Mahler: Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"

Chronique

As a Mahler conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas is a better Leonard Bernstein. The same sense of inchoate excitement and impending ecstasy that permeated Bernstein's performances permeate Tilson Thomas'. But Tilson Thomas' performances are also thoroughly planned and flawlessly executed. In this June 2004 recording of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, when Tilson Thomas precipitously increases the tempo at the dramatic start of the recapitulation in the opening Allegro maestoso, he still keeps tight control of the orchestra. When the strings slip through subtle glissandos in the following Andante moderato, every slide is together. When the winds relax into the Trio of the following Scherzo, every tempo rubato is cohesive. When the time signatures change in the following Urlicht, every shift is coordinated. And when the apocalypse breaks loose in the Finale, every entrance is just so. What Bernstein did with the Resurrection, he did through accident and inspiration. Tilson Thomas did it through forethought and revelation. The result is a stupendous Resurrection recorded in superlative sound.

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