Mahler – Symphony No. 4 – Bernstein – Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam on 180g.

For his second fabled recording of Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, conductor extraordinaire Leonard Bernstein employs boy soprano Helmut Wittek, violinist Jaap van Zweden and the unparalleled Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam in a refined yet vivid performance captured in 1987 at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

“The only similarity with the CBS record is the relative closeness of the microphone placing, designed to give the woodwinds maximum impact. Bernstein is at what some will take to be his most mannered in parts of the scherzo, but here and everywhere else in the symphony his conducting tellingly arbitrates between energy and leisure; and there is an agreeable congruence between Mahler’s written tempo directions and Bernstein’s own inevitably personal feelings about the music’s pulses.

“In fine, this is Mahler shrewdly and sympathetically conducted by a fellow composer…So while you mull over the various alternatives…let me commend to you this original, ungimmicky, musically searching performance as a worthy addendum to any Mahler collection.” – Richard Osborne, Gramophone

Musicians:
Gustav Mahler (composer)
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)
Helmut Wittek (soprano)
Jaap van Zweden (violin)
Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam

Features:
• Cut from the original masters at Cohearent Audio
• Lacquer cut by Kevin Gray
• Pressed at Pallas GmbH Germany
• Recorded Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, June 1987