Last year, we sat through the recording of an episode of the Mahler Project, the recording of all the Mahler symphonies by the SF Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. We were wondering what the outcome of the taping would sound like. We have now a measuring stick, with the release of the 5th Symphony, which was recorded last season as well.

Mahler's 5th Symphony is one of his most famous works: the 4th movement, Adagietto, became super popular as the soundtrack of Visconti's Death in Venice, and the whole piece has an epic, cinematic quality. The piece was written in 1901, and first performed in 1904.

We put the CD on our iPod and took it with us for a test drive for a week. Actually, we quickly forgot about the iPod: this symphony is a study in contrast, and with a noisy background, you miss out on the delicate textures of the softer tracks. You pump up the volume only to be scarred by the next fortissimo. Yet, riding our bicycle at twilight on the embarcadero to the Adagietto, you see the city in quite a moody light. Where is our beaked mask?

Back on the home stereo, you can really appreciate the work of MTT. His vision of the symphony is a rather intense, exacerbated, opinionated interpretation: no half-measure, and take no prisoners. The opening Trauermarsch, a funeral march, is imbibed with darkness, with explosive chords and ominous tones. You want sentimental? I'll give you sentimental, says the Adagietto, with a deliberate pace and crying strings. The 2nd movement, Sturmish Bewegt is regal and majestuous. The middle Scherzo is a masterpiece of balance, a symphony within the symphony, with horns like for a dance at the country fair giving way to a quizzical passage; or an almost joyous, waltzy theme seguing into a percussive gunfire.

MTT architectures the proceedings beautifully, with the numerous transitions and mood changes coming off fluidly and naturally, and the many fugal themes intertwined clearly. We liked the sound of the orchestra, percussive, crisp. The brass in particular perform their heavy duty remarkably, starting from Bill Williams' trumpet solo in the first act to the tuba of Jeffrey Anderson to the whole horn section in perfect sync to conclude the symphony. If we were to nitpick, we'd have appreciated a bit more fantasy in the parodic moments and citations which sprinkle the symphony and the last movement in particular.

We are a little short on benchmark for this piece, we did not have a Mahler fifth recording prior to this one. Now we have a reference piece. For what it's worth, other recordings are discussed here. If you want to catch the Mahler cycle at Davies, not in the comfort of your living room, the orchestra will perform the 4th and the 7th this season.