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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: ChrisH on April 20, 2015, 02:50:39 PM
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This recording is throwing me for a loop, I'll be honest. It's so fast. Too fast, I think. The first movement comes in at roughly 30:00 minutes! Initially I thought to myself, this is pretty quick. Then I started looking through my other M3 offerings and I can't find anything that's remotely close to this. Kondrashin is almost 3 minutes faster. Inbal gives us the final movement in about 22 minutes. Scherzo in 16 and the remaining movements are closer to the 'normal' timings we encounter in this work.
I would put this recording in the same category as the blazing Jarvi M7 and the glacial Klemp M7. Something of an oddity, worth hearing because it's different, but I would be surprised if anyone would put this recording on their top shelf.
The orchestral playing is, for the most part, really good. Personally the brass was a bit of let down in the first movement. I could of used a lot more in the trombone solo and the horns at the end of the 3rd movement are parts that, I felt, were underpowered.
Sorry this isn't much of a real review, I felt that the overall swiftness of this recording is the biggest thing for or against this interpretation. I would be curious to know if this is, in fact, the fastest M3 on record without cuts.
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I would be curious to know if this is, in fact, the fastest M3 on record without cuts.
It's the shortest overall timing I know of. Adding up the movement timings without allowing for applause (if any), I get 90:01 for Inbal/Tokyo. The three shortest commercial recordings of which I'm aware are Leinsdorf/Boston at 92:27, Saccani/Budapest at 92:16, and Kondrashin/Moscow at 91:16 (using his timings for the movements sung in German rather than Russian). Mitropoulos/New York is shorter than Inbal/Tokyo, but of course that one contains significant cuts.
Interestingly, the earlier Inbal/Frankfurt recording is much more sedate at 98:11 (32:34 / 9:57 / 18:06 / 9:34 / 4:03 / 23:57). This is one conductor who doesn't seem to be slowing down as he ages.
James
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Thanks for that, James. I've not heard the Leinsdorf/Boston recordings, or the Saccani/Budapest. I do enjoy the rawness of the Kondrashin recording though, all of them actually. Those braying trumpets can grow on you.