Mahler: Symphony no.5
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GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony no.5
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Daniel Harding
[ Harmonia Mundi / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 11 January 2019
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For the second installment in his Mahler cycle for harmonia mundi, Daniel Harding revisits a symphony which clearly represents a turning point in the composer's output. The years following Mahler's early period (marked by Des Knaben Wunderhorn) saw the production of works of ever greater complexity and sardonicism, which show no trace of naïveté. Within a framework of utmost intricacy, the themes, musical gestures, and building blocks (for instance, the interval of a minor third which opens the Fifth Symphony's famous Adagietto) trace a journey from darkness to light which culminates in the striking modernity of the finale.
"Not everyone will take to Daniel Harding's mostly leisurely, studied approach to Mahler's Fifth…but what spectacular playing! Who knew the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he is principal conductor, could be quite as electrifying as this? Horns and trumpets are paramount, as they have to be in this symphony…The strings are world-class, too, nuanced and capable of powerful accents." BBC Music (****/*****)
"Harding's strategy is not to duck the composer's frequent recourses to extremity but to meet them head-on...In a market where modern rivals sound pedestrian or perfumed with finesse by comparison, this Fifth raises high hopes for what the graphic cover artwork implies may become a complete cycle." Gramophone
"Harding's motto is "safety first". He follows the score's expression marks with forensic precision and an impeccable regard for nuances of phrasing. This approach reaps immediate dividends whenever tempos slow, as in the famous adagietto, which is coolly dispatched yet still succulent." The Times
