Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado - Mahler: Symphony No.5 (1981/2017)FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time - 72:27 minutes | 2,08 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time - 72:27 minutes | 1,29 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover As with just about all the Mahler symphonies, Abbado has made multiple recordings of the Fifth, but this, his first, remains his finest, and an exceptional performance by any standard. It has all of the famed Chicago virtuosity but also a welcome attention to detail and willingness to savor a phrase that you almost never find with Solti’s Chicago Mahler. It’s great to hear a coda to the second movement that for once does not sound anti-climactic. We expect the horn playing in the scherzo to be stunning, and so it is, but the music also has grace, charm, and plenty of atmosphere at an appropriately relaxed basic tempo that, as you can hear, leaves plenty of space for the big moments to expand.