The name Philipp von Steinaecker is one to remember. (…)
The polyphony of lament, rage, and despair—so vividly present, for example, in the first movement—here crashes over the listener in stirring complexity. Even the slightest gradations of dynamics, the most delicate shifts of voices from background to foreground and back again, are perceptible, because the historical instruments respond with such flexibility to changes of direction. Mahler’s humor, too, becomes intelligible in this ballast-reduced rendering as a viable, sustaining wit, no longer merely a grotesque product of supposed world-weariness. (…)
At the same time, Steinaecker avoids the principal reflex of historical performance practice: allowing the agility of the instruments to tempt one into faster tempi. Mahler’s music is given the space it needs to unfold. Steinaecker shapes the music with emotional depth, never loses the overall perspective, and pays attention to every detail; the fabulous orchestra plays with palpable enthusiasm for its own project.