Having completed several cycles, among them the complete Beethoven symphonies (with over 1 million copies sold internationally), the orchestral works of Richard Strauss and Schumann, in 2007 David Zinman embarked on this recording of Mahler’s complete symphonies with Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.
This is the penultimate symphony release, and completes the cycle, a complete box set will follow in 2011.
The New York born David Zinman has recorded these works twice before, and feels that the time he has spent with them has allowed his understanding of them to broaden: “Mahler has been with me for over 40 years. I have much more insight into his work now than I used to have. You should not only follow your ego in interpreting him. It’s about discovering what exactly is written in the score. We all grow in our knowledge, as a human being, and I am sure I will still discover new things until my death.”
The series is heralded as one of the most important Mahler cycles of all time. Symphony No.7 was voted No.1 in the Top 5 Classics of 2009 in the Daily Mail
5th February 2011
****
“Zinman’s reading of the Ninth Symphony with the Zurich Tonhalle represents the classical Mahler: gently moulded lines across long spans of music. Within that well-ordered, “innocent” frame, blissfully free of exaggeration, Zinman finds tenderness and tranquillity – but barely a glimpse of torment.”
April 2011
“Carefully prepared and effectively recorded, this is, as someone once said in another context, a Ninth to live with...The Ländler proves fairly relaxed, with some charming bucolic detail.”
March 2011
“Zinman achieves considerable impact by scrupulous observation of Mahler's markings, by phrasing that really breathes and has great concentration, and by encouraging transparency in heavily scored passages - a hallmark of his cycle...The finale is superb: a true Adagio, infinitely spacious and humane, and played with rapt intensity.”
13th January 2011
*****
“The performance is superbly controlled and wonderfully articulated. You're conscious throughout of the work's position in symphonic history...It also reminds us that "non-neurotic" need not mean unemotional, and there are passages in this performance, particularly in the final Adagio, where Zinman achieves an intensity that is overpowering.”
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