Yoel Levi - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan" (2022)

Of a handful of recordings of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major, "Titan," to include the rejected Blumine, this rendition by Yoel Levi and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is one of the more successfully thought-through, even though the use of the extra movement remains questionable. Whether or not this short Andante adds anything material to the symphony is secondary to how it serves -- or disserves -- the work's overall trajectory. Ordinarily, the first movement builds up a momentum that should push steadily on to the robust Scherzo. However, with Blumine interjected between the first movement and the Scherzo, the energy seems dissipated too soon, and this pretty intermezzo becomes irrelevant to the work's structural and expressive needs. Yet Levi seems to make this idyll fit by taking the first movement's energy down a notch, and by using Blumine's sentimentality as a mood setter to a mellower Scherzo, keeps all three movements roughly in the same emotional world. This is a matter of taste, and many who would enjoy a really vigorous first half of this symphony will find Levi's low-key interpretation a bit unsatisfying, even if it is coherently planned. Fortunately, there is sufficient tension in the Funeral March and fury in the Finale to compensate for the slow build up, and listeners who make it to the end will find the peaks and troughs of the conclusion worth getting past the first half hour. Audiophiles, of course, will love the high-fidelity DSD sound, which is extraordinary by any measure.

Review by Blair Sanderson