Mariss Jansons recorded this symphony for EMI with the Oslo Philharmonic, a performance of no great distinction–but if anything, this newcomer, for all the orchestra’s fabled polish, is even worse. The very opening promises trouble: the strings sound tired, and the repeated-note figures lack tension. Recessed woodwinds and diffuse sonics don’t help in a movement big on pastoral charm. Compare this to Szell’s benchmark recording with this same orchestra and the differences speak for themselves. To be fair, once the movement gets going Jansons does wake up, but the musical weight is oddly distributed. If you are going to take a warm and mellow approach at the beginning, then you had better offer a big payoff later on, at the climaxes. Jansons, by contrast, is either dull and slack, or tight-lipped and rushed. And so the development section has speed without depth, despite what sounds like the vulgar addition of a trombone to the bass lines (around letter “I”–between those anguished string outcries before the big climax).
The second movement has the same defects, though here they really do rise to a surprising level of interpretive ineptitude. The opening is unusually slow, requiring an unconvincing accelerando to the turbulent transition to the second subject. Jansons rushes through the culminating brass chorales, which accordingly lack menace and impact. After the hymn-like second subject, the opening returns at a quicker tempo than before–a good idea except that this is how the movement should have started. Adding insult to injury, the theoretically Vivacissimo scherzo ambles along more slowly than it should, with Jansons sacrificing energy and atmosphere in order to obtain clean articulation. The finale, when it arrives, is just plain boring, and once again Jansons robs the big moments of their rhetorical grandeur. I suppose I could also complain about the short playing time of the CD, except that’s too much like the old story of the couple that goes to an expensive restaurant, says the food is terrible, and then complains “…and such small portions, too.” In short, this is a mess.
