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Site review by Castor June 25, 2006
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
At 88 minutes this is certainly not one of the swifter versions of this symphony. Solti (79.56m), Rattle (78m), Inbal (77.55m) are more representative of the norm. Total timings, however, should not be used to judge the quality of this excellent performance which never seems slow thanks to the assured way Nagano paces the music from its joyous start to sublime end.
The opening of Part 1 with choir, organ and orchestra in full cry, immediately establishes the superb quality of the recording made in the Philharmonie Berlin. As there is no audience present, this sometimes-problematic acoustic is shown to its best advantage and throughout there is a sense of space and air around the performers.
The soloists, orchestra and choir are beautifully terraced within the sound stage while the massive dynamic range is captured by the engineers with no sense of strain, even in the loudest climaxes. The weighty organ pedal notes are cleanly reproduced, adding to the recording’s sense of scale.
The soloists, as in most other recordings, are of a somewhat variable quality. Sylvia Greenberg sounds rather tentative and lacking in power in Part 1, not a match for either Heather Harper (Solti) or Christine Brewer (Rattle), while Robert Gambill does at times force his attractive voice too much and sounds effortful, particularly as Doctor Marianus in the second part of the work.
Part 2, a setting of the final scene of Goethe’s Faust, begins with a long orchestral introduction. Here Nagano’s fastidious ear for detail and control of dynamics is most impressive, although I could have done without his vocal exhortations from 4.56 and in a couple of other places later on. His attention to Mahler’s tempo markings is exemplary. To give one example, Mahler marks the orchestral passage before ‘Dir, der Unberührbaren’ [track 8], Adagissimo, and this is exactly the way Nagano conducts it to absolutely ravishing effect.
Some of the best singing in Part 2 comes from Sophie Koch and the veteran Jan-Hendrik Rootering, but in general all the soloists are impressive here.
The contribution of the three choirs is magnificent throughout the whole symphony, with accurate full-bodied singing and clear diction. The vindication of Nagano’s spacious interpretation is illustrated in the moving final Chorus Mysticus ‘Alles vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis’ which here makes an unforgettable impact.
The quality of the surround sound is outstanding with the rear channels used not only for adding ambience, but to reproduce the extra brass called for at the end of each part of the symphony, an effect not fully achievable in two-channel stereo.
On CD, Solti’s hyperactive version, with his almost unmatchable line-up of soloists, certainly still packs a punch, but the engineering now sounds somewhat artificial and contrived. Rattle is certainly exciting but drives the music too hard, and his disappointingly cramped recording does not do justice to the work’s sonic qualities.
The two SACDs are supplied in a slipcase with a lavish booklet that contains an excellent essay on the work, full texts and translations and some interesting photographs taken prior to the first performance in Munich.
This is a very recommendable purchase.
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Copyright © 2006 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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Review by J.B. November 3, 2005 (12 of 12 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S): |
Vision and Beauty
As I said in my earlier, lengthier review for Amazon, I really think that this is a performance of truthful vision and of often staggering beauty, not least because of the truly magnificent, full and spaceous recording. The most endearing quality, in my very personal opinion, is its relaxedness, which I like very, very much. For me it truly underlines its deeply Romantic source material. But at the same time, this performance is never, ever boring. Well, yes, indeed it does seem slow - sometimes very, very slow - compared to for example Sir Simon Rattle's recording with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (on EMI). Some commentators - mainly those endeared with Rattle's quickening and freshly alive (more classical?) approach - find this performance lacking in coherence. This is not true: the coherence in Nagano's approach IMHO lies mainly in its quality to let the music breath freely and to let it unfold on itself (for as much such a thing is possible; but then again, this is my rather personal feeling about Nagano's steering). The music is allowed to bloom, helped enormously by the recording.
In the end it's all a matter of tastes, so I would like to say: if you really love Mahler's Eighth Symphony, you should maybe buy BOTH albums and compare ... and cherish.
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Review by terence April 9, 2006 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
| i'd second J.B.'s review, although i personally feel that nagano's recording really does put rattle's DECISIVELY in the shade. for one thing the orchestral playing is a lot better (the CBSO is a seriously overrated orchestra, especially by UK critics), and i also prefer the choral singing. this really is a beast of a work to record, and this is easily the best effort i've heard to tame it, far surpassing in sonic terms any RBCD stereo recording you care to name, including the likes of solti and tennstedt. nagano's version appeared at roughly the same time as rattle's, and in the UK at least got a markedly inferior press reaction (rattle, like his former orchestra, is generally overrated in britain). but i cannot hear nagano's version as anything other than very much superior as both performance and recording. the HM engineering makes telling use of multichannel. i'd rate this as one of the finest SACD recordings in my collection.
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