Mahler/Kaplan/Mathes: Symphony No 2 Marlis Petersen, Janina Baechle, Wiener Singakademie, Wiener KammerOrchester/Gilbert Kaplan

Mahler Symphony No 2 in C minor Resurrection
    
Artist: Gilbert Kaplan, Wiener KammerOrchester, Wiener Singakademie, Marlis Petersen, Janina Baechle, Gustav Mahler
Genre: Classical
Label: Avie

On this recording, Gilbert Kaplan and Rob Mathes have arranged Mahler's Resurrection Symphony for "small orchestra" – 56 players, roughly half the norm. Kaplan, an amateur conductor, made his money in publishing and has spent decades indulging his passion for Mahler. He extends that indulgence even further through the Resurrection Symphony, the only symphony Kaplan conducts, which he is here recording for the third time. The goal seems to be to make people aware of the fact that the new reduction will bring the piece comfortably within the reach of smaller orchestras. Full marks on that front. However, issues of size apart, this is interpretatively the least persuasive of Kaplan's Mahler recordings. url.ie/e8oo

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor