Mahler: Symphony No. 10 Sir Simon Rattle & Berliner Philharmoniker

• 1 I. Adagio 25:11
• 2 II. Scherzo 11:24
• 3 III. Purgatorio (Allegretto moderato) 03:55
• 4 IV. [Scherzo] 12:06
• 5 V. Finale 24:47
• Total Runtime 01:17:23

Info for Mahler: Symphony No. 10

As the Payne/Elgar Symphony No.3 is not Elgar's definitive statement, Mahler did not complete a Symphony No.10. However he left 'a work fully prepared in the sketch', the complete unorchestrated musical material. Had he lived, Mahler would almost certainly have shaped the material further. This means that the performance edition prepared by Deryck Cooke in the early 60s is not a completion, but an orchestration of the short score left at Mahler's death in 1911. It nevertheless sounds very 'complete', both of itself, and as a summation of the romantic-epic 19th Century German musical tradition. Hereafter, the France of Debussy and Ravel would lead the musical world, and Stravinsky's 1913 Parisian premiere of The Rite of Spring would turn it upside-down.

„Over the years, Rattle has performed the work nearly 100 times, far more often than anyone else. Wooed by Berlin, he repeatedly offered them ‘Mahler ed Cooke’ and was repulsed. He made his Berlin conducting debut with the Sixth. But, after the announcement in June 1999 that he had won the orchestra’s vote in a head-to-head with Daniel Barenboim, he celebrated with two concert performances of the Tenth. A composite version is presented here. As always, Rattle obtains some devastatingly quiet string-playing, and technical standards are unprecedentedly high insofar as the revised performing version is concerned. Indeed, the danger that clinical precision will result in expressive coolness isn’t immediately dispelled by the self-confident meatiness of the violas at the start. We aren’t used to hearing the line immaculately tuned, with every accent clearly defined. The tempo is broader than before and, despite Rattle’s characteristic determination to articulate every detail, the mood is, at first, comparatively serene, even Olympian. Could Rattle be succumbing to the Karajan effect? But no – somehow he squares the circle. The neurotic trills, jabbing dissonances and tortuous counterpoint are relished as never before, within the context of a schizoid Adagio in which the Brucknerian string-writing is never undersold.

The conductor has not radically changed his approach to the rest of the work. As you might expect, the scherzos have greater security and verve. Their strange, hallucinatory choppiness is better served, although parts of the fourth movement remain perplexing despite the superb crispness and clarity of inner parts. More than ever, everything leads inexorably to the cathartic finale, brought off with a searing intensity that has you forgetting the relative baldness of the invention.

Berlin’s Philharmonie isn’t the easiest venue: with everything miked close, climaxes can turn oppressive but the results here are very credible and offer no grounds for hesitation. In short, this new version sweeps the board even more convincingly than his old (Bournemouth) one. Rattle makes the strongest case for an astonishing piece of revivification that only the most die-hard purists will resist.“ (Gramophone)



Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

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Booklet for Mahler: Symphony No. 10