Introducing Mahler: Symphony No. 5

"Performances of this quality do not come along very often. Such is the power of Abbado's performance that Part 1 (the first two movements) left me so moved I had to take a break before proceeding to the remaining two parts, or three movements. The majority of other performances I have heard have tended to structure the performance in three sections like this: (a) Trauermarsch, (b) Second Movement and Scherzo, (c) Adagietto and Rondo Finale. Mahler's own division has the first two movements as Part 1, the Scherzo as Part 2 and the Adagietto and Rondo as Part 3. This is the pattern that emerges from Abbado's performance on this disc. There is a minimum break after a shattering Trauermarsch but a full pause for genteel coughing at the start and finish of the Scherzo. The audience in the Lucerne Hall are as silent as one could wish during the music, allowing the huge dynamics of Abbado's hand-picked orchestra to tell. What other orchestra boasts members of an internationally renowned string quartet in its ranks plus a list of other orchestral luminaries from all over the world? The string section is not only very large but also play with a passion and unanimity that makes one feel privileged to hear them. There are countless details of phrasing and dynamics that could not be achieved by the conductor unless he knows his musicians understand. That they do understand is clear not only from their playing but from their expressions and from the frequency of their glances toward the conductor: an exemplar of unanimity. This being a film one can view Mahler's frequent requests for the woodwind and horns to raise their instruments, and view Abbado as he conducts from memory a score that, even by Mahler's standards, is hugely complex - the composer was still refining it at the very end of his life. It is a mystery to many concertgoers what a conductor actually does and I regret to say this riddle will not be solved by the present issue. If anything the mystery will be intensified as one watches Abbado apparently drawing exactly what he wants from well over a hundred musicians by some extra-sensory means. It is fascinating to watch."
MUSICWEB.CO.UK

Lucerne's acoustically superb KKL hall has this handpicked orchestra sounding most impressive: so is the performance, in its supercharged way."
(BBC Music Magazine)

"the recorded sound of this Abbado-handpicked orchestra is something special. So is the playing, which has a full-throated, epic splendour from start to finish, under the unobtrusive command of Abbado's conducting."
(Classic FM)