Barbirolli's Mahler Fifth

Mahler's Fifth Symphony? For nearly 40 years, one of the top recommendations has been Sir John Barbirolli's 1969 HMV recording. How did Edward Greenfield react when the LP arrived all those years ago...

MAHLER Symphony No 5 in C minor. Rückert Lieder*. *Janet Baker (mez); New Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir John Barbirolli  

HMV ASD2518-9 (nas, 87s. 6d.). Notes, texts and translations included.

Symphony No 5 – selected comparisons:

NYPO, Bernstein (7/64) 72182-3

Boston SO, Leinsdorf (1/65) SER5518-9

This new Barbirolli version of Mahler's Fifth starts with two enormous advantages: the recording quality is far fuller and richer than either of the other two (good and bright as the RCA was) and on the fourth side comes one of the most enthrallingly beautiful Mahler performances I know on record – Janet Baker in the five Rückert Lieder. For myself I would add the quality of devotion to the performance of the symphony, but on that there will inevitably be disagreement among Mahierians. As we know from Barbirolli's earlier Mahler recordings, his style could hardly be more affectionate, and to that he adds a fondness for tempi slower than usual. Sometimes, as in his Berlin recording of the Ninth Symphony, the result has all the inner intensity of a great performance heard live; sometimes as in his more recent version of No. 6, the expansiveness stretches the music too far and the tension wanes. Though in the Fifth some will clearly prefer a sharper, less indulgent reading like Leinsdorf's, I don't think there is any doubt that in commitment and intensity this interpretation matches and even surpasses the Berlin Ninth. If the aching tragedy of the opening "Trauermusik" is more deeply conveyed by Barbirolli than his rivals, so is the buoyant optimism of the final movement with its tongue-in-cheek foundation on the Knaben Wunderhorn song about the cuckoo and the nightingale.

As it happens those two outer movements bring the two most sharply controversial tempi. In both Sir John chooses speeds very much slower than we are used to, and dangerous though that course is (as we found in the Sixth) the performance completely justifies it. The very opening at Barbirolli's tempo inevitably loses something in sheer dramatic bite, and that despite superb brass playing sumptuously recorded. But the sense of power in reserve is very clear, and the change of tension when the dramatic music of the opening gives way to the main sustained melody of the funeral march provides the sort of fthson one experiences in the concert hail but all too rarely on record. The phrasing of that melody is characteristically affectionate but without the underlinings which in Bernstein's performance quickly sound selfconscious. Barbirolli is comparably on the slow side for the quicker section at fig. 7, and after Bernstein he may not seem to be observing Mahler's marking "Wild" so effectively, but in its context the contrast is just as sharp, and the surge of the melody with its Brahmsian triplets across the march rhythm is superb.

The advantages of a slowish tempo in the finale are, if anything, even more striking. I imagine that few will resist an initial sense of disappointment when after the preliminaries on horn, bassoon and oboe the main theme enters in so leisurely a manner. "Allegro giocoso. Frisch" Mahler puts on the score, and Barbirolli's initial statement seems to belie that. But Barbirolli then goes on to demonstrate, to my mind conclusively, just why the rest of the movement gains by not being rushed, becomes genuinely "giocoso" instead of just brilliant. In the first place the busy fugato in quavers at fig. 2 sounds much more comfortable (particularly for the horn), and when the main theme returns at fig. 5 the warm, Brahmsian quality in the resonant G-string violin writing is more naturally conveyed. But the rightness of Barbirolli's tempo is confirmed by all the many references to the cuckoo and nightingale song, "Lob des hohen Verstandes". Where normally the reference seems slightly outlandish (and is arguably intended to be so as a deliberate source) Barbirolli recaptures the intense humour of the sog by being far closer to it in spirit as well as tempo. Later too when towards the end Mahler grows even richer and more expansive, Barbirolli's interpretation brings one closer to the innocent heavenly joy of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn world.

In the second movement I am less certain that Barbirolli's comparative relaxation is right. The marking is "Stürmisch bewegt. Mit grösster Vehemenz", and I am not sure that Barbirolli is quite stormy or vehement enough. Both Bernstein and Leinsdorf bring more biting dramatic contrasts, but in compensation one has more feeling in Barbirolli's reading of a symphonic, sonata-form development of "Trauermusik" material and not just an emotional outburst. In the third movement Barbirolli uses his slowish tempo to achieve lightness, where Bernstein with an even slower basic tempo is rather heavy, with the Viennese waltz references underlined. Admittedly Barbirolli's Viennese lilt for the second trio is extremely heavy too, but there his tongue-in-cheek intentions are very evident indeed, so that the humour of the passage is what comes out. Leinsdorf is generally fresher and brighter with a nice hint of grotesquerie in the pizzicato trio and a stunning coda, but lightness and humour are not so evident.

But if there is a justification for Barbirolli's reading, it lies in the achingly tender performance of the Adagietto. In advance I was rather afraid that he would sentimentalise it, laying too heavy a layer of expressiveness over the simple string melody. But not so. Barbirolli lets the melody speak for itself in the most hushed tones, and the lead-back after the middle section (meticulously marked with tempo indications) brings a moment of Innigkeit that it would be hard to match. Nor does Barbirolli let the marking "Noch langsamer" a few bars later bring the music to a halt as Bernstein virtually does in his deeply felt but more extrovert performance. I am sorry the NPO violins do not have quite the resonance of their American colleagues on the climactic phrase of the movement ("Viel Ton!" writes Mahler – with an exclamation mark) but I am happy enough when it is their ability to play softly that matters.

The recording is one of the very finest I have heard from EMI. I knew in advance that their engineers were particularly pleased with it, but even so I was surprised just how rich it is. The superlative brass playing of the NPO is a particular joy throughout.

As to the fill-up, I find myself reluctant to dissect anything so deeply affecting in its apparently spontaneous expressiveness. Even by Janet Baker's standards the range of vocal tone-colour is glorious, and in every bar one has ample evidence of the inspiration reciprocated between soloist and conductor. Janet Baker did an earlier version of "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" with Barbirolli, as a fill-up for the coupling of Kindertotenlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and it is fascinating to compare the two performances in their equal spontaneity. The new one is some 25 seconds shorter (quite a substantial margin) and gains from the easier flow of the phrasing. The NPO players are more naturally flexible than their Hallé colleagues were (though the Hallé violins managed the hint of a glissando in the final coda more neatly) and the faster tempo brings a mood no less relaxed. One point of detail: Janet Baker this time follows the orchestral score just before fig. 5 with a simple D natural on "Häld", where previously she had an E flat-D appoggiatura from the piano version. Rightly I think this song is placed last in the group. And perhaps the most striking contrast between the two versions lies in the extra fidelity of the recording to Miss Baker's incomparable voice. If anyone hesitates about Barbirolli's approach to the symphony, I am sure the fourth side will provide the entrée to a uniquely warm experience. 

EG (Edward Greenfield)

This recording of Mahler's Fifth (minus the Rückert Lieder) is now available in EMI's Great Recordings of the Century series (566910-2). The Rückert Lieder are available on a collection of Mahler songs from Dame Janet Baker (EMI 566981-2)