Mahler: Symphony No. 9

Album review

While by no means a terrible Mahler Ninth, this recording by Gustav Kuhn with the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra is still a weak Mahler Ninth. The playing is weak: the Marchigiana Philarmonic is just about able to get most of the notes and barely able to get through the whole work. It sounds nearly exhausted by the climax of the opening Andante con moto, nearly somnambulistic in the following Ländler, nearly comatose in the following Rondo Burleske, and nearly dead in the closing Adagio. The conducting is weak: Kuhn is an able enough director, but he doesn't have the heart or soul to touch the heights and depths of Mahler's Ninth. He sounds mildly annoyed in the heartrending opening Andante con moto, merely irritated in the bitter following gemächlichen Ländler, somewhat petulant in the ironic following Rondo Burleske, and only slightly put out in the closing, agonizing Adagio. The recording is weak: Oehms has made some decent recordings in Germany and Austria, but this Italian recording sounds faded and washed out. While the Marchigiana Philarmonic, Kuhn, and Oehms do no real damage to Mahler's Ninth -- think of the horrors of Bernstein's Berlin recording or Maazel's Vienna recording -- they are too weak to do it any real good, either.
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