous vigor, relentless quest for technical perfection and unerring sense of musical drama.

Then why am I not gushing with praise over these virtuoso performances, despite knowing that they were recorded by the great Sir Georg Solti in collaboration with one of the world’s best orchestras (the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), a starry lineup of soloists and a famous record label known for producing quality sound recordings? Simply because Sir Georg Solti took a curiously one-sided view of Mahler’s symphonies, glossing over their spiritual and emotional content. He treated them merely as a great music extravaganza, a kind of theatrical pageant with well-rehearsed dramatic gestures and dazzling orchestral fireworks. One might even say that these one-dimensional, thoroughly theatrical readings are a perfect gift to Mahler’s detractors, who dismiss his works as spiritually and intellectually deficient, long on form and short on substance, full of kitsch, and so forth.

In short, look elsewhere.

If you are a die-hard music fan searching for a “desert-island” set of Mahler’s symphonies, I suggest that you collect recordings by various performers. But if you want these symphonies interpreted by one conductor, try Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon or Sony) or Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon). Alternatively, you might want to consider Michael Gielen (Hännsler Classic), Riccardo Chailly (Decca), Klaus Tennstedt (EMI) or Rafael Kubelik (Deutsche Grammophon).

In closing, let me just add that one of the recordings on review is generally regarded as excellent (the 8th Symphony); three as above-average (the 1st, the 5th and the 7th); five as average (the 2nd, the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th and the Adagio from the “10th Symphony”); and one as rather poor (the 4th Symphony).

(Translated from the Polish by Krzysztof Mąkosa)

© by Krzysztof Mąkosa