Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's the rest of him?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 16, 2013

Mahler is famous (some would say in famous) for his gargantuan orchestral works, and so perhaps it's no mere piece of shoddy authoring and/or mastering that has deprived his huge Second Symphony of its final several bars on this new Blu-ray. Music history is full of well meaning editors who have slashed, dashed and diced various brilliant composers' works to suit their own particular tastes, so maybe someone in the editing room here just decided that, well, things had gone on long enough and we didn't really need that final cadence after all. Of course, the preceding is said in jest (hopefully, anyway), but the fact remains that somehow, some way, the final several seconds (even as much as over a minute depending on how Jansons drew out the final bars of the piece) of Mahler's Second Symphony have been eradicated on this Blu-ray, with the performance simply stopping mid-phrase, with frozen video, and then a quick cut to the mastering credits. Do they really want mastering credits after a mistake of this magnitude?

It's really too bad, for up to this point, this Blu-ray offers a really solid interpretation of Mahler's gigantic "Resurrection" Symphony, with some blistering brass work and lovely vocals by Anja Harteros and Bernarda Fink. Even more interesting for some Mahler aficionados will be the concert's opening piece, a contemporary 16 voice arrangement of Mahler's 1901 song "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", which is a gorgeously lyrical and haunting piece, especially in this new choral setting. But few are going to be able to forgive a disc that so callously cuts the final moments from one of Mahler's most profound orchestral pieces. Someone at Digim or ArtHaus Musik has some 'splainin' to do.

Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mariss Jansons Conducts Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ArtHaus Musik with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is a nicely sharp and well detailed looking presentation that benefits from good camera placement which is able to capture both Jansons at work as well as the various soloists (both orchestral and vocal) who have their moments in the sun during this extended symphonic masterpiece. Colors are nicely saturated and accurate looking, blacks are deep and solid and contrast is also excellent.

Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mariss Jansons Conducts Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 mix as well as an LPCM 2.0. A dedicated low frequency channel may have helped some of Mahler's more boisterous passages, but otherwise this 5.0 mix offers brilliant fidelity and extremely expressive dynamic range. Balance between the vocalists and the orchestra is also well modulated. But how to overlook the truly stunning excision of the final moments? How does something like this go unnoticed?

Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements other than trailers are included on this release.

Mahler: Symphony 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Up until the final few moments of this performance I was ready to give this release my highest recommendation. But whoever didn't notice that the final several bars of Mahler's Second have been idiotically left out really should be looking for a new line of work.