General Category > Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions

It's February...M2-A-Thon!

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techniquest:
Leo - yes I have the Vonk recording and it's an 'ok' listen, but you're right about the sonics; and also the balance of the orchestra makes for an overall unsatisfying listen.

techniquest:
I don't know quite why this one has been among my favourite M2 recordings (of the commercial releases), especially as it has such a ropey opening. Maybe the clues as to why will become clearer later...



This is /was available in 2 forms - standard CD on 2 discs, and dvd-audio on 1. As I said, the opening really is quite horrible with ghastly treatment of the cellos & basses and something that occasionally doesn't sound quite in tune...in fact it takes the Robert Schuman band some time to get 'warmed up'. In general the tempo is quite slow, and there are rather too many forced rests which make the overall structure somewhat disjointed. Towards the end of the first movement there is a quiet section with trumpet, then oboe / flute then horns / strings and it is really lovely, gentle, restful with the string glissandi not exaggerated, but just sounding as natural as anything can be. This rescues the whole 1st movement for me.
The second movement is again a tad slow, particularly in the second subject. Sometimes this sounds almost like a chamber orchestra (maybe it is, I don't know) and the brass have just a touch of Salvation Army about them at times (actually more so in the first movement), but when the pizzicato section comes in the harp is nicely woven in. However at just over 11 minutes, it's a long take on this movement.
The third is much more lively at just the right speed and with a lovely deep bass drum. I would prefer a more advanced woodwind sound in this movement, but it isn't there. Also, there seem to be a couple of very poorly done edits.
Urlicht - the Sally Army band is back along with Monika Straube who sounds as though she's struggling with it - loud higher notes and very quiet low notes - not a good balance. Nice oboe and harp though.
A rip-roaring opening to the 5th and it's like the orchestra has at long last been able to pull out the stops! It dies down very effectively to a long silence before very distant off-stage horns. This is careful, exquisite playing with a huge amount of control - all those triplets never run away with themselves. The brass chorale leading to the big theme is taken slowly, steadily, but this time it doesn't sound like the Salvation army! The second percussion crescendo is slightly fluffed by a snare drum that ends a millisecond too soon, and the whole following section, although good, sounds a little on the light side and has another of those odd-sounding edits at a marked sudden tempo change (good bells though). And so enters the choir sounding fuller and heavier than the Horvat choir in my above review, and the orchestra interludes are much better handled; the soprano Helene Bernardy sounds far more at home, gently pushing forward where necessary, but never overwhelming. Everything prior to 'O Glaube' is simply heavenly. 'O Glaube' itself is only slightly marred by Monika Straube (I do hope she was only having an off day). From this point on the performance is, for my M2, perfect. It is the one which, at the climax of the final choir chord with the huge tam-tam and entry of the bells and big organ chords and brass, the one which literally makes my eyes water. Yet it still, gently, calmly dies away to rich but refined organ sounds until, after the timp / pedal resurrection scale, the final chords are reached with big bells, a spacious wall of sound, vast, swinging tam-tams that splash from the speakers....Wow!! Only a few seconds after the end do you realise that this is a live recording as a fairly unappreciative-sounding audience pipes in with a bit of subdued clapping.
Ok, maybe it's that last movement that does it for me, after all the others are not really that good. If you get the chance, give it a listen - treat yourself to that 5th movement and behold the ending to end all endings.

bluesbreaker:
Hehe, I have been waiting for this thread for so long!
My Holy grails of M2s are Bernstein's first account and Mehta / VPO.
The Bernstein's first recording has the best March Of The Dead. It's fast and furious, but also VERY powerful. Sounds like a Third World War was going on! I don't think any other account can surpass that, not even Lenny himself.
Christa Ludwig's fourth movement is simply the best on the Mehta. It's so heartbreaking.
Both recording have the most heaven storming & earth shattering outer movements. What more can I ask?
By the way, that Slovenian M2 is my first encounter with M2 ever. Somebody lent me that recording when I was discovering Mahler, but unfortunately I couldn't find that one.
And If BBC or EMI would ever release that live Tennstedt M2 that blew Barry away, it would be a major event!

Jeff Wozniak:
Bernstein's Columbia M2 is my fav as well.  The new SACD is so much better sound-wise, but at $14,863 plus tax most people probably couldn't justify the purchase.

Also like the Klemperer and Mehta alot.

stillivor:
  You mean $14.863 + tax? Who do you have to justify that too? i used to run a secondhand bookstall. Someone might query, say, £2.50 for a book. I used to ask them what was the last ting they spent that money on. Usually they think for a few moments, laugh/smile, and mention something unmemorable, like a snack, or a little petrol.

  Why do so many of us (including me!!!) baulk at disc and book prices, while thinking nothing of large amounts for unnecessary food (most of us eat more than we need to), clothes (we've got already), well, the obvious list could go on and on and on.


  I started M2 with Walter, have some of the older recordings, was knocked out by the amazing 1st-ever recording under Oscar Fried (c.1924 and available I believe as a Naxos Historical CD), and think the Stokowski Proms recording (1963) is wonderful. (Available as a BBC Legends CD. Tho' the CD omits the encore, a repeat of the final chorus, at a time when there was essentially a ban on encores at the Proms.)

  There are many versions I haven't heard. May use these A-Thons to get some recent recordings.

   Ivor

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