Mahler: Symphony No. 4

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Erwin Stein's reduction, for solo string quintet (including double bass), flute doubling piccolo, oboe doubling cor anglais, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, piano, harmonium and percussion,... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 27th Jun 2005
Catalogue No: AV2069
Label: Avie
Length: 56 minutes

Mahler: Symphony No. 4

Work length56:16

Album only

Kate Royal
Manchester Camerata
Douglas Boyd

Bedächtig. Nicht Eilen

Track length16:23

Album only

Im Gemächlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast

Track length9:21

$1.50

$2.10

Ruhevoll

Track length20:48

Album only

Sehr Behaglich

Track length9:44

$1.50

$2.10

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Douglas Boyd and Manchester Camerata made an indelible mark with their Avie debut of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 2 and No. 5. This is the second release in their budget series for the label with a live recording of the chamber version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Mahler’s most neo-classical symphony lends itself well to Erwin Stein’s reduction for fifteen players and soprano, which was transcribed in 1920 for Schoenberg’s celebrated Society for Private Musical Performances. More than a curiosity, this intimate adaptation facilitated wider circulation of the work and to this day illuminates important aspects of the work.

Recorded live at The Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, 6 November 2004

Reviews

2010

Erwin Stein's reduction, for solo string quintet (including double bass), flute doubling piccolo, oboe doubling cor anglais, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, piano, harmonium and percussion, was prepared at a time when even the members of Arnold Schoenberg's immediate circle had limited access to the real thing. Even today, some find the transcription focuses the mind wonderfully on the music's contrapuntal essence, others that it is intrinsically a period piece, more redolent of the palm court. Suffice to say that Douglas Boyd and his group offer a performance that is unfailingly fresh and alert.
Andrew Keener's production is the crispest, most immediate the score has received on disc.
Out goes evocative distancing. In comes the tangible wheeze of the harmonium, the respiration of sundry woodwind players and the lowlevel vocalising of Boyd himself.
Douglas Boyd's Mahler may feel overly straightforward but he knows the territory, having directed Schoenberg's reduction of Das Lied as well as Mahler's own string quartet arrangements in Manchester. He has further aces up his sleeve: the helpful booklet-notes by Philip Borg Wheeler, the participation of Kate Royal, freshvoiced soprano winner of the 2004 Kathleen Ferrier competition and, on CD, the highly competitive price.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4

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