Mahler - what are your favorites?

[ILUVAUDIO]

Originally Posted by tima

I've been inclined to Bernstein's Fifth with the Viennese band on DG (not the Philharmonic on Sony.)

Is this the 5th with the horrendously ssssllllloooooowwwww 4th Movement?? One of Bernstein's 4th movement was simply way too long....Lenny used the music at the memorial service for Bobby Kennedy and for some reason, the music remained, to Bernstein, a dirge, while it was clearly a love letter to Alma, his young wife....

Bruno Walter (Mahler's disciple) took the 5th's fourth movement under 8 minutes, so any 4th movement from the 5th that takes more than 10:30 is too bloody slow...imho

Cheers

[tima]

Originally Posted by ILUVAUDIO

Is this the 5th with the horrendously ssssllllloooooowwwww 4th Movement?? One of Bernstein's 4th movement was simply way too long....Lenny used the music at the memorial service for Bobby Kennedy and for some reason, the music remained, to Bernstein, a dirge, while it was clearly a love letter to Alma, his young wife....

Bruno Walter (Mahler's disciple) took the 5th's fourth movement under 8 minutes, so any 4th movement from the 5th that takes more than 10:30 is too bloody slow...imho

Cheers

As they say in many many things: Bruno Rulz, but in '46 didn't he have to fit it on a 78?

After all the 4th Movement is Sehr langsam, so one man's very slowly might be another man's not so very slowly?

On Bernstein's version with the NY Philharmonic the Fourth Movement is listed as 11'.
His version with the Weiners has it tagged at: 11'13.
Sure, he does take his time. Go figure.

You have a nice picture of Wagner as your avatar so what's 193 seconds between friends!

[ILUVAUDIO]

Originally Posted by tima

As they say in many many things: Bruno Rulz, but in '46 didn't he have to fit it on a 78?

After all the 4th Movement is Sehr langsam, so one man's very slowly might be another man's not so very slowly?

On Bernstein's version with the NY Philharmonic the Fourth Movement is listed as 11'.
His version with the Weiners has it tagged at: 11'13.
Sure, he does take his time. Go figure.

You have a nice picture of Wagner as your avatar so what's 193 seconds between friends!

Ahhhh, this is WAY more than an issue of a few seconds.....let me explain....on CD and SACD, I have well over 100 recordings of Mahler symphonies (1-9) and, over 19 or them are No. 5....I do not place any special emphasis on No. 5, rather, at one time I was an aspiring orchestral trumpet player and the opening trumpet fanfare of the Fifth is on the audition list of every orchestra on earth, even if that orchestra will never play the Fifth....

Whether or not the Adagietto of the Fifth is taken at 10:05, 10:30 or 11:10, once you pass the ten minute mark I (and this is a very personal and subjective thing after hearing the NY Phil, Cleveland Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Chicago Symphony and numerous others play the Fifth LIVE) start to squirm...and, all it takes is the first minute to tell me if the Adagietto will be too slow.....an issue of perception??

Then again, the box set of Bruno Walter listed earlier in this thread has Walter (Mahler's disciple) taking the Adagietto at an incredibly fast pace...almost too fast.....

SO.....I will add that my favorite Mahler 5 includes MTT/SFSO, Gergiev/LSO (with their then new 21 year old principal trumpet), Inbal/New York and Stenz/Gurzenich...and, the old trumpet jock in me still counts the quality of the opening solo as paramount.....while I am still a die hard Solti/CSO fan, Bud Herseth always played the opening triplets too fast (heard live twice and on record/DVD)....but, who am I to criticize a former trumpet god like Bud Herseth???

Enough, Mahler rocks and I will never have enough Mahler on CD/SACD/Vinyl...

Cheers,

[tima]

Leonard Bernstein - Mahler on Vinyl

If vinyl is your happy medium and you enjoy Bernstein's Mahler (which I have come to appreciate more and more) then you may be interested in these:


Just released:
2-record set from DG - Symphony #5:


Available:
2-record set from DG - Symphony #2 with the New York Philharmonic; mastered from original analog tape:


Available for pre-order (tba) - - Symphony #5:
2-record set from Speakers Corner - Symphony #5; this company continues with top quality offerings!

[skreich]

Some personal favorites:

Symphony #1: Bernstein, Solti, Tilson-Thomas
Symphony #2: Solti; Klemperer (wonderful vinyl on EMI)
Symphony #4: Reiner

[custodian]

Easy choice for me: Sir John Barbirolli, Mahler 6.

When I was at school, we lived close to Manchester and we used to go regularly to the Free Trade Hall to watch the Halle Orchestra conducted by Barbirolli.

In the 6th, the hammer blows in the last movement in Barbirolli's recording really make an emotional statement.

[tima]

Originally Posted by custodian

... When I was at school, we lived close to Manchester and we used to go regularly to the Free Trade Hall to watch the Halle Orchestra conducted by Barbirolli. ...

Whoa! Fantastic memories. How cool is that! A great Mahlerian and Sibelian yet English to his core.

[Capcom]

My favorite has to be the Mahler 7th conducted by Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia on Angel/EMI from 1968.





At the time this performance was panned by the critic's as being way too slow..but i think Old "Klemp" has a way of bringing out the inner voices that seem to get submerged in quicker performances. Klemperer also had personal experience with this symphony as he actually helped Mahler prepare it for it's premier. Maybe that means something and gives him some insight as to the way it should be played.

[eljr]

This SACD was released last week and it's a wonderful recording. I highly recommend it.
Lisa Larsson is an angel.

[custodian]

Originally Posted by Capcom

My favorite has to be the Mahler 7th conducted by Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia on Angel/EMI from 1968. At the time this performance was panned by the critic's as being way too slow..but i think Old "Klemp" has a way of bringing out the inner voices that seem to get submerged in quicker performances. Klemperer also had personal experience with this symphony as he actually helped Mahler prepare it for it's premier. Maybe that means something and gives him some insight as to the way it should be played.

I found Klemperer frustrating in that the majority of his conducting was at a slow tempo. Sometimes you felt the slowness let inner beauty shine through but often it was just slow.