Mahler: Symphony No. 5

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Not everyone will take to Daniel Harding’s mostly leisurely, studied approach to Mahler’s Fifth…but what spectacular playing! Who knew the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he is principal... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2019, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 16th Nov 2018
Catalogue No: HMM902366
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 73 minutes

Record Review

24th November 2018

Disc of the Week

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

Work length1:13:20

Album only

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Harding

1. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt

Track length14:07

$1.60

$2.00

$3.20

2. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz

Track length15:27

$1.60

$2.00

Album only

3. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell

Track length18:22

Album only

4. Adagietto. Sehr langsam

Track length10:28

$1.40

$1.75

$2.40

5. Rondo-Finale. Allegro - Allegro giocoso. Frisch

Track length14:56

$1.60

$2.00

$3.20

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For the second installment in his Mahler cycle for harmonia mundi, Daniel Harding revisits a symphony which clearly represents a turning point in the composer’s output. The years following Mahler’s early period (marked by Des Knaben Wunderhorn) saw the production of works of ever greater complexity and sardonicism, which show no trace of naïveté. Within a framework of utmost intricacy, the themes, musical gestures, and building blocks (for instance, the interval of a minor third which opens the Fifth Symphony’s famous Adagietto) trace a journey from darkness to light which culminates in the striking modernity of the finale.

Reviews

January 2019

Not everyone will take to Daniel Harding’s mostly leisurely, studied approach to Mahler’s Fifth…but what spectacular playing! Who knew the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which he is principal conductor, could be quite as electrifying as this? Horns and trumpets are paramount, as they have to be in this symphony…The strings are world-class, too, nuanced and capable of powerful accents.

November 2018

Harding’s strategy is not to duck the composer’s frequent recourses to extremity but to meet them head-on...In a market where modern rivals sound pedestrian or perfumed with finesse by comparison, this Fifth raises high hopes for what the graphic cover artwork implies may become a complete cycle.

2nd November 2018

Harding’s motto is “safety first”. He follows the score’s expression marks with forensic precision and an impeccable regard for nuances of phrasing. This approach reaps immediate dividends whenever tempos slow, as in the famous adagietto, which is coolly dispatched yet still succulent.

The drawbacks come when Mahler’s thoughts are tormented, grotesque and faster.

Classical Music February 2019

Harding gives the lyricism space...also a reading that grows in stature on repeated listening, and the Swedish players are at their very best. He has patience, which means the opening Funeral March evolves not only grimly but inevitably, too. The clarity Harding finds throughout, and particularly in the finale, is this interpretation’s strength.

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

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