Mahler / Chailly - Vol. 3Mahler - Symphony 3 - Orchestral Suite (Bach) - Lang - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
2CDs - DDD - 117'35
DECCA 2004
Performer: Petra Lang, Annelie De Man
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Netherlands Children's Choir
Petra Lang sings Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" affectingly, though her tone is brighter than some might prefer and she makes a meal out of the "sch" in the word "Mensch"--but again the playing is just gorgeous (with the oboe glissandos nicely touched in but not exaggerated) and Chailly's pacing is perfect. The fifth movement has the requisite picture-postcard brightness, with excellent choral contributions and a grippingly menacing central interlude (though no one clarifies the percussion exchanges here as well as Bernstein in his first recording for Sony). Once again the woodwinds really shine, as they simply must in a movement with no heavy brass and no violins!
I have no qualms in ranking Chailly's account of the concluding Adagio as one of the two or three finest on disc. The timing (just under 23 minutes) strikes me as just right, and the orchestra simply outdoes itself in the eloquence and poetry of its response--strings and solo oboe to die for. Careful observance of Mahler's dynamics, with burnished brass and timpani at a bell-like forte rather than a vulgar fortissimo, allows Chailly to render the closing pages as convincingly as anyone ever has. You've got to love the way he hangs on to the final fermata, exactly as Mahler demands. This very last chord, with its glowing, organ-like sonority, was the crowning glory of Haitink's performance, and Chailly fully matches him.
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