By Jonathan Blumhofer

Semyon Bychkov supplies an extraordinarily well-played account of Mahler’s Third; Paavo Järvi’s version of Mahler’s Fifth avoids the more idiosyncratic excesses of Leonard Bernstein’s superb 1987 Vienna recording.

Four or five years ago, at the height of the pandemic, it was fashionable in some corners of the internet to think that Gustav Mahler’s much-heralded time had come to an end. We were, so the thinking went, through with big symphonic spectacles and, due to the requirements of health and well-being, on the cusp of an age of small-ensemble performances.

How quaint that notion now seems. The last several years have, in fact, seen no shortage of Mahler performances or new recordings of his output.

One of the ambitious ones has been Semyon Bychkov’s traversal of the complete Mahler symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. They’re back—and now across the half-way point of the numbered, completed set—with the biggest, grandest, most cosmos-embracing installment in the series, the Third.

Most discussions of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 cite the fact that the score stands as the longest symphony in the standard canon. So it is, though work’s six movements and 100-plus-minute duration hardly draw attention to themselves here.

Instead, Bychkov and his forces have turned in a reading that is impressively light on its feet and energetic. March rhythms in the big first movement are exceedingly tight. So are that section’s recurring, upward-rushing low-string runs. Throughout, the Philharmonic is fully alive to the music’s little details, from the various woodwind section trills and instrumental solos to its alternations of mysterious atmosphere and radiant exuberance. In the process, the Third’s unwieldy formal structure—especially in the first and third movements—emerges with uncanny clarity.

Smaller movements are likewise crisply delineated. The minuet is a picture of lively contrasts and lucid textures. Mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison’s warm-toned account of the fourth movement’s Nietzsche setting offers a touching foil to the sometimes-chilly orchestral textures.

Though the fifth movement’s tempo feels stodgy, the singing of the Prague Philharmonic Choir and Pueri gaudentes is robust. And, while Bychkov’s take on the finale is a touch spacious, there’s room in this music for such an approach—besides, the sense of wonder with which he and his orchestra imbue its noble refrains is something special.

Taken together, this is an extraordinarily well-played account, though one that doesn’t quite mine all of the Third’s extremes (like the first movement’s climactic storm) after the manner of Leonard Bernstein or Michael Tilson Thomas. Even so, there’s much to admire in the effort, not least the clear affection the conductor and orchestra show for the score. The last, especially, shines through virtually every bar.

A few hundred miles away in Zürich, Paavo Järvi and that city’s Tonhalle-Orchester are off to the races with their own Mahler cycle, the first installment of which features the Symphony No. 5. Järvi might not be the first conductor one associates with this fare, though he recorded the cycle some years ago (available on DVD) in Frankfurt and studied for a time with the great Mahlerian Leonard Bernstein.

This Fifth avoids the more idiosyncratic excesses of Bernstein’s superb 1987 Vienna recording. The Adagietto moves smartly, clocking in—as it should—at just under ten minutes. Tempos are, generally, lively and, throughout, conductor and orchestra make a point of celebrating the contrapuntal riches of Mahler’s writing. There are lots of those, especially in the second, third, and fifth movements. The Zürich players are fully equal to them, especially in the intense, violent “Stürmisch bewegt” section.

At the same time, parts of this interpretation suggest a work in progress. The opening funeral march’s tread is somewhat measured. Horn entrances in the Scherzo could periodically be more aggressive and that movement’s tempo contrasts might be shaped more strongly.

Though this Adagietto moves better than Bernstein’s, it doesn’t burn quite so hot. Nor does the finale underline the extremes of Mahlerian character so boldly as it could. Nevertheless, the freshness of the orchestra’s playing—coupled with Järvi’s ability to keep the music’s end-goals in sight—suggests that there will be much to look forward to as this series proceeds.

Jonathan Blumhofer is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.