Haitink's Mahler has impact and force

BERNARD HAITINK, CONDUCTOR, CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 in E Major (CSO Resound) ****

Few conductors can rival Bernard Haitink's talents on the podium. The Dutch-born Haitink is one of the most insightful and intelligent — not to mention musical — conductors today.

He's directed or guest conducted all of the most celebrated orchestras in the world as well as recorded with them, and everything he does seems to verge on perfection.

Haitink's recordings have always been anticipated, and he's never disappointed with his interpretations or with the performances he elicits from his musicians. Haitink's albums have always been masterpieces of recorded artistry.

His new recording of Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he is the principal conductor, once again underscores Haitink's immaculate artistry and consummate musicianship. This is without question one of the finest recordings of the Seventh to come in many years. Haitink brings remarkable insight into his interpretation — it's like hearing the work for the first time. It's a marvelously nuanced and subtle, yet a wonderfully forceful account from a true crafstman and artist.

Right from the opening measures of the first movement, one senses that this is going to be a rewarding listening experience. Haitink's is a profoundly expansive reading wherein he lets the music unfold and develop gradually and on its own terms. Nothing is lost in Haitink's interpretation, and so much is gained. Gorgeously played by the Chicago Symphony, this performance is a revelation of tremendous impact and force.

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BIRGIT REMMERT, CONTRALTO, SCHWEIZER KAMMERCHOR, ZRCHER SNGERKNABEN, DAVID ZINMAN, CONDUCTOR, TONHALLE ORCHESTRA; Mahler, Symphony No. 3 (RCA Red Seal) ****

Conductor David Zinman's recording of Gustav Mahler's epic Third Symphony with Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra — the third in his cycle of the complete Mahler symphonies — is an excellent addition to the many outstanding Mahler cycles already available.

Whenever one sees a new complete set of Mahler's works it begs the question, "What possibly does this new one have that the others don't?" In Zinman's case the answer is — put simply — "a lot."