Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 8, 2013

Mahler fans have had a field day over the past couple of years with a number of stellar and relatively high profile releases. Topping these has no doubt been the Mahler: Symphonies 1-7 conducted by Claudio Abbado and featuring his hand picked Lucerne Festival Orchestra. We’ve also had a more complete “cycle” of sorts, Mahler: Symphonies 1-10; Totenfeier; Das Lied Von Der Erde, which features the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra being conducted by several different conductors. But there have been several standalone releases of individual pieces, and this new recording of one of Mahler’s most easily accessible pieces features a good, if sometimes unusual, performance and some really interesting bonus material.

I almost always recommend that newcomers to Mahler start with the Fourth, as it is instantly approachable, unlike some of the composer’s more opaque pieces. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, the Fourth is Mahler in a rather Haydnesque frame of mind, but refracted through a modern prism, a la Prokofiev’s First Symphony. Chailly leads his troops through an often energetic performance, though some of his tempi are a little unexpected, notably in the first movement, which Chailly takes at a rather relaxed pace. The playing is excellent and the final movement features a lovely vocal performance by Christina Landshamer. However, the real allure of this release may reside in the fascinating player piano supplement that features Mahler himself playing the fourth movement of the symphony.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mahler Symphony No. 4 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Accentus Music with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Leipzig's Gewandhaus looks very nice in this high definition presentation, as do the players, many of whom are featured in extreme close-ups that boast very admirable fine detail. Colors are nicely saturated and accurate looking and contrast is strong.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mahler Symphony No. 4 features both a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Both of these tracks sound excellent, though personally I found the 5.1 mix a little too full of hall ambience at times, especially in the vocal final movement, where Landshamer tends to sound just a little diffused, at least when compared to the more focused 2.0 mix. Otherwise, though, both tracks offer sterling fidelity and good dynamic range.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Welte-Mignon includes:

  The Welte-Mignon Piano Player Device (1080i; 3:49)

  Mahler Plays Mahler, Symphony No. 4, 4th Movement (1080i; 7:38)

• Riccardo Chailly on Mahler 4 (1080i; 15:18)

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a lot of Mahler choices out there in the Blu-ray world, but some of the highest profile releases have several pieces, which for Mahler neophytes, may be too much of a good thing. For those wanting to bite off a smaller chunk of Mahler's often gargantuan opuses, this version of the Fourth is appealing and features a really fascinating supplement. Recommended.