GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. 1 – Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/Järvi
I do believe this is one of the best – perhaps even the best – account of Mahler’s precocious First Symphony that I’ve heard on disc since the celebrated Bernstein/Concertgebouw version. Paavo Järvi and his Zurich orchestra really do make it feel and sound brand new. Its daring colourations are relished, its youthful audacity writ large. Everything is ripe and vivid.
That eight-octave deep haze of the opening paragraph is all about establishing the spatial canvass of the piece – nature as far as the eye can see. The distillation at the heart of the movement has the wayfarer stopping in his tracks to listen and contemplate. Of course we get the exposition repeat ending the bad habits of yesteryear and the jaunty ‘lift’ of the music is keen and zesty. One expects Järvi to encourage those outrageous horn whoops and trills in the coda and the reckless sprint to the finishing line is entirely in keeping with the abandoned spirit of the music.
The country dancing of the scherzo is suitably vigorous and ungainly and I like the sense of ‘winding up’ Järvi achieves with the heavy lumbering opening bars. Rhythms are trenchant and a touch uncouth. The trio makes the most of all those schmaltzy Viennese hesitations. All the hallmarks of Mahler to come are established here.
As characterisation goes the third movement takes the palm with all the Klezmer band elements amped up to turn the funeral march into a rustic knees-up replete with oom-pah percussion, vulgar trombone slides, and wild clarinets. The sentimental trio ladles on the vibrato.
Needless to say, Järvi is in his element as the fire and fury of the finale descends – but what really excites here is the amount of inner-detail he achieves in the counterpoint. Text book classicism pushed to extremes. The big triumphal gestures land, of course, but I love his ardent way with the big second subject and the freedom that the Zurich strings achieve in the phrasing. Indeed the playing is really marvellous throughout.
Put simply this account rekindles much of the excitement that I for one experienced in hearing the piece for the first time. Heartily recommended.
