New Mahler Recording (Symphony #4)

[haydnguy]

Yet another new Mahler recording. (Coming April 14th to Amazon(u.s.).

[Herzeleide]

Interesting mix with the little-known Schoenberg songs.

[Balthazar]

I love this symphony. The profusion of themes in the first movement is amazing even for Mahler. He makes the trapeze act of developing all these themes seem effortless.

Because of the omnipresent sleigh-bells and the unbearably poetic song at the end, my kids always call it the "Christmas Symphony." I admit we may have overlooked some of Mahler's irony while we were trimming the tree.

Every year, I try to find a new recording to enjoy. We always loved the Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander, with soprano Jane West. This past Yuletide, we discovered the San Francisco Symphony recording, with Michael Tilson Thomas and soprano Laura Claycomb. It's an exquisitely detailed performance that some may find a bit fussy. I personally think Thomas makes a great case for the value of the many treasures in this often dismissed work.

Has anyone heard the Oxalys recording?

[micrologus]

Here is the site of Oxalis ;-)

http://www.oxalys.be/

You can listen to a fragment of the 4th symphony of Mahler.

[Balthazar]

I guess Oxalys is a chamber group that performs transcriptions of orchestral works. There are a few downloads available on their site.

Their version of Von Der Schoenheit (from Das Lied von Der Erde) sounded interesting, though I would have to get used to the scaled-down orchestration. The mezzo wasn't the most involved I've heard.

The ensemble's playing in the scherzo of the Fourth (their website erroneously lists the sample as the Ruhevoll poco adagio) is wonderful. The austere intrumentation works best when they accentuate the sinister qualities of the Totentanz.