Yes, Ozawa could be impersonal in his conducting, yes his tenure with the Boston Symphony was, sadly, not all it could have been, and yes his Boston Mahler cycle is not what comes to mind when you enumerate the most indispensable traversals of the Mahler canon. I know all that. But--make no mistake-- Seiji has been a formidable conductor through it all, and when he was on, he was on. And I would submit that there are at least two Ozawa Mahler releases that measure up to the very best and are candidates for any good Mahler collection. One is the Mahler 1 he did for DG as a one-off early in his Boston tenure. It is sleek, supple, young man's Mahler brimming with excitement. (It also includes the "Blumine" movement, if that matters to you.) The other is this 2nd from his later years with his japanese orchestra. It is exciting, beautiful when it counts, and magnificently recorded. Any objections you have will be about minor interpretive matters-- a sped up/slowed tempo here or there--not about the big picture. Character and commitment do not flag, and the effect is overwhelming. It may not toss NY/Bernstein (Sony), Vienna/Mehta, and Rattle 1 off the top rung, but it is excellent Mahler and it sounds better than any of those.
ウェブプレーヤーを開く
