MUSIC AND DANCE

MAHLER: Symphony No. 9; Adagio from Symphony No. 10. Royal Liverpool and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, conducted by Libor Pesek. Virgin Classics VCDS 7 91219-2 (two CDs). Pesek’s Mahler Ninth is more of a progress report on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic--which indeed plays quite well--than a compelling Mahler statement. Except for a daring yet effectively broad tempo in the middle section of the Rondo Burleske, Pesek plays his hands cautiously; there is sadness but little real anguish, bitterness or bite. The same goes for the fragment from the Tenth (why don’t more conductors take on the entire performing version?)--and the Czechs actually sound rougher than the Liverpudlians.