Turku Philharmonic Orchestra · Essi Luttinen · Gustav Mahler · Leif Segerstam
2020 · Physical and digital · ABCD 454
The series of ten symphonies by Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) has sometimes been compared to a large autobiographical novel, in which each symphony forms its own chapter, but at the same time is an integral part of a coherently developing narrative. The fourth symphony (1899–1900) has the status of a fairy-tale backwater stage in this narrative.
One of the starting points for the composition was the song Das himmlische Leben (1892), which was originally created as an independent piece and which Mahler then thought of as the conclusion of the gigantic Third Symphony, but which he then moved to the Fourth Symphony. The song is a naive imagination of the joys of heaven as seen through the eyes of a child, and this starting point has shaped Mahler's brightest and most liberated symphony from the Fourth. Of course, the work has its shadier areas, but they don't grind the soul to the flesh and they don't seriously shake the overall look of the symphony.
Segerstam leistet auch hier feinste Detailarbeit, so dass man auch diesen Satz als gelungen ansehen kann.
Pizzicato · Remy Franck ·
If you can find the Chandos you will get his warm, sensitive reading in better sound than this.
American Record Guide · Donald R Vroon ·
The soprano soloist is Essi Luttinen, who sings with plenty of engagement, but, for my taste, has too fruity and mature a voice for this music.
MusicWeb International · Gwyn Parry-Jones ·
reviews, news & interviews
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Sandbox Percussion
Two very different symphonies and some new music for percussion
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra/Leif Segerstam, with Essi Luttinen (mezzo-soprano) (Alba)
Mahler: Symphony No.
theartsdesk.com
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony No.4 in G (1899-1900) [61:38]
Essi Luttinen (mezzo)
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra/Leif Segerstam
rec. Turku Concert Hall, Finland, 27-29 May 2019. DDD.
Text and translation of finale included
ALBA ABCD454 [61:38]
I’ve just finished my share of updating Tony Duggan’s very popular Synoptic Survey of the Mahler symphonies. That update includes a brief review of this new recording along with Tony Duggan’s choices and some of the newer recordings of Symphony…
Music Web International
Streaming Audio Review by Steven Kruger
MAHLER Symphony No. 4 • Leif Segerstam, cond; Essi Luttinen (mez); Turku PO • ALBA 454 (Streaming audio: 61:40) https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=ABCD454
Leif Segerstam leads here the most serene and fluid Mahler Fourth I have yet heard—and definitely the most innocent sounding by my lights. I should explain that I tend to have a troubled relationship with edginess in Mahler’s writing, so I lean in plummy directions. As…
Fanfare Magazine
MAHLER Symphony No. 4 • Leif Segerstam, cond; Essi Luttinen (mez); Turku PO • ALBA 454 (61:40 )
I trust composers to be good conductors of their own music and sometimes inspired ones in the music they love, as Leif Segerstam has been with the symphonies of Sibelius. His own symphonies can be contemporary in the extreme, but there’s a change of personality, musically speaking, in this affectionate reading of the Mahler Fourth. The Turku Philharmonic, founded in 1790, is the oldest in…
Fanfare Magazine
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