Bob Kasenchak wrote about the new Yoel Levi/Atlanta SO Mahler 4 recording.

I attended the pre-recording concert of the Levi/ASO/von Stade Mahler 4
and Wayfarer songs.  For me Levi's Mahler is fine in concert but not a top
drawer choice in recordings.  He doesn't appear to have a consistent view
of Mahler, with interpretations that range from straightforward (the bland
recording of the 5th) to a strange mixture of conventional and extreme
tempos (6th, 9th).

His live presentation of the 4th was drawn out, reminding me most of Harold
Farberman's old and slow Vox recording.  While there was a light approach
to the scherzo, as I had never noticed such lyricism in this music before,
elsewhere the pace was excessively slow.  I seem to have lost the movement
times that I thought that I'd written down after the concert, but IIRC Levi
took about 63 minutes to get through this piece, which would be longer than
any of the 14 recordings that I own (Mahler's music is one of the few areas
of the repertoire in which I indulge myself freely with multiple
recordings).  Memory tells me that the finale itself was around 13 minutes,
and of my recordings only the Szell/Raskin takes as much as 10 minutes.
(After the concert, an orchestra member told me that Levi had actually sped
up the sluggish opening tempo from rehearsal!)

I don't really agree such an approach to this music...a childlike view of
heaven should display some adrenaline.  However, I would tend to listen
to such an alternative view more frequently than some other more favored
performances as it brings out normally unheard details in the music.
"Ruhevoll" had some ravishing moments, although I was close to dozing off
by its end, and the big recapitulation climax in I was nicely achieved.

As for the songs, which opened the concert, I'll always remember the
first one, "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht".  At this concert, someone
sitting behind me somehow managed to spend its entire four minute duration
opening a piece of candy.  My seats were at the rear of the floor, under
the balcony (the ceiling was maybe 10-15 feet overhead), and the crinkling
sound of the candy wrapper seemed to reflect directly to my ears.  My
backward glances proved to be too subtle, so the cacophany continued until
one of my compatriots turned around and, against their nature, gave the
Stare of Death.  Still, our experience of the first of four songs was
ruined and my agitation carried over into the next one.

In any event, the songs were enjoyable enough although I preferred von
Stade's more youthful voice as captured on the performances included in the
Szell 4th recording.  A recording of this performance would not be a threat
to my favorite Baker/Barbirolli.

There are many fine recordings of Mahler's 4th...I like most of the ones
that I have.  Bob described the Levi recording as using a "light" approach
- along those lines, at the moment I prefer the Salonen/Hendricks/LA Phil
recording on Sony.  I'm curious to hear the Levi, though my expectations
aren't very high.

Tim Dickinson
[log in to unmask]
http://www.tdware.com/