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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: barry guerrero on April 01, 2011, 05:59:32 AM
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There's good news and bad news. Even better news, is that the good news far outweighs the bad. This is a pretty rockin' performance with some pretty darn good vocals throughout (Oehms' selling point). The bad news is that it's an ORF (Austrian Radio) recording, which means that the sound is far from ideal. The recording levels seem a bit high, and the recording is just a tad too up-close. However, the big and boomy acoustics of Vienna's Konzerthaus help to compensate.
On the whole, the performance is on the fast side, but the endings to both parts are not rushed in the slightest. The orchestral detail throughout the section of the penitent women is clear and outstanding. Botha sounds a bit closer and more 'Wagnerian' than he does on the superbly recorded Boulez rendition (DG). But he's also secure, strong and confident sounding, without also barking. I'll take him over the current crop of 'lispy' and siightly wimpy sounding tenors any day.
Because of the somewhat up-close recording, combined with de Billy's quickish tempi, I'm reminded a bit of the Solti recording. However, the ending to Part II seems more 'cosmic' to me than it is with Solti. And while that ending does sound rather 'cosmic' here, we do somewhat lose the offstage brass and tam-tam smashes in the final, thunderous Eb chord (sustained much louder than usual).
With a really good recording, I think this performance MIGHT sweep every other one-off performance right out the door. As it is, it's pretty darn good. It must have been one hell of a live performance to have attended. On the whole, I think that de Billy's pacing of the work is exemplary, while his full understanding of the work is quite evident.
I do need to live with this a bit longer to come to some kind of final conclusion (if only the sound were better).
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OK, I can sum it up this way: a really solid performance with really good vocals (Botha is terrific here!). However, the source is an Austrian Radio broadcast tape, so it's just not terrific by today's standards. I'm afraid I can't make this a top recommendation. Still, it's good enough that I want to keep it though.
Barry
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Thanks for the info Barry! The tenor part can ruin a performance for me, so I'm curious enough to try it if it's that good (have the Boulez -- gotta listen to it again!). Maybe the local music library will have it or I can check it out in the last local classical music shop ...
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Personally, concerning the 8th, I'm already looking forward to the 2012 Abbado/Lucerne performance which has now been officially announced by the Lucerne Festival, altough we're still quite a few months away from getting details on the performers (Lucerne Festival Orchestra apart, ofc).
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Hopefully that means that EuroArts will issue a dvd of the performance. And - equally hopeful - Abbado gives a performance that's far less dull than his Berlin one.