In making his first recording of a Mahler symphony, Daniel Raiskin has taken a big risk by choosing the Symphony No. 3 in D minor, the longest of the symphonies (indeed, the longest regularly performed symphony in the repertoire), and one of the toughest to hold together. Conducting the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie with a clear sense of the work's massive length and variable moods, Raiskin doesn't rush his musicians but takes a measured pace from the start and lets the symphony unfold one glorious section at a ...
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In making his first recording of a Mahler symphony, Daniel Raiskin has taken a big risk by choosing the Symphony No. 3 in D minor, the longest of the symphonies (indeed, the longest regularly performed symphony in the repertoire), and one of the toughest to hold together. Conducting the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie with a clear sense of the work's massive length and variable moods, Raiskin doesn't rush his musicians but takes a measured pace from the start and lets the symphony unfold one glorious section at a time. This requires considerable patience in the first movement, which runs close to 35 minutes, but the steady tempos and predominantly upbeat martial air give this opening section the right combination of cohesion and forward momentum to maintain interest. After this titanic movement, the rest of the symphony goes by with comparative ease, and Raiskin's unhurried approach conditions listeners to accept the music on its own terms (in a sense, asking them to dally and smell the roses),...
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