It’s typically bold of Mark Elder to choose the Ninth as his first Mahler recording with the Hallé. Totally convincing versions of the last symphony that Mahler lived to complete are real rarities – even some of the greatest Mahlerians have stumbled when tackling it – and for all its moments of magnificence, and the consistently first-rate playing of the Hallé, Elder’s account never quite coheres into a satisfying whole. The way in which the long, lingering finale is engineered towards its final climax is superbly done, but the inner pair of movements sometimes seem rather tentative, as if the conductor was reluctant to emphasise their violence and sardonic humour too much. The first movement, though, is very well stage-managed, its three huge, increasingly catastrophic climaxes lucidly navigated; perhaps in the end no single performance can encompass such a searchingly profound and intensely personal work.
