Do you remember the 1960s? A time before Mahler symphony series were two-a-penny, when conductors like Abravanel, Bernstein, Haitink and Solti vied to be the first to complete the intégrale on LP (not that any of them would have thought of including Deryck Cooke's performing version of the Tenth)? Rafael Kubelik's ground-breaking DG cycle was generally (though not universally) rated a highlight of his period as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1961-79). More recently, the conductor's Mahlerian credentials have been boosted by the appearance of some memorable live concert relays, including a quite outstanding (albeit repeat-shy) account of the First Symphony and a Fifth full of insight (Audite, 4/00). I cannot say that the present release holds comparable interest. Its source is a well-preserved, bass-light Bavarian Radio tape dating from the same period as DG's studio sessions. Hence it offers neither an alternative interpretative slant on the work nor even a radically different sonic experience.

True, the conductor excels himself in the slow movement. Here you'll find the luminous string tone, natural pacing and inner simplicity of his best work, along with sonic unvarnished wind and brass playing. (Don't forget how unfamiliar this music must have been at the time: the Sixth had to wait until 1966 for its French première). The eccentric booklet notes tell us that this Andante moderato 'takes off the stifling corset that prevents one from breathing freely in the other movements'. This isn't - I think - meant to allude to Kubelik's brisk, inflexible pacing, but I found such an approach problematical, particularly in the first two movements where expressive contrasts are consistently underplayed. Given the overall timing shown above, you may be surprised to discover that Kubelik does in fact make the first movement repeat. Only Neeme Järvi races through the music marked Allegro energico via non troppo (but never mind the qualifier) - at quite such a lick. And although Bernstein runs them close, his famously neurotic march has a rhythmic certainty and an alertness to detail and nuance that elude Kubelik in his headlong dash across country. The generalised élan of the finale is rather undermined by the fluffs and false entries, while its coda serves as an unlikely showcase for brass timbre of a more distinctive and regional variety than is beard from this source today. All in all, a bit of a gabble but a gift for confirmed Kubelik fanciers.

The German firm Audite has given us not only this near complete live cycle of Mahler symphonies (sans 4 or 8), but valuable Kubelik/Curzon readings of four Mozart and two Beethoven concertos. Of particular interest here is ‘Das Lied von der Erde’, since Kubelik did not record it for DG. Janet Baker fans will welcome a third CD version; and she sounds truly inspired by her conductor. ‘Der Einsame im Herbst’ may not have the sheer beauty of the version with Haitink but the finale surpasses most on records, with a real sense of the transcendental at the close. Kmentt too makes the most of his words; and the reedy Munich winds suit this score.
Recorded between 1967 and 1971, Kubelik's DG cycle has been at budget price for some time now (Collector 463 738-2, ten discs) and the Audite alternatives of 1, 5 and 7 have been in the shops for months. The NHK-recorded Ninth (Audite 95471), made during a 1975 Tokyo visit by the Bavarian RSO, was reviewed in CRC, Spring 2001 (I found the sound unfocused and the brass pinched in sound, but welcomed in particular playing ‘ablaze’ after the visionary episode in the Rondo burleske and a crowning finale). No. 1 on DG is widely admired but this 1979 version is more poetic still, wonderfully so in the introduction and trio at (II). There is something of a pal of resonance in place of applause, cut from all these Audite transfers. In No.7 the balance is more airy than DG’s multi-miked productions, and (as in No.5) Kubelik sounds less constrained than when working under studio conditions, although rhythm in the opening bars of (II) goes awry and the very opening note is succeeded by a sneeze! The disturbing and more shadowy extremes are more vividly characterised, the finale a riotous display.
Some critics feet that Kubelik gives us ‘Mahler-lite’ which may seem so in comparison with, say, Chailly's Decca cycle or the recent BPO/Abbado Third on DG – not to mention Bernstein's. But there is plenty of energy here, and the divided strings with basses set to the rear left give openness to textures. However, the strings are not opulent and the trumpets are often piercing. It would be fair to say that Kubelik conducted Mahler as if it were Mozart!
As it happens, in the most controversial of his readings, No. 6, the DG is preferable to the Audite, where Kubelik projects little empathy with its slow movement and where the Scherzo is less cohesive. The real problem is that the very fast speed for (I) affects ail subsequent tempo relationships. Nor does the finale of No. 3. one of the glories of the DG cycle, quite have that same radiance; the singers are the same, the Tölz Boys making a sound one imagines Mahler must have beard in his head, and this performance predates the DG by one month. Nevertheless, these newer issues of Nos 2 and 3 are worth hearing, the ‘Resurrection’ not least for Brigitte Fassbaender's account of the ‘Urlicht’.
Nowadays, every orchestra visiting London seems to programme Mahler's Fifth Symphony as a Showpiece, but in 1951 (when Bruno Walter's 78rpm set was the collector's only choice) a performance would surely have been uncommon even at the Concertgebouw – Mengelberg was prohibited from conducting in Holland from 1946 until he died that year. Although the start of (V) is marred by the horns, this is an interesting, well executed account with a weightier sound, from what one can surmise through the inevitable dimness – the last note of (I) is almost inaudible. The three versions vary sufficiently to quote true timings (none is given by Tahra): (I) 11m 34s/12m 39s/11m 35s (Tahra/Audite/DG); (II) 13m/14m 52s/13m 52s; (III) 15m 56s/17m 54s/17m 23s; (IV) 9m 24s/10m 24s/9m 44s); (V) 14m 26s/14m 57s/15m 29s. The live Munich version is tidier than on DG; the spectral imagery in (III) is
heavier in effect, too; and in the Adagietto the dynamic and phrasing shadings and poetic quality of the string playing also give the live performance the edge. Towards the end of the finale, and elsewhere the engineers reduced dynamic levels.
Tahra's booklet comprises an untidily set-out synopsis of Kubelik's career. Audite's have full description of the works with texts for Nos 2 and 3, and different back-cover colour portraits of the conductor.

Volet central de la grande trilogie instrumentale mahlérienne, la Sixième Symphonie (1903-1904) diffère fort de ses jeux voisines: la plus grande symphonie tragique de tous les temps est aussi la plus strictement classique de form de tout les symphonies de Mahler. Par le fait même de sublimer la forme sonate et la dialectique thématique allant de pair, la Sixième proclame en quelque sorte leur fin, ou du moins l'impossibilité momentanée d'y revenir. Alternance
rapide d'ombres et de lumières débouchant en catastrophe sur le néant, son gigantesque finale évite la grandiloquence malgré son volume sonore, et l'anecdotique malgré sa durée. Le rythme général des formes s'y apparente à un traitement abrupt des tonalités qui permet une meilleure différenciation plastique des plans harmoniques entre eux. Dans de nombreux passages éclate brusquement un ton de suvageric panique. Mahler n'oubliera jamais dans ses oeuvres ultérieures ce qu'il a accompli dans sa Sixième Symphonie: une lumière particulière braquée sur les contours, l'usage de bizarres, de combinaisons paradoxales de forte et de piano, et surtout une tendance du contrepoint à produire d'inattendues dissonances s'alliant à la polarité majeur-mineur (les contrepoints adoptant le mode opposé à celui des harmonies qui les accompagnent).

En complet accord avec la psychologie dramatique de Mahler, Rafael Kubelik dans cet enregistrement « live » du 6 décembre 1968 à la tête d'un Orchestre de la Radio bavaroise chauffé à blanc évite la grandiloquence, malgré une rare intensité et l'irruption d'outrances dont la grandeur dépasse toute négativité. Comme dans de remarquables Cinquième, Septième et Neuvième Symphonies et de splendides Première (« Choc ») et Deuxième (idem) précédemment parues, Kubelik dans ce cycle de concerts inédits Mahler/Radio bavaroise se montre plus libre, plus interrogatif, plus fascinant que dans sa version de studio « officielle », réalisée pourtant à la même époque (DG). Assez éloigné du romantisme déchirant de Bernstein/New York 1 (Sony, 1967), Neumann/Gewandhaus (Berlin Classics, 1966) et Karajan/Berlin (DG, 1977) comme de la clarté analytique de Szell/Claveland (Sony, « live » 1967) et Boulez/Vienne (DG, 1994) ou de la beauté des couleurs de Haitink/Berlin (Philipps, 1989), Kubelik, à partir d'une économie sel serrée des contrastes, et des gradations dynamiques, renforce le sentiment d'unité architecturale tout en magnifiant la « pureté de glace » (Schoenberg) de l'orchestre de la Sixième et en tirant un profit maximal des rares paliers de détente pour mieux assumer les soixante-treize minutes de tension émotionnelle. Tout en soulignant les nuances et les aspérités avec une rare urgence dramatique, il impose une vision à la force hymnique irradiante.

Weiche Weiten zwischen zwei exzellenten Mahler-Interpretationen liegen können, zeigen diese zwei Einspielungen unter Kubelik und Gielen.

In der live im Müncher Herkules-Saal gemachten Aufnahme peitscht Kubelik sein Orchester stringent und fanatisch durch die Symphonie, mit einem dramatischen und spannungsgeladenen 'Straight forward'-Musizieren, das streckenweise einen atemlos ekstatischen Charakter annimmt. Diese Unerbittlichkeit resultiert denn auch in schnellen 74 Minuten, welche die insgesamt sehr packend gespielte Symphonie bei Kubelik dauert, während der bedächtige Gielen ganze 10 Minuten mehr braucht. Ein enormer Unterschied!

Gielen macht natürlich weitaus mehr Musik hörbar als Kubelik und erzielt eine ebenfalls starke und ergreifende, ja sogar Frösteln auslösende Spannung aus der intellektuellen Durchdringung heraus und aus einem überaus nuancierten Spiel.

Das Schicksal schlägt bei Gielen ganz anders zu als bei Kubelik, hintergründiger, schauriger und mit ausladend großer Wucht. Und es reflektiert die Mahler-Musik nachfolgend in Bergs prächtig resalisierten 'Drei Orchesterstücken', die im Anschluss erklingen, vor dem Andante aus Schuberts 10. Symphonie, das Brian Newbould nach den 1978 gefundenen Skizzen Schuberts fertig stellte. Gielen dirigiert den Klagegesang sehr emotional, gefühlsintensiver jedenfalls als Mahlers Sechste und Bergs Orchesterstücke und setzt so einen ergreifenden Schlusspunkt hinter Musik, deren dämonischen Charakter er zwingend umsetzt.

La même cas de figure se reproduit à l’encontre de Kubelik, dont au moins...

Als die Zuhörer am Nikolaustag des Jahres 1968 im Münchner Herkulessaal diese...

Meine stille Liebe:
die Wiederveröffentlichungen der Mahler-Sinfonien mit dem...

Une symphonie marquée par le désespoir absolu, d'une noirceur totale,...

This live Mahler Sixth sheds less light on Kubelik's way with the music than...

Das Label Audite setzt mit vorliegender Aufnahme die erfolgreiche Reihe der...