The bar is set high in Mahler's Second Symphony, and Rattle has partly to blame for this. His first EMI recording (1986, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) was named Gramophone's Record of the Year. A quarter of a century later, it is expected that Rattle - through chief conductor of the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic - will deepen his interpretation. Yet the tempo of the opening
… movement is not even that much slower here than in the first test. However, the new recording is more cautious in sound and articulation. Precisely because of this sound aesthetic, it sometimes seems as if the mind of the late Von Karajan is still adept at the Berliners. "If he is the Beast [comparison to Tennstedt], then Rattle is undoubtedly Beauty," says Gramophone. This comment was not necessarily meant as a compliment, which did not prevent the magazine from proclaiming Rattle's latest lecture Editor's Choice. (HJ)more
