The recording of Mahler?s ?Resurrection? features soprano Lisa Milne and mezzo-soprano Brigit Remmert. The Hungarian Radio Choir sings the chorus.
Gramophone?s editor, James Inverne, writes that Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra ?deliver a version of Mahler?s Resurrection Symphony that goes right to the top of the catalogue (well, it?s at least in the top five).?
?Unusually, Fischer keeps the leash tight during the white-knuckle first movement, husbanding his forces for the work?s later stages. But there are enough hints of the power they can unleash to keep you on the edge of your seat. At the same time, he reveals textures and details that are usually submerged. The result is a performance which builds to an awesome climax, while at the same time taking a level-headed look deep into the work?s spiritual heart,? Inverne writes.
Gramophone is not the only publication to praise the new recording. The Washington Post calls it ?simply a beautiful performance -- majestic but intimate, sweeping but tender, carefully planned and brilliantly executed.?
The paper?s music writer also notes that Fischer ?finds room to infuse real tenderness? in the first movement, while he ?seems content to let the music's beauty speak for itself, without italicization? in the second movement. ?The finale is as vast and spacious as they come.?
?This is one of the best recordings of the "Resurrection" Symphony ever made -- worthy to stand with the very different performances by Otto Klemperer and Leonard Bernstein,? the Washington Post writes.
?Resurrection? is available from Channel Classics.
Source: Fidelio / Gramophone / The Washington Post
