Mahler Symphony No. 9

"A sincere and considered engagement with Mahler's inexhaustible score, full of warmth, longing and immediacy. Bernard's ear for textural interplay and contrapuntal transparency yields striking high-definition moments, such as the flute-horn duo in the recapitulation or the overlapping fragments of the Rondo-Burleske, which at times are made to snap into razor-sharp focus. Its chamber music-like clarity aligns well with Bernard's demystifying yet reverent perspective."

“Conductor David Bernard has a natural feeling for the echt Mahlerian style: tempi, the application of rubato, the relationship between sections and movements all sound right to me. I much enjoy the clean lines and highly musical phrasing and pacing of this account.”

“Bernard’s reading of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 stands apart in its remarkable textural transparency. Every line emerges with clarity, yet nothing feels clinical or detached. On the contrary, this approach intensifies the emotional impact of the music, as listeners can follow each thread in Mahler’s complex tapestry while experiencing an overwhelming cumulative effect…The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony responds with playing of remarkable sensitivity and precision, eliciting unprecedented lucidity from Mahler’s dense orchestration…The string section produces heart-stopping beauty, from whispered pianissimos that seem to emerge from silence to rich, full-bodied fortissimos of prodigious emotional authority…Principal winds offer solos of exquisite sensitivity, with particularly notable contributions from the principal horn and oboe. With its progressively dissipating string textures, the famous valedictory coda unfolds with such concentration that time seems to stand still. Bernard’s superb pacing control allows the music to evolve naturally, creating an otherworldly experience that lingers long after the final notes have faded into silence.”

"…Beautifully engineered release with unusual contrapuntal clarity…One can take dictation from the Rondo-Burleske’s sophisticated and spotlit polyphonic interplay…The Adagio stands out for shapely, vocally oriented ensemble playing, intensity, and rhythmic accuracy."

“From the very start, Bernard chooses to clarify the lines, shaping a nuanced interpretation that renders the overall structure and its themes intelligible, at times with a superb sense of chamber-like dialogue. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony proves solid and disciplined, both in its individual players and in its collective sound. The discography is filled with recordings of Mahler’s Ninth, many of them legendary — among these, David Bernard’s personal, masterfully executed reading is well worth hearing.”

“…a highly personal, even intimate, version of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony… a series of brilliant, intense meditations rife with intimations of mortality. The resultant acoustic, immediately riveting, follows Mahler’s sound world. Bernard’s thoughtful pace captures the throbbing aspect of the unfolding narrative, intruded upon by severe moments of dissonant, affective turmoil. The whirling, metric velocities in the Third Movement are kept in check by Bernard’s close attention to sonic clarity of articulation. Martial and irreverent, clownish figures pass by in kaleidoscopic fashion, a welter of emotional disparities. The Park Avenue woodwinds and brass prove their mettle in controlled tropes, a series of cruel or consoling antiphons in syntactical permutations before the strings utter their version of ascension. Bernard delivers a kind of moto-perpetuo pandemonium, increasingly hectic as it culminates in a rousing but distorted coda. The Park Avenue Symphony strings alone intone the hymnal opening of the final Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend, Bernard’s veneration for this solemn orison shines through, a warmly etched performance of staid, emotional power. A conscientious, even towering, performance.”

"A tour de force from the start... throughout the symphony, there is a sense of careful control…Bernard turns up the emotional temperature without straying into overstatement…The first movement sounds thoughtful rather than almost dismal, as it does in some performances. The emotionalism is if anything rather understated, with the horn punctuations adding touches of warmth. In the Third Movement there is a communicative tightness that stands at the opposite emotive end from the second movement. Compressed, energetic and determined, the movement strides forth boldly and determinedly and its momentum never flags…The fourth movement's pervasive lyricism is anything but depressed or resigned: the sense here is of flow and continuity throughout, with this movement as a symphonic capstone that also hints of more to come…the final portion is scarcely death-haunted, instead moving surely toward a Mahlerian view of the peace that passeth all understanding, and at the very end evaporating into the ineffable."

“A poignant emotional journey. Bernard makes the orchestral layers so clear—this is one of the most detailed recordings in my collection. I hear sound textures I’ve never heard before.”

“One of the best Mahler 9s I’ve heard in several years...deeply moving, well played, handsomely engineered and emotionally satisfying… relief, joy and regret are perfectly balanced. Bernard’s ‘Adagio’ is emotionally-charged and perfectly paced.”

"Do not miss this! The performance will get you rehearing the work virtually anew and give you a new understanding. There is a virtually unmatched lyrical sadness and playfulness to the reading, and a real Modern presence to the poetic side here that is something to appreciate."