Mahler: Symphony No. 5

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) – Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor (1901–1902)
I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt; II Stürmisch bewegt. Mit grösster Vehemenz; III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell; Adagietto. Sehr langsam; V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro.

Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra / Sir Donald Runnicles

Reference Recordings FR-763SACD


Sir Donald Runnicles has been music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival since 2005, and this live recording from Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, Wyoming, made during the summer residency of July 2024, captures him in thoroughly familiar territory. The Festival Orchestra, drawn from leading ensembles across North America and Europe, is an impressive collective, and Runnicles has long since made it his own.

Runnicles confidently judges the pace from the stark severity of the opening Trauermarsch, which features well-phrased trumpet solos. Runnicles is a conductor who paints in broad strokes without sacrificing detail, and each section of the orchestra phrases with evident care. The drama is conveyed with real conviction, and he shifts mood with the kind of assurance that comes from long acquaintance with this music.

In the central movements, the waltz-inflected Scherzo is delightful — buoyant yet disciplined, with beautifully controlled playing before the tutti close. The celebrated Adagietto is expressive without tipping into sentiment, and Reference Recordings' production, which Vic Muenzer discusses in a brief but fascinating note on the microphone placement, ensures that all the nuance and inner detail registers. Runnicles shapes the movement with a sure hand, and the ending is quietly lovely.

The finale blazes with character and luminosity. Wind solos charm, and the cumulative momentum feels entirely earned. Runnicles has spoken of his hope that this recording might share the musical excitement he and the orchestra experienced in performance, and on the evidence of this disc, that ambition is fully realised.

Reference Recordings' engineering is exemplary — vivid and expansive, available in Hybrid SACD with both stereo and 5.1 surround configurations as well as high-resolution digital formats.

A fine account of Mahler's Fifth, warmly recorded and persuasively led.