Mahler Symphony No 4 / Cleveland Orchestra, SZELL (1967/2018)

Tracklist:
1. Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Remastered) : I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen 17'27"
2. Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Remastered) : II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast 09'17"
3. Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Remastered) : III. Ruhevoll (Poco adagio) 20'50"
4. Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Remastered) : IV. Sehr behaglich – “Wir geniessen die himmlischen Freuden” 10'21"

[AndrewRudin]

For me this will always be THE Mahler 4th. Szell gets everything right. The tempi, the balances, the ritardandi and the accelerandi.. the sense that somehow underlying the turn of the century Romanticism there a Classicism. And it all seems to happen so naturally, in such an unforced way. Nothing is exaggerated.
It was the first Symphony of Mahler that I became truly absorbed into when I was and undergrad, way back about 1960.

[nicholasfox]

One of the greatest recordings ever made, of anything. Miraculous, indescribably sublime. It is as if the music is simply happening, uncontrolled by human intervention.

[tinabirdshafer]

The most beautiful of his symphonies, full of clangs, rings, jingles and heavenly voice!! Great for the brass TOO

[jonobester]

This is the finest orchestra AND recording AND engineering I'VE ever heard. Every player is a great artist, at the top of his/her game, playing some of the finest instruments on the planet. Man!

[PRL]

You know this really makes you think about the state of our music industry today. I like a lot of contemporary music, but think of the amount of months it took for Szell and his musicians to perfect everything down to a tee. For each section, even the whole orchestra, to sound like one unified unit. Their execution is perfect, rarely would you hear them out of sync. Think of the amount of years it took them to get to where they were in this recording, amount of hours together, and the amount of days apart practicing to get this right. It really is a shame that classical music is dying, because it is one of the finest Arts to ever see this Earth.

[AJNorth]

One of the treasures of the stereo era.

George Szell never made a finer recording with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Judith Raskin is well neigh perfect.

Recorded on October 1 & 2, 1965 at Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, and originally released as Columbia Masterworks MS 6833 (1965).

The recording engineer was John A. Johnson, the producer Paul Myers. The original liner notes were by Jack Diether (a contributor to The American Record Guide).

Thank you for posting this superb transfer.

[photo]

Judith Raskin's singing in the last movement is simply indescribably lovely...

[archduke]

Yes Steppen. It IS one of the finest versions. Immaculate.

[timothyseaman]

What a marvelous remastering! I've loved all of Szell's recordings regardless, but I can really hear the difference in the sound of this release!

[juneedwards-hq]

This is by far my favourite version of this recording. Particularly the last movement where Szell takes it at a much slower, sublime pace. Think this is appropriate - why would you want to be in a hurry when singing about life in heaven. End of 3rd movement leading up to and after the opening of St Peter's Gates is also brilliant and one of Mahler's greatest moments.

[srothbardt]

Great performance. Also good are Previn, Bernstein, MTT, Reiner, Levine.

[noidear]

I have the OG 1966 Colombia records pressing with green Front and rd label - sounds heavenly SAX 5283

[joyceharrison]

Thank you so much! I had this recording on LP in the '70s and I haven't heard it for many years. The remaster is splendid: I heard things here that I didn't on the LP!

[brucemckinney]

1. 00:00
2. 17:27
3. 26:44
4. 47:35

[mlconlanmeister]

If any work tolerates the utmost clarity (a la Maestro Szell, Ms Raskin, and Orchestra) it is this masterpiece. Every Mahler symphony is unique and different, but this work is even "uniquer." To crudely paraphrase an observation Riccardo Muti made of the Mahler 4th, that every time he conducts the work, at it's conclusion, he gets the feeling that they should just start playing it again! There is something ineffably out of time and out of place about this symphony. It also has moments of overarching beauty in each of it's movements, unique, even for Mahler.

[molocious]

This recording is dear to me because I first heard it when I was 19 and it introduced me to the symphony that opened up the others for me, not that the Adagietto from the 5th isn't immediately accessible . A friend of mine whose taste in music I considered finer than mine
preferred Reiner's account over Szell's because he felt that the spicy, colorful orchestral episodes that punctuate the song's stanzas in the last movement were too loud and overdone. He felt that Reiner struck a better tonal balance. Now I think he may be right, and I noticed in the earlier part of the song a slight tendency of the orchestra to overpower Raskin's voice. But at the time I argued that the sheer rambunctiousness was part of the theme of a child's conception of heaven, that it partakes of the mischievousness and delight in earthiness that a child's fresh soul would be receptive to. And of course there's the thematic connection with Des Knaben Wunderhorn from which the song is taken. I suppose my own youthful soul reveled in Mahler's brilliant orchestration, Raskin's lush voice, all so thoroughly realized and fused in Szell's extraordinary account. Thank you for posting this richly sounding version that I've always loved. It brings back poignant memories of higher aspirations.

[ilirllukaci]

The Mahler 4, like the Bruckner 4, is the most idiosyncratic of the composer's works. It was the last work of Mahler, along with the 8th for obvious reasons, that I became familiar with. Obvious irony is that it is the most "accessible", but is that so unusual?

[robertlaporta]

This is certainly a fine performance, but the Columbia recording is an odd combination of hidden orchestral details and overly pointed-up bits. And, I think I can hear compression by the mastering engineer! Still, a genuinely felt and given rendition.

[timw]

It’s a superb performance, but the underlying story of the Szell era is complicated, to say the least.