The power, presence and dimensionality of those opening movements carries over into a wonderfully translucent quality in the Fourth, a quality that really enhances a movement whose melodic beauty makes it one of Mahler’s most affecting pieces (which is saying something). And it continues and is mirrored in the vibrant colours in the complex, overlaid harmonics of the joyous Fifth. The recording captured Karajan and the BPO at the height of their creative powers: these records will finally let you hear and appreciate the results.
Gilels and the Amadeus turn in a positive, purposeful and powerful Trout, a world away from the lighter, sunnier readings that are so much more common. The seriousness and focus in the playing comes into its own when you use the Teldec curve to play the original, with its increased sense of positive dynamics and temporal security. Coming three-years later, my original is a more substantial pressing than the Mahler, but stepping up to the re-issue once again brings added weight and dimensionality to go with all that directed musical vigour. The results are transformative with a dramatic increase in space, separation, immediacy, body and presence. The contribution of the double bass can now, not only be heard but makes sense. The instrumental dynamics are crisper and more immediate, bringing an incisive directness to the playing and a sense of balance to the piano/strings relationship. The extra body and dimensionality is reflected in a more complex and significantly more natural string tone. This is a wonderfully compelling and arresting performance, with a real ‘in the room’ quality – once it’s freed from the limitations of the early pressings. As impressive as the Mahler 5 undoubtedly is, in many ways the qualities of this Trout might be less obvious but the overall results are even better. And a quick nod to the sleeve: the original gatefold was a particularly nice example, but the re-issue trumps that too. DGG has really pulled out all the stops on this one and it shows in the results.
Surfaces on the re-issued discs are generally quiet (if not flawless) and the pressings are perfectly flat – both better than my early originals. The quiet background contributes to the improved dynamic range and these records match the excellent overall quality of other current DGG releases. I’ll let DD comment on the Beethoven disc in the follow up piece, but for now, both the Mahler and Schubert releases are musically and sonically impressive, more than justifying their price. Together, they act as a powerful advertisement for the seriousness and quality of the DGG Original Source programme and I’ve already pre-ordered several other up-coming discs from the series. The music of great musicians, well recorded, carefully preserved and pressed is what re-issue programmes should be all about. DGG unquestionably have access to some of the greatest classical artists. On the evidence of these records, they’ve pretty much got the recording, preservation and pressing aspects nailed too!
The Kleiber Beethoven 7
By Dennis Davis