Symphony No. 5.

Mahler: Symphony No. 5. Benjamin Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra. Telarc 2CD-80569.

No guts, no glory. Benjamin Zander and the Philharmonia Orchestra attack this most passionate of Mahler's big orchestral works with all the extremes of emotion it deserves. Indeed, Zander's performance may come as close to Mahler's intentions as any recording on the market.

The Fifth is one of Mahler's most varied works, beginning in sorrow and solemnity and culminating in joy and happiness. The turning points are the third-movement Scherzo, sounding much like Mahler's usual parodies of a traditional Viennese waltz, and the famous Adagietto, really a love letter to the composer's wife, Alma. These lead into the joyous Finale. Zander takes each movement very slightly quicker than his rivals, but never does he lose the lilt or flavor of the more lustrous passages. Interestingly, Zander tells us in the booklet note that after he had recorded the piece, he compared his timings for each movement to those of Mahler himself as reported by a listener at a rehearsal of the work. Zander's timings are no more than a minute different from Mahler's for the entire symphony! Well, that doesn't prove anything, really, because we don't know for certain what Mahler's tempos were in an actual performance nor do we know what Mahler's phrasing was like. Nor can we be sure that a composer is the ultimate authority on conducting his own works, in any case.

None of this is to suggest that Zander's reading is any "better" than ...