MAHLER. Symphony No.9. Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter

Although there are a number of very fine performances of this symphony in good stereo sound, this historic interpretation, given in the shadow of the Nazi takeover of Austria that everyone present knew was just about to occur, has a headlong urgency and intensity that, in my opinion, no subsequent recording has fully matched. Walter phrases with a natural elasticity of rubato, especially in the opening andante commodo movement, that highlights the marked fluctuations of tension within the music and projects its expressive rhetoric into sharper relief. Moreover, the prewar Vienna Philharmonic further enhances these qualities with its distinctive way of leaning into phrases that, in my opinion, imparts to them added profile and force. There are, admittedly, imprecisions of ensemble here and there, but not to the degree that would compromise the power of the performance. My only significant reservation is that the last movement is taken a little bit too quickly to be a true adagio (for what it is worth, I have heard that Walter later complained that the recording team made him play it faster than he wanted to).
Finally, I would recommend getting this particular remastering because its sound is significantly more vivid than that of the earlier EMI edition.

I hesitate to recommend this as the top choice for anyone looking for their first Mahler 9. If you have not heard the Ninth before, this recording by Mahler's personal friend might not be the one for you. Barbirolli's and Haitink's Ninth offer much better sound and some excellent playing. Karajan's Ninth with the BPO is a good place to start. Rattle's Ninth impresses me.

Those who already have a Mahler 9 and wish to supplement their valuable Mahler collection with historical recordings and alternative interpretations, have no hesitation whatsoever in purchasing this CD! One can get no more historical. This was Bruno Walter's last prewar performance with the VPO before he fled the Drittes Reich. Listen to the music and feel the tension of those last remaining days before the war.

One can argue about the quality of playing, no one can say the sound quality is high (though in view of the date - 1938, the engineers in charge of remastering have done themselves proud). But listen carefully and you'll realize beneath the noise the performance is white-hot in intensity. No other Mahler 9s I have heard, including those mentioned above, approaches that level of emotion.

Listening is believing. Admirers of Maestro Mahler's music deserve to have this CD in their collection.

When Bruno Walter was to conduct Mahler's 9th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic in January of 1938 EMI jumped at the chance to record the concert. With duplicate machinery and a chance to work out the kinks in rehearsal EMI wound up producing one of the great classical recordings of the 20th Century by an artist who was not only Mahler's friend buy who had also given the world premiere of the 9th some 25 years earlier. Walter's tempos are brisker than his later CBS recording making it nearly 10 minutes faster than that later recording. There is, however, no indication of haste and Walter draws firth one of the most gripping performances of this work ever heard. The concert took place at 11 A.M. on a cold January morning. There are some audible audience noices in the first movement as well as some tentative playing by the orchestra but that soon settles down and is forgotten as Walter digs deeper into the score. There are many pirated recordings of this performance [...]. Avoid them. This cd is taken, under license, from EMI's metal masters. EMI previously issued this recording on cd in fairly good sound but Mike Dutton has performed absolute miracles here. It of course cannot match a modern recording but hearing it makes it hard to believe it is from 1938 as it sounds like a good mono recording from the 1950's.[....] Within months of this recording the Nazis would occupy Austria and Walter and all the first chair players of the orchestra heard here would have fled Austria into exile. Both musically and historically an important audio document