Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan - Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (2015) Hi-Res

Love him or hate him, Herbert von Karajan understood that recordings meant something. He preceded this one with two years (!) of rehearsals and worked on it over no less than seven sessions. Even then, it’s not quite perfect. There’s the missing tam-tam crash at the climax of the second movement, but for that you can always choose Plan B: Levine (RCA). Other really fine versions worth considering include Barenboim (Teldec, a nice surprise), the quirky Barbirolli (EMI), and the superb second Bernstein (also DG). All things considered, though, this remains an amazing performance of Mahler’s most difficult symphony, the one that has attracted more lousy performances on disc than any other–and believe me, I’ve heard all of them.
This is a work that plays to Karajan’s strengths. Primarily, it demands supreme virtuosity from the orchestral strings and brass. Karajan and his Berliners are in their element here. It almost goes without saying that this version of the Adagietto is the most gorgeous in the catalog, and anyone who thinks that the period instrument no-vibrato crazies have a case after hearing this should have their heads examined. But it’s not just in lyrical passages where this performance excels; there’s the physical surge with which Karajan launches the second movement, his perfect choice of tempo for the opening funeral march, the noble trumpet tone he gets from Berlin’s principal player, and the inimitable opening of the scherzo (sample below), like the popping of champagne cork. It’s just the perfect sound at that moment.
Best of all, Karajan offers one of the most cogent and contrapuntally dazzling accounts of the finale yet conceived, and unlike so much of the competition he absolutely nails the closing chorale, effortlessly. Actually Karajan’s Mahler, weird though some of it undoubtedly was (the Sixth especially), also brought out some of his very best work. It is very gratifying to see a performer treating this music with the care and caution it deserves, particularly when the results turn out to be nothing less than stellar. This many not be your only Fifth, but it must be one of them.