Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra. HDTT 1961 2024 (DSD256, DXD) HERE
Some performances are so culturally significant that they require special notice when a superb new release becomes available. Such is the case with this 2024 reissue from HDTT of the classic account of Mahler's Ninth Symphony recorded in 1961 by Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. It has long been regarded as one of the most significant and historically important recordings of Mahler's final symphony.
And this new transfer from a 15ips 2-track tape by HDTT finally does sonic justice to the magic, grandeur, and emotional drama of the performance itself. The recording has always been a died-in-the-wool audiophile classic, but in this new release the sound quality is simply stunning. It is a must have release for anyone who values the music of Mahler.
I could wax on enthusiastically about the sonic characteristics in various audiophile terms. But I won't. Instead, I will simply say that this release matches up to the best of the large orchestral recordings I have in my rather extensive library of sonically excellent albums. That this is a Columbia Records release simply mystifies me given all my experience listening to Columbia LPs, including this one when heard on the original rather mediocre vinyl. I demonstrates that the Columbia recording engineers could obtain excellent sonic results but were undermined by the Columbia classical music LP mastering and pressing process. It is the transfer by HDTT that makes this release truly special: clean, transparent, utterly neutral, with huge dynamics—it sounds like all the magic of a superb 2-track 15ips analog tape. And did I say neutral? Yes, unlike other releases one may stumble across, HDTT has not messed with the frequency balance—no unnaturally boosted highs or lows. No compression. Just the full-throat power, dynamics and extended frequency range of a good 15ips open reel tape. It just doesn't get better than this.
So why is this such a culturally significant recording? First, it is an outstanding performance filled with the emotional depth and complexity of Mahler's composition. But, importantly, it is a performance by one of the great Mahler interpreters and champions, Bruno Walter, who premiered the work in Vienna in 1912. Walter made the first recording of this work in 1938, a live recording with the Vienna Philharmonic made just eight weeks before Austria became part of Hitler's Third Reich. And Walter was one of only a couple of conductors living into the stereo age who knew and worked with Mahler (another was Otto Klemperer).
As to the performance quality, Walter had available to him a good team of players in the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. This was an ensemble Columbia Records assembled with players drawn from either the Los Angeles Philharmonic or the New York Philharmonic, depending on recording venue. While assembled ad hoc, the ensemble's players were top tier professionals.
You may already know that Mahler became ever more obsessed with death in his later years. This obsession drove his writing in his final few works, particularly Das Lied von der Erde (1908), this Ninth Symphony (1909), and the unfinished Tenth. He had recently lost his daughter and he learned he was dying of a chronic heart disease. The work is magnificently both melancholy and vigorous. It moves from reflective calm to joyful liberation. And it ends with a profound vision of peace. The monstrous opening movement is 27 minutes long, but never tires, never drags, as it ranges across both emotional depths and heights. And this is just the opener, so hang in there for an amazing journey that is a study in one's humanity.
Bruno Walter takes a measured, but never dawdling, pace through the work. He keeps things moving along. In the process, he masterfully adjusts tempo, volume, and orchestral color to fully explore the emotional content to be communicated. And, throughout this very long work, he maintains the arch of the work from opening lines to closing. No getting lost with Walter, whose clarity of vision for the work is outstanding.
Are there other admirable performances of this work? Yes, many. But are there others that supersede the interpretive power of Bruno Walter's presentation? No. It towers among them all.
And in the wonderfully transparent sonics of this new transfer by HDTT, this is a release to treasure.
I recommend it to you most highly.
