Zinman M9 Aspen Festival (1997)

[hrandall]

In trying to catch up on old posts, I see a few older threads mentioned the Zinman Aspen Festival recording (broadcast?) of M9 as being excellent. I've been Googling around and can't find it available anywhere. I wonder if someone could enlighten a newbie?

Also, I'd love to learn how one of you who has both that and the Zinman ZTO M9 would compare the two.

Mahler's 9th is a particular favorite of mine, and is so far the first and only performance I've attended since my Mahler obsession kicked in about 6 months ago. (February, BSO, Levine Newhouse) 

Cheers,
Herb

[John Kim]

IMO, it's a great M9th, far better than the RCA recording. The latter is hampered by lack of tension and passion, and some poor playing by the orchestra. It was as though they had not had enough rehearsal time before the recording session. Distant, foggy, and lacking details, even the recording betrays the fine effort by the American conductor. Not so with the Aspen performance. It is blessed with intense, beautiful playing throughout and Zinman's reading is very cogent if somewhat rational. The string is particularly outstanding. Tempos are on a slow side but not dragging as it was in the RCA version.

John,

[John Kim]

In trying to catch up on old posts, I see a few older threads mentioned the Zinman Aspen Festival recording (broadcast?) of M9 as being excellent. I've been Googling around and can't find it available anywhere. I wonder if someone could enlighten a newbie?

Also, I'd love to learn how one of you who has both that and the Zinman ZTO M9 would compare the two.

Mahler's 9th is a particular favorite of mine, and is so far the first and only performance I've attended since my Mahler obsession kicked in about 6 months ago. (February, BSO, Levine Newhouse) 

Cheers,
Herb

How was the Boston performance? I heard Levine will conduct the piece later this season(?)

John,

[hrandall]

With this having been the first and so-far only Mahler I've attended, I really can't compare it to anything other than my favorite recordings of the 9th (Ancerl, Rattle Berlin). I was just excited to be there!

I would mostly agree with this review: http://classical-scene.com/2011/02/25/mahler-ninth-newhouse/ though certainly I felt a lot of sympathy for this young guy tossed on the stage so quickly in these circumstances. I couldn't get over the sense that the orchestra was leading the conductor, rather than the other way around. I did feel that the powerful finale of the Rondo Burleske was spot-on, and led into the 4th movement very nicely.

The only real disappointment I had was in the very last moments, when I expected the hushed silence from the audience while the conductor slowly drops his hands after the last nearly inaudible notes are gone... as I've seen in a couple of videos with Eschenbach or Abbado. Instead the audience jumped in with applause immediately, ruining the effect.

Mostly, to be honest though, I was just excited to be there for my first Mahler live performance, with my wife, on a rare night out without kids.

Cheers,
Herb

[John Kim]

Thanks for the link.

It seems that Newhouse didn't (or couldn't) get it in the trial. Which is not surprising. I mean how could anyone who comes to the podium for the first time for the difficult piece w/o having enough rehearsal with the orchestra?

And sorry to hear about the ending where the audience went crazy immediately following the last note.

I could shoot them all!

John,

[barry guerrero]

"I couldn't get over the sense that the orchestra was leading the conductor, rather than the other way around."

Aaaargh. I watched just a bit of Tilson-Thomas conducting the Rondo Burlesque on that PBS broadcast a few nights ago, and he positively looked as though he were on auto-pilot. I just don't get him. I can't understand why he's so outstanding at Ives and other 'modern' composers, but he just can't seem to get inside Mahler at all. It's as though he's just trying to ride on Bernstein's coat-tails. I'm not going to see any of his re-re-re-re-re-re performances of Mahler this year at all. Also, the SFSO sounds too slick in Mahler by half. They're getting like the Berlin Phil., but without the BPO's pleasant, 'dark' tone quality. Seriously, De Waart's Mahler in the late '70s and '80s was far better. It was certainly far heftier sounding.