Andrew Litton - Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (2006)

It's often difficult to tell what causes the warm glow that comes from hearing Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in G major: is it some secret charm in the score, or is it the magic of the performance? This puzzle is hard to solve, especially in the case of Andrew Litton's 1990 recording of Mahler's sunniest work with soprano Ann Murray and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, reissued by Virgin in 2006. This studio performance is joyous and relaxed, with generous rubato, great variety of tone, and considerable flexibility of dynamics to feel spontaneous; yet that spontaneity seems to flow out of the music as Mahler wrote it, with its quicksilver changes of mood and teasing musical allusions, which accordingly inspire playfulness in the musicians. However, there's a deeper current of spiritual feeling that courses through the symphony, which goes beyond the amusing children's games of the first movement and the witty deviltry of the Scherzo; it infuses the sublime Adagio with grace and serenity and rounds out the work with transcendent beauty in the closing song, Das himmlische Leben. Litton and the orchestra are fully responsive to this deepening emotional flow in the slow variations, and their expression becomes ever more profound as it progresses to Murray's unbelievably joyful singing in the final movement. It seems, then, that the glory of Mahler's music and the radiance of the performance are interdependent, and together they produce the happy emotions that make this rendition so satisfying. Note, though, that the recording is a little muted and uneven in places, so finding the right volume level may be tricky. © Blair Sanderson