Heaven Only for Engineers

Channel has released another in its series of Mahler symphonies under Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Symphony No. 4 in G Major. The engineering is by far the most impressive thing about it: This SACD sounded terrific, even on my non-SACD player, displaying impressive depth and clarity of tone.

I shake my head, however, at the people who rush either to record or to buy SACD versions of the classics, only to end up with problematic performances. This one has a fair share of issues.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra is not in the top league. The brass are sloppy in the first movement, and the strings are thin. The solo violin in the second movement is over-the-top obnoxious in its sans-vibrato whininess. Fischer’s is an idiosyncratic interpretation, emphasizing the lighter side of the music at the expense of its more-tragic elements. He tends to rush things, especially in the second and fourth movements. And the profundity of the third movement is glossed over.

This last movement is supposed to be a childlike view of heaven. Fischer has the child running around at a goodly pace as if it was in kindergarten. A fast pace can work with the right voice — go online and listen to the way Emmy Loose does it in the classic Paul Kletzki recording. But the otherwise acceptable voice of Miah Persson under Fischer sounds far too mature for what Mahler had in mind.

Until something better comes out in the newer formats, it’s best to stick with yesteryear’s favorites in the highly competitive field of Mahler symphonies, such as Bernstein or my favorite, Maazel and the incomparable Vienna Philharmonic with Kathleen Battle as the little girl who meltingly assures you, “No worldly tumult is to be heard in heaven.”