Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Mariss Jansons) (CD, Br-Klassik)

In no other of his symphonies did Mahler struggle for the final shape as he did in the Fifth. There are three printed versions, and Mahler orchestrated them anew for almost every performance. In the winter of 1910/1911, almost a decade after it was written, he subjected the score to a final revision and then summed up: I finished the 5th, it actually had to be completely re-instrumented. It is unbelievable how I could be so completely wrong back then. (Apparently the routine I had acquired in the first four symphonies had completely left me in the lurch because a completely new style required a new technique.) It was early agreed that Mahler was taking a new path with his Fifth. The symphony marked a turning point for contemporary witnesses such as the conductor Bruno Walter and the music critic Paul Bekker, author of the first major Mahler monograph.