This re-release of Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony is one of only a few available recordings of the work. Several 'completions' have been made since Mahler's untimely death in 1911: Joseph Wheeler, Remo Mazzetti and Clinton Carpenter have produced performing scores, and Leonard Slatkin and Harold Farberman have respectively recorded both Mazzetti and Carpenter's versions, but their workings have proved to be largely unsuccessful; Mazzetti has, in fact, withdrawn his attempt, although a new version is expected soon. The most widely used, however, is Deryck Cooke's; since he did much to make the symphony performable, Riccardo Chailly has rightly chosen that version for this recording with Berlin's Radio-Symphonie-Orchester.

Chailly conceives the first movement as a single, arch-like structure; although its slightly slower than normal approach is at first disconcerting, it provides a warm, refined and atmospheric string tone. Mahler's chamber-like woodwind textures, which require excellent delivery, also fare well under Chailly's direction: their sound is not as spare as in either of Rattle's recordings and discretion adds to the overall feeling of poise and dignity. The overall timbre is especially rich in the movement's central section, where a high trumpet note follows a brass chorale to produce a searing organ-like sound. Although the aftermath is usually anticlimactic, here the ensuing strings continue to provide a tension that remains throughout the remainder of the movement.

One of the most arresting features of the second movement, the first of the work's two scherzos, is the constant changes of metre that is reminiscent of similar writing in the Sixth Symphony. Perhaps an indication of his state of mind, the no holds barred music presents an array of technical challenges for the orchestra, which responds with sure and certain precision. Rattle's Berlin recording is perhaps more insistent, but there is a flexibility here that takes precedence over drive, and the overall shape of the movement seems more considered and successful.

The conflict-laden second scherzo, which follows the tiny but characterful Purgatorio, is perhaps again indicative of Mahler's troubled mind. Here, Chailly plays on the unpredictability of this movement: a demonic scherzo contrasts with a lighter, if not ebullient, waltz. But the dark side of the music is paramount and Chailly appropriately depresses its character as the foreboding coda approaches. The movement ends with a single drum stroke, inspired by the sight and sound of a firefighter's funeral, which Mahler witnessed in New York in 1910. A similar stroke opens the final movement, one that Rattle cuts in both recordings to keep a sense of continuity in performance. Cooke's bass tuba figuration here is more successful than Wheeler's string solution, and Chailly's climb from the depths of despair to the flute solo section is both moving and impressive. Chailly keeps in line with Cooke's version when the central section of the first movement is reintroduced, but I have to admit that, at this point, Rattle's reinforcement of the texture with extra percussion in the Berlin recording is effective and more climactic.

Chailly's performance is noble and dignified. The richness of Mahler's textures are matched by the sumptuousness of the orchestra's uniquely transparent tone and an ability to respond to Chailly's evidently inspired direction.

John Woodford