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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: akiralx on January 27, 2010, 04:12:53 AM
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A friend and I always try and get original LP coverart when putting Mahler (or any composer in fact) on our ipods - sad, I know, but it can be quite enjoyable hunting them down... Here are a few:
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484917_UvpuS-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484758_tzFrM-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484484_hbHob-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484328_yaFXv-L.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484333_9A5Bu-L.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484438_okAc2-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484677_EYcCu-L.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774485112_ZZjf8-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774485237_6fDTq-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484922_Bx3F6-S.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/774484955_sMUq7-L.jpg)
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They all look fascinating!!
I have the Abbado M2nd and M4th LPs. In my old Boston days, I used to hang a color copy of the Abbado/CSO/DG M2nd on a wall of my office.
Everyone who visited the office was impressed with the picture, although most of them had little idea who the composer was.
You should also try Levine's Mahler series on RCA, especially the Third that has a cartoon shwoing G.Mahler talking to animals in a deep forest.
John,
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I've forgotten how to transfer photos because I haven't done it in such a long time. Anyway, my very favorite cover is the Mehta/Israel Phil. M6 on Teldec. My next favorite is the Levine/Chicago S.O. M3 on RCA (Maurice Sendak). I'll try transfer them later in the week, when I have more time.
Barry
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Two of my favorite covers are the Levine M10 and the Slatkin M2.
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You should also try Levine's Mahler series on RCA, especially the Third that has a cartoon shwoing G.Mahler talking to animals in a deep forest.
John,
What a great thead!
I just found the Levine M3 at the used vinyl store here in town...it's one of my favorite covers now!
--Todd
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I remember one Mahler LP cover where the cover art was superior to the performance. That was the early 1970's performance of M2 by Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA. The cover art had a great photo from one of the 1960's earth-orbit space flights looking into the sun on an early morning sunrise with the Florida peninsula below.
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I remember one Mahler LP cover where the cover art was superior to the performance. That was the early 1970's performance of M2 by Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA. The cover art had a great photo from one of the 1960's earth-orbit space flights looking into the sun on an early morning sunrise with the Florida peninsula below.
I just found this LP too! I've heard some good things about the performance so I'd thought I'd give it a try, and it's never been on CD if I remember correctly.
--Todd
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Here are a couple more favourites, not Mahler, alas:
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/775788703_zCDi8-M.jpg)
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/775788682_NhKux-XL.jpg)
Note the former is DB's Westminster recording, not the one with Klemperer - which for the sake of completeness is below!
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/775796565_yNQ3W-S.jpg)
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Here are a couple more favourites, not Mahler, alas:
Yes, that was a wonderful series of covers, wasn't it? There's a website somewhere with all of them.
The Boult/Holst cover you included contains what is absolutely the worst performance of The Planets I've ever heard.
James
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Yes the strange thing is that barely a year later more or less the same players would make a highly praised recording with Karajan.
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My favourite covers are no doubt a lot about nostalgia.
The first that always springs to my mind is the late 50s [not 50's, note ;) ] Saga recording of No.7 under Rosbaud. A dark photograph in the spirit of the German Romantic painter C.D.Friedrich. Yes, I know it's not origi....oh, I don't know - cartier-Bresson, and all that.
And the second is Delta [UK]'s M6 under Adler, which may well be original art.
They're both probably on the net somewhere.
Ivor.
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The offbeat album covers were, no doubt, an attempt to get classical music to appeal to the pop culture crowd, which likely succeeded in considerably less than 1% of all cases. Likely the one with Sir Adrian Boult's recording of "The Planets" had to come out at about the time the cult film, "Barbarella" with Jane Fonda, was made. There we go, the pop culture crowd again - that film had the villain Duran Duran, a name of which was adopted by a rock band of the time.
Wade
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I remember one Mahler LP cover where the cover art was superior to the performance. That was the early 1970's performance of M2 by Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA. The cover art had a great photo from one of the 1960's earth-orbit space flights looking into the sun on an early morning sunrise with the Florida peninsula below.
I just found this LP too! I've heard some good things about the performance so I'd thought I'd give it a try, and it's never been on CD if I remember correctly.
--Todd
Actually, RCA Japan released this recording on CD a few years ago. I've got it (and believe John has it as well). I like this performance a lot and have owned it on LP (US and German pressings), reel-to-reel, and now CD. The only problem with it was that it had a horrible distortion whenever the music got even moderately loud. It wasn't an LP pressing issue, as the reel-to-reel copy had it as well. I was shocked that this slipped by the recording engineers back then, and I don't recall the (mostly) ecstatic reviews of the time mentioning it, either. The Japanese RCA CD transfer mitigates the distortion to some degree, but it's not totally free of it.
Russell
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I remember one Mahler LP cover where the cover art was superior to the performance. That was the early 1970's performance of M2 by Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA. The cover art had a great photo from one of the 1960's earth-orbit space flights looking into the sun on an early morning sunrise with the Florida peninsula below.
I just found this LP too! I've heard some good things about the performance so I'd thought I'd give it a try, and it's never been on CD if I remember correctly.
--Todd
Actually, RCA Japan released this recording on CD a few years ago. I've got it (and believe John has it as well). I like this performance a lot and have owned it on LP (US and German pressings), reel-to-reel, and now CD. The only problem with it was that it had a horrible distortion whenever the music got even moderately loud. It wasn't an LP pressing issue, as the reel-to-reel copy had it as well. I was shocked that this slipped by the recording engineers back then, and I don't recall the (mostly) ecstatic reviews of the time mentioning it, either. The Japanese RCA CD transfer mitigates the distortion to some degree, but it's not totally free of it.
Russell
That's correct. The performance is pretty darn good with a natural flow and lots of musicality going for it (as always the case with Ormandy). But the audible distortion is so annoying that I haven't played it after hearing it once. I am surprised that both LPs and reel-to-reel tapes had the same problem. I know that there are serious Ormandy devotees out there wanting to hear this recording, so RCA owes to clean up the sonics and reissue the recording.
John,
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My favorite LP cover art was the Levine M3 (with Marilyn Horne).
The cover art shows animals of the forest, out in the night, looking into Mahler's composing hut, where there is a silhouettle of Mahler at work composing. An angel is handing Mahler, through the window, a bouquet of flowers.
For me, it has captured the "delight-in-nature"l spirit of Mahler, showing his affinity for nature, animals of the forest, and night.
It was wonderfully done by the famous children's book illustrator, Maurice Sendak.
--John H
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My favorite LP cover art was the Levine M3 (with Marilyn Horne).
The cover art shows animals of the forest, out in the night, looking into Mahler's composing hut, where a silhouettle of Mahler is at work composing. An angel is handing Mahler, through the window, a bouquet of flowers.
For me, it has captured the natural spirit of Mahler, with his affinity for nature, animals of the forest, and night.
It was wonderfully done by the famous children's book illustrator, Maurice Sendak.
--John H
Now all I need to do is track down the recording for my ipod!
(http://alexandjustine.smugmug.com/photos/784028754_H4o6S-X3.jpg)
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Anyone wanting the Levine M3, it is available from arkivmusic.com (including the wonderful cover art!). ;D
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The Levine Mahler 3 cover is a classic by Maurice Sendak (most famous for "Where the Wild Thing Are").
For a parallel sample of Sendak in music, there was a NYC Opera Janacek "Vixen" and, I believe, a separate book of the Vixen story illustrated by Sendak.
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It's my favorite Mahler cover of all, along with the Mehta/Israel Phil. M6 from Teldec.
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I remember one Mahler LP cover where the cover art was superior to the performance. That was the early 1970's performance of M2 by Ormandy/Philadelphia on RCA. The cover art had a great photo from one of the 1960's earth-orbit space flights looking into the sun on an early morning sunrise with the Florida peninsula below.
I just found this LP too! I've heard some good things about the performance so I'd thought I'd give it a try, and it's never been on CD if I remember correctly.
--Todd
Actually, RCA Japan released this recording on CD a few years ago. I've got it (and believe John has it as well). I like this performance a lot and have owned it on LP (US and German pressings), reel-to-reel, and now CD. The only problem with it was that it had a horrible distortion whenever the music got even moderately loud. It wasn't an LP pressing issue, as the reel-to-reel copy had it as well. I was shocked that this slipped by the recording engineers back then, and I don't recall the (mostly) ecstatic reviews of the time mentioning it, either. The Japanese RCA CD transfer mitigates the distortion to some degree, but it's not totally free of it.
Russell
That's correct. The performance is pretty darn good with a natural flow and lots of musicality going for it (as always the case with Ormandy). But the audible distortion is so annoying that I haven't played it after hearing it once. I am surprised that both LPs and reel-to-reel tapes had the same problem. I know that there are serious Ormandy devotees out there wanting to hear this recording, so RCA owes to clean up the sonics and reissue the recording.
John,
I'm new to this forum (though hardly to Mahler's music), so bear with me fellow music lovers. :)
I like Ormandy’s M2 quite a lot, it’s powerful and convincing virtually throughout and with a finale in particular that is gripping from first bar to last (indeed, one of the few that don’t let me down just a bit at the apocalyptic final chord).
I actually found the distortion to be more of an issue on the Japanese CD I ordered than on the transfer I made from virtually pristine LPs (obtained at a ridiculously low price on Ebay), on low-tech equipment.
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Dave Hurwitz (Classics Today) doesn't deal with LPs, but I know he'd completely agree with you on this.