Mahler with added mystery

For the Mahler buff who has (almost) everything, here’s an intriguing collection of symphonic movements

Composer: Mahler
Repertoire: Four Movements
Artists: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Järvi
Rating:  4/5
Genre: Orchestral
Label: Virgin Classics 216 5762

Mahler dropped Blumine from his First Symphony, slightly revised Totenfeier to launch his Second, and completed only the Adagio in his otherwise unfinished Tenth; Britten’s arrangement of the Third Symphony’s second movement heard next is for a less large and (in the 1930s) more realistically sized orchestra. Paavo Järvi secures performances of serious orchestral quality: that of Totenfeier is highly dramatic, while the Tenth’s Adagio has the power of a stand-alone epic in its own right.