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GUSTAV MAHLER 1860–1911 Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor Part I 1 I Trauermarsch: In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt 14.42 2 II Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz 15.29 Part II 3 III Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell 18.21 Part III 4 IV Adagietto: Sehr langsam 11.22 5 V Rondo-Finale: Allegro 16.12 Producer: Donald Sturrock Director: Kriss Rusmanis Recorded: Royal Festival Hall, London, 13 December 1988 Broadcast: 22 December 1991 © BBC 1991 London Philharmonic Orchestra Leader: David Nolan KLAUS TENNSTEDT For ICA Classics Executive Producer: Stephen Wright Head of DVD: Louise Waller-Smith Executive Consultant: John Pattrick Music Rights Executive: Aurélie Baujean ICA Classics gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Inge Tennstedt DVD Studio Production DVD Design & Development: msm-studios GmbH Producer: Johannes Müller Project Management: Jakobus Ciolek Screen Design: Hermann Enkemeier DVD Authoring: Benjamin Fritz Audio Restoration & Re-Mastering: Christoph Stickel Video Restoration: Michael Hartl DVD Packaging Product Management: Helen Forey & Harry Robson for WLP Ltd Booklet Editing: WLP Ltd Introductory Note & Translations ç 2011 International Classical Artists Ltd Cover Photo: BBC Art Direction: Georgina Curtis for WLP Ltd π 2011 BBC, under licence to International Classical Artists Ltd TENNSTEDT CONDUCTS MAHLER SYMPHONY NO.5 In the great renaissance of interest in the works of Gustav Mahler, none of his symphonies has enjoyed greater popularity than his Fifth, the first of the triptych of purely instrumental works that marks his ‘middle period’ as a symphonist. The inclusion of the beautiful Adagietto for harp and strings in the soundtrack of Visconti’s Death in Venice may partially account for this, but the appeal of the piece transcends that demotic vehicle, and conducting the piece successfully is something of a rite of passage for modern-day conductors. This symphony’s constant sense of dramatic Sturm und Drang, plus its thrilling and unequivocally affirmative conclusion, makes it a natural crowd-pleaser. Between 1977 and 1986, Klaus Tennstedt recorded all the Mahler symphonies, plus Das Lied von der Erde (a symphony in all but name), with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The first three of those recordings were made in the pre-digital era, when Tennstedt was yet to formalise his relationship with the LPO (he became its principal guest conductor in 1980 and its music director in 1983). A recording of the First Symphony in 1977 left critics underwhelmed, but recordings of the Fifth and Ninth, made in 1978 and 1979 respectively, won considerable plaudits. The Fifth was granted three stars in the authoritative Penguin Guide, which rightly praised an ‘outstanding performance, thoughtful on the one hand, warm and expressive on the other’. The Klaus Tennstedt of a decade later was an entirely different person, however, as the remarkable concert on this DVD demonstrates. A heavy smoker, in 1986 he was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and began a fierce course of radiotherapy. Having seemingly conquered the disease, he attempted a comeback at the 1987 Proms, but collapsed during a rehearsal and had to be replaced. He resigned at once as music director of the orchestra and did not conduct it again until May 1988. Fate had been peculiarly cruel to Tennstedt. Although he was the most unlikely of superstars – he possessed little or no command of social etiquette, evinced not the slightest interest in the glittering baubles of fame, and deployed a conducting technique that baffled most onlookers – in his late forties that is precisely what he started to become. Until 1971 he was trapped in the so-called German Democratic Republic, conducting provincial orchestras, and his big break came at last in 1974, when he conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra. London followed in 1976 and, in a profession where elderly practitioners are venerated not spurned, Tennstedt seemed set for decades of prominence, conducting the great orchestras of the world in the music he loved – Bruckner and Dvořák, Mozart and Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler. Of all these, it was Mahler that brought out the best in Tennstedt. Although he had come relatively late to Mahler, as he had to prominence – these works were banned under the Nazis and rarely performed under the Communists – Klaus Tennstedt got as close to them as anyone ever has. He himself believed his affinity to Mahler could be explained by the fact they had both led difficult and complicated lives, characterised by sudden and violent relocations and changes of direction. Every 2 3
performance had to be something special, and he immersed himself beforehand in the study of the scores. Bob Truman, who can be seen leading the cello section of the LPO on this DVD, recalls: ‘He had an incredible control of dynamics. In his pianissimos you couldn’t breathe. When you saw his scores, I don’t know how he didn’t have an accident, because if he had sneezed, the music would have gone everywhere. There wasn’t a single page that was attached. They fell everywhere. He’d studied those scores all his life, and he always had the score in his head, not his head in the score. He was, in many ways, a Mahlerian figure himself – hyper-stressed.’ In defiance of Tennstedt’s ailing health after the first diagnosis of cancer, his interpretations of Mahler just got better and better. Indeed, many believed his ever-deepening readings were the direct consequence of his ongoing dalliance with serious illness and thoughts of mortality. Bob Truman believes ‘some of his finest performances were at the end of his life, when he was very, very sick ... He gave so much of himself. I just wonder if he was sometimes like the moth that flew too close to the flame. He would conduct a real performance from the beginning of the first rehearsal. He wouldn’t take it easy and then do something different in the show. He was very frail towards the end ... He used to say, “I can’t show you with my hands what I want, I’m just going to have to sing what I want, and you will have to help me”. And we did, because we all liked him. It wouldn’t have worked with any conductor’. Tennstedt and the LPO had already revisited Mahler’s Symphony No.5 in 1984, at their London home and on tour (a live recording from Japan is available). The distinctive ‘Tennstedt sound’ was by then in evidence – a peculiar combination of edgily blended woodwind, biting strings and technically impeccable brass – but he had still one more interpretation of this work in him. When Tennstedt returned to Mahler’s Fifth for the last time in London after his first bout of cancer, the Mahler was preceded by a highly dramatic rendition of Schoenberg’s short, dramatic A Survivor from Warsaw, which, sadly, has not been preserved. By now, every Tennstedt concert was a major event and a predictable sell-out. Until he was on the podium, furthermore, no one knew if he would conduct at all. It is a wonderful thing to listen again, after all these years, to a Tennstedt concert, but to see it too offers a far more profound appreciation of the physical travails the man overcame – and the love he inspired in musicians and the concert-going public alike. There will never be another Klaus Tennstedt, and here is a vivid reminder of just how special this self-proclaimed ‘Romantic conductor’ really was. Michael McManus TENNSTEDT DIRIGE LA CINQUIÈME SYMPHONIE DE MAHLER Dans le grand regain d’intérêt pour les œuvres de Gustav Mahler, aucune de ses symphonies n’a joui d’une plus grande popularité que sa Cinquième, la première du triptyque d’œuvres purement instrumentales qui marque sa “période médiane” de symphoniste. La présence du bel Adagietto pour harpes et cordes dans la bande-son de Mort à Venise de Visconti pourrait l’expliquer en partie, mais l’attrait de l’œuvre transcende ce support populaire, et le succès dans la lecture de cette partition est une espèce de rite de passage pour les chefs modernes. La constante impression de Sturm und Drang dramatique de cette symphonie, ajoutée à sa conclusion captivante et explicitement affirmative, en fait une œuvre naturellement appréciée du public. Entre 1977 et 1986, Klaus Tennstedt enregistra toutes les symphonies de Mahler, ainsi que Das Lied von der Erde (qui a tout d’une symphonie sauf le nom), à la tête du London Philharmonic Orchestra. Les trois premiers de ces enregistrements furent réalisés avant l’ère numérique, alors que Tennstedt n’avait pas encore officialisé sa relation avec le LPO (il en devint principal chef invité en 1980 et directeur musical en 1983). Un enregistrement de la Première Symphonie en 1977 n’impressionna guère la critique, mais ses versions de la Cinquième et de la Neuvième, gravées en 1978 et 1979 respectivement, lui valurent de grandes louanges. La Cinquième se vit accorder trois étoiles dans le Penguin Guide, qui fait autorité; on y louait à juste titre une “interprétation exceptionnelle, réfléchie, d’une part, chaleureuse et expressive de l’autre”. Le Klaus Tennstedt d’une décennie plus tard était cependant un homme entièrement différent, comme le démontre le remarquable concert de ce DVD. Grand fumeur, le chef se vit diagnostiquer un cancer de la gorge en 1986 et commença alors une lourde radiothérapie. Il semblait avoir surmonté la maladie et tenta un retour aux Proms de 1987, mais s’effondra pendant une répétition et dut être remplacé. Il démissionna aussitôt de ses fonctions de directeur musical de l’orchestre et ne le dirigea de nouveau qu’en mai 1988. Le destin avait été particulièrement cruel pour Tennstedt. Alors qu’il était la plus improbable des superstars – il ne maîtrisait guère l’étiquette sociale, ne manifestait pas le moindre intérêt pour les paillettes scintillantes de la renommée, et déployait une technique de direction qui confondait la plupart des spectateurs –, à l’approche de la cinquantaine, c’est précisément ce qu’il commençait à devenir. Jusqu’en 1971, il resta prisonnier de la soi-disant République démocratique allemande, au pupitre d’orchestres de province, et fit enfin sa grande percée en 1974, quand il dirigea le Boston Symphony Orchestra. Londres suivit en 1976, et, dans une profession où les pratiquants vieillissants sont vénérés et non méprisés, Tennstedt semblait destiné à des décennies de gloire, dirigeant les grands orchestres du monde entier dans la musique qu’il aimait – Bruckner et Dvořák, Mozart et Beethoven, Brahms et Mahler. De tous ces compositeurs, c’est Mahler qui faisait ressortir ce qu’il y avait de meilleur en Tennstedt. S’il était venu relativement tard à Mahler, comme à la célébrité – ces œuvres étaient bannies par les 4 5
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