Sym.4: Y.levi / Atlanta So Von Stade(Ms)

Of all Mahler's symphonies, the G major Fourth is the most compact and genial, a traversal of a sort of magic kingdom. One is immediately placed in a different world: the sound of trotting sleighbells leading into a fanciful, Mozartean romp, followed by a strange dance with a medieval fiddler, a long, serene adagio, and finally, a child's vision of heaven, which dwells a lot on what the food is like.
Yoel Levi is a relaxed yet efficient guide here, with a very straightforward approach that eschews the tempo games favored by some in the mercurial first movement and letting the adagio speak for itself at a flowing pace. He allows the Atlanta strings some portamento, an effect which would have been routine in Mahler's time and adds a lot to the expressiveness of this music. Frederica Von Stade is a very appealing soloist in the "Heavenly Life" finale, her light mezzo striking just the right tone, not operatic but not affectedly naive either, and she also turns in a very good 'Songs of a Wayfarer,' her voice sounding almost as fresh as when she first recorded it 20 years before.