Bychkov/Czech Phil. M1 coming late Sept. on Pentatone

[barryguerrero]

https://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Mahler-1860-1911_000000000019272/item_Sym-1-Bychkov-Czech-Po_14126207

The timings are 16:39; 7:29; 10:31; 20:31. All pretty normal looking.

[erikwilson7]

This and 3 are the ones I’m most looking forward to still from this team. Those were my favorites from the Neumann cycle.

[barryguerrero]

Bychkov does a great M6 in general, so I'm looking to that as well. In fact, I think he'll do really well with the challenging 'adult' trilogy of M6, M7 and (eventually) M8. His Cologne M3 was very expansive, so it'll be interesting to see if he tightens that up a bit.

[erikwilson7]

I won’t expect anything on the quick side, since all his Pentatone Mahlers so far seem pretty down the middle, if slightly expansive (the M2). I don’t find any of them unpredictable so far though. If anything I was slightly surprised by the 9:10 Adagietto.

[John Kim]

I have an archive of Bychkov/CPO M6th from a recent concert.

IT IS A GREAT MAHLER 6th by all accounts, slower and more expansive than his take with NYPO but all the more powerful, darker, and grimmer.

John

[barryguerrero]

Well, good. Mahler 6 is all about the grim reaper, and the tuba is the prophet of doom in the finale.

[barryguerrero]

Brief snippets of Bychkov/C.P.O. M1 are now up on Spotify. They sound quite good, too.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9513805--mahler-symphony-no-1#tracklist

[erikwilson7]

This just came out.

Listen to the last few minutes and tell me the piccolo is miked insanely high. I might be going crazy.
It ruins it for me.

Everything else sounds quite good though, but Bychkov really lacks propulsion. The end of the first movement is unexciting, as is the slow coda to the finale. It can be done well slow, like Ozawa and Kubelík, but this doesn’t do it for me.

[barryguerrero]

Well, maybe I'm just getting a bit old and lethargic myself. I listened to just the endings of both the first movement and finale. I didn't mind what they did at all. There was a lot of detail, and short notes in the woodwinds could be heard as being just that: short notes. I rather like how you can clearly hear the high strings chugging away near the end of the finale - it's sort of like when they do the ending of the Shostakovich 5th slowly.  I didn't mind the piccolo so much either - it's not terribly loud on my system (it's there, sure).

[erikwilson7]

I should listen with fresh ears then. It must have been too late at night for me to be giving a focused opinion (past midnight).

[erikwilson7]

It sounds much better with a new perspective; I was listening with headphones before, and after checking it out this morning on actual speakers it's improved.

The piccolo is still oddly present for me, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker anymore. I've never heard the piccolo part there before, so to just suddenly hear it front and center threw me off a bit. Sort of like how the harps are in Paavo Järvi's M2.

I still think Bychkov lacks drive in the big spots, but the orchestra sounds incredible. Great horns! And I love the timpani playing, those subtle crescendos at the end really come out.

As for the very last note, Bychkov seems to do the "Bernstein thing" of adding a loud percussive hit. Although instead of a bass drum, this sounds like a very loud timpani hit and I think I prefer it. What do you guys hear, bass drum or timpani? It would have to be a low D on the 32" timpani, which is VERY low (sometimes so low that it doesn't produce much of a tone). I think the timpanist is playing D octaves on the last two notes (think like how they do F octaves for Beethoven 9 scherzo, which is funny because that movement also opens with D octaves for the orchestra).

[John Kim]

A tremendous performance and recording, the best outing so far in the ongoing Mahler cycle by Bychkov/CPO.
The playing is nothing short of superlative, the sonics spectacularly resplendent!

Like Bernstein always used to do, Bychkov addes a bass drum whack on the very last note of Finale. Interesting and delicious

John

[barryguerrero]

I think your timpani analysis is correct, Eric. However, you'd be the most qualified person here to do that analysis. I just want to be clear, I'm not planning on buying a copy of Bychkov's M1. I will listen to the whole thing on Spotify (their sound is good enough for me). I'm waiting for more of the bigger symphonies to roll out. I think M9 will be next, followed by M6. I would be particularly keen to hear if he shortens up his M3 a bit from his earlier Cologne one (which was very good). We know the 6th should be really good. I'd be very curious about M8 and M9. I suspect they'll do the 8th last, but you never know until you do know.

[erikwilson7]

Upon several repeated listens to this new release I have to admit that I dislike it quite a bit. The second listen was better, which I posted about, but for me it’s only gone downhill from there.

I found myself bored listening to it, something that almost never happens to me with Mahler.

I’m rooting for this cycle, but I have disliked each release more than the last. Here’s hoping it gets better from here.

I wish I liked it, and I’m envious of those who do. I still love the sound of the orchestra, and Pentatone’s sonics are just okay to me.

[barryguerrero]

I'm having some nasty health issues at the moment, so I haven't been doing much listening lately - or much of anything else, for that matter. I did listen to the two inner movements of Bychkov's M1, and I liked those just fine. Those are my favorite movements of M1 anyway. I thought the so-called Eastern European, Klezmer like sections of the third movement were done really well. I liked the faster than usual tempo for the trio section of the Scherzo as well. My problem is that I just wouldn't want to buy any M1 at this point that doesn't have some fillers ("Blumine", "Songs of a Wayfarer", etc.), unless it were just super exceptional. Therefore, I guess I'm coming to this release with somewhat lowered expectations. I think or suspect that Bychkov will excel more in the REALLY big symphonies.