Track Listing

1. 1. Trauermarsch (In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt - Plötzlich schneller. Leidenschaftlich. Wild - Tempo I) - Berliner Philharmoniker, Dr. Hans Hirsch, Hans Weber, Herbert von Karajan, Günter Hermanns, Volker Martin, Klaus Behrens, Gustav Mahler
2. 2. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit größter Vehemenz - Bedeutend langsamer - Tempo I subito - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, Dr. Hans Hirsch, Hans Weber, Günter Hermanns, Volker Martin, Klaus Behrens, Gustav Mahler
3. 3. Scherzo (Kräftig, nicht zu schnell) - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, Dr. Hans Hirsch, Hans Weber, Günter Hermanns, Volker Martin, Klaus Behrens, Gustav Mahler
4. 4. Adagietto (Sehr langsam) - Berliner Philharmoniker, Dr. Hans Hirsch, Hans Weber, Herbert von Karajan, Günter Hermanns, Volker Martin, Klaus Behrens, Gustav Mahler
5. 5. Rondo-Finale (Allegro) - Berliner Philharmoniker, Dr. Hans Hirsch, Hans Weber, Herbert von Karajan, Günter Hermanns, Volker Martin, Klaus Behrens, Gustav Mahler

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4587 in Music
• Released on: 1996-02-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 74 minutes

Customer Reviews

Magnificent!
This was Herbert von Karajan's first recording of a Mahler symphony and in almost every respect it is superior to the recordings of more experienced Mahler interpreters (e.g. Barbirolli). The recording has a compelling intensity about it, particularly the adagietto, and is excellently played from the gloomy first movements to the jaunty finale. This disc in my opinion epitomises the very high quality recordings produced by Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in the 1970s, and is an ideal introduction to Mahler for those unfamiliar with the works of this often misunderstood composer.

Karajan's Unsurpassed Adagietto

There are more dramatic and powerful recordings of 5th by other conductors like Bernstein, Abbado, Solti, Levine, and Tennstedt (Live Version), but Karajan's 1974 stereo recording will be remembered, as long as this world lasts, as the one with the most sublime performace of Adagietto. Paced dangerously slowly (11:50) yet powerfully captivating from beginning to the final fading note, Karajan captures the rapt serenity and other-worldly beauty of the music like no other conductors could manage. The sound of strings is as lavishing and overwhelming as can be. Emotional intensity in the climax is almost unbearable! Acoustics is unbelievably expansive and dreamy as if the music comes from heaven. This is a perfect recording in every sense of the word.

Rest of the movements are played superbly, if not as passionate as Bernstein in the 1st and the last movements.

Disappointing sound and balance
I more or less grew up with Karajan. If my parents bought classical music in the seventies and eighties, it was usually on a DGG record with Karajan at the helm of the BPO. German television, which we used to watch a lot (there wasn't much else besides our own two Dutch networks), broadcast a classical concert every Sunday at noon (Das Sonntagskonzert) with, more often than not, Karajan and the BPO. When I started buying classical music on CD myself, it was only natural that I should pick Karajan's as the preferred version.
Only later did I come to appreciate that Karajan's way of conducting wasn't always how the music was best served (his Mozart being too syruppy and too string-laden) and I struck him from my list as first choice.
I strongly hesitated therefore to let him have a go at Mahler's Fifth, but on the strenght of some the very positive reviews on Amazon (UK, German and US) I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. And I must admit the Adagietto is heavenly (despite its extraordinary length), but only marginally more so than Bertini's (WDR 1990), Gielen's (SWR 2003), Neumann's (Leipzig 1967), Solti's (CSO 1970) or Chailly's (RCO 1998). True, Karajan/BPO attack the Stürmisch Bewegt and the Rondo-Finale with a gusto seldom heard from these Siamese twins, but less so than Barshai (JDP 1999) or Levine (PSO 1976) whose barnstorming handling is truly revelatory. (A very rare thing in a Karajan performance is that the first trumpet plays a wrong note (first movement at 7:20) and the first horn is flat at the entry of the Scherzo.) Similar observations could be made of the other movements. So there is nothing extraordinary in this performance that sets it apart from other ones (negatively or positively) or that would make it a clear first choice (which, as far as I'm concerned, there never is).
The big let-down is the recording quality. The balance is mainly in favour of the strings, while brass and tympani crescendos disproportionately explode from the speakers. The bass-tuba is almost absent from the aural picture in its short solo; the important bass drum and tam-tam strokes are hardly audible; the very last bars of the Rondo-Finale are so unbalanced that you don't hear the triangle or the boom-ching of the bass-drum and cymbal at all; the fast rising string figure just before the end is one big blur; often it is as if one of the engineers thought it it a good idea to turn a microphone up or down without any preconceived idea. The booklet indicates that Karajan couldn't stop listening to the master tape of this recording and he seems to have uttered "loud exclamations of delight at the quality of this recording". Well, I for one didn't and if I return to it, it will mainly be for the Adagietto.