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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: hrandall on December 08, 2011, 11:09:20 PM
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I just noticed the Honeck / Pittsburgh M5 on their site today, I don't know how long it's been out, but I don't see an earlier mention of it on the board:
http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/PSOStore.nsf/ProductsbyUNID/4499485652E2B4658525795E006AADAA?OpenDocument
If it's similar to the 9/11 performance that was shown on Arte Web, it should be well worth having. Has anyone seen a review of this?
Cheers,
Herb
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Thanks for the tip. Just ordered mine.
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They must have just added it. And yes, it's a really great Mahler 5.
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I've listened to this recording a couple times now. I am delighted by Movements 1-3, the Adagietto is long (not too much of a problem for me but perhaps for others a concern), but the last movement has me puzzled.
My problem starts at first note, the fp "verklingend" concert A. I've always heard this performed as an attacca bell-like tone in response to the pppp that concludes the Adagietto (my interpretation: it is a waking call, the new day is upon us). Here it is treated as a hint of an entrance by the horn, no forte in it at all. Just three measures later, the very same A with fp (though no fading away is indicated this time) is played as it should be. So immediately I wondered, "Why the change?"
Thereafter I heard wonderfully transparent, antiphonal playing, but I wondered where the movement was going. Some performances reach a peak too early, others just seem to hang at loud and louder, and performances I prefer build like an infectious revelry to the fff Pesante and then the ecstatic final four measures.
In this case, perhaps Honeck is taking a terraced approach, emphasizing the juxtapositions of fffs in one section followed by pp in another (e.g. between Rehearsal Nos. 15 and 17, around p. 210 and following in score). I'm not giving up, but I haven't cracked the code yet.
Those of you that have the Exton disc, what have you found?
P.S. To challenge by puzzlement and get some insight in how others handled the movement, I listed to Mehta, Saraste, Shipway, Bernstein, Levine, Levi, etc. Some wanted to "get into it" right away (e.g. Levine) whereas others started at a lower level (e.g. Levi).
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"perhaps Honeck is taking a terraced approach, emphasizing the juxtapositions of fffs in one section followed by pp in another"
I think that's also a bi-product of the relatively smallish size of Heinz Hall. The PSO brass section is very powerful - as I'm sure you've discovered - so they're perfectly capable of making these huge contrasts. The one complaint I've read from some folks who have attended PSO concerts in Heinz Hall, is that the brass are sometimes - often times - too loud. But even if that's the case, I find that what Honeck and the PSO do to be far more musical than most anything I've heard from Solti/Chicago. Personally, I really liked the way Honeck executed the end of the finale.
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My problem starts at first note, the fp "verklingend" concert A. I've always heard this performed as an attacca bell-like tone in response to the pppp that concludes the Adagietto (my interpretation: it is a waking call, the new day is upon us). Here it is treated as a hint of an entrance by the horn, no forte in it at all. Just three measures later, the very same A with fp (though no fading away is indicated this time) is played as it should be. So immediately I wondered, "Why the change?"
I have the Exton Pittsburgh Mahler 5 and, while I have no trouble with Honeck's handling of the Finale overall, I'm also puzzled by the opening horn note. Rather than doing the prescribed fp, he enters quite softly, the tone quivers oddly for about a second, then he gets slightly louder before tapering off. As it happens, I have two other Honeck/Pittsburgh Mahler 5 recordings, both airchecks from their recent overseas tour: the Proms performance given on 2011/9/6, and the Berlin performance on 2011/9/11. In both cases, the first horn note is handled similarly to the one on the Exton recording, though neither aircheck exhibits the slight crescendo heard there, and both sound more secure.
James
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James wrote "...As it happens, I have two other Honeck/Pittsburgh Mahler 5 recordings, both airchecks... In both cases, the first horn note is handled similarly to the one on the Exton recording,..." For me that confirms that this was the conductor's choice, perhaps his way of announcing, "Hey, folks, this is going to be different."
Regarding "...the tone quivers oddly for about a second...", even when played normally, this is a notorious entrance among horn players (so much so that is it subject of a spoof on Roger Kaza's Audition Improbable CD, an 'inside joke' among hornists). Usually the fear is that embouchure, inactive for the last 8 to 13 minutes (pick the length of the preceding Adagietto), must smack a perfect, bell-tone A without any chance of preparation (not with strings holding pppp right beforehand). Add a pianissimo entrance to perhaps a little fatigue and maybe some condensation in the pipes, and a quiver is not unlikely.
Thanks, James.
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. . . on top of all that, principal hornist William Caballero absolutely plays his butt off in the third movement (scherzo). It's a wonder he had anything left for the finale.
I think Caballero uses the Karl Hill triple horn that's similar to the Schmitt triple. Either that, or a Karl Hill copy of the Geyer horn (Chicago Sym.). Regardless, he sounds great. If any equipment geeks know, share the info. please.
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. . . on top of all that, principal hornist William Caballero absolutely plays his butt off in the third movement (scherzo). It's a wonder he had anything left for the finale.
I think Caballero uses the Karl Hill triple horn that's similar to the Schmitt triple. Either that, or a Karl Hill copy of the Geyer horn (Chicago Sym.). Regardless, he sounds great. If any equipment geeks know, share the info. please.
I’ve confirmed that William Caballero plays a Paxman full triple horn in yellow brass with a medium bell and that indeed the conductor changed the dynamic to have the horn emerge from the string texture and enhance audience engagement across the attacca.
Russ Smiley
amateur horn player & equipment geek JG
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Thanks Russ. Even if he were using a kazoo, he sounds great.