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General Category => Gustav Mahler and Related Discussions => Topic started by: David Boxwell on March 03, 2018, 08:44:07 PM
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Saturday, 3 March 2018. Stephen Johnson names his Best Mahler 7 Recording from among: Klemperer, Bernstein 1 & 2, Tennstedt studio, Kubelik live, Haitink 2, Nott, Zinman, and . . . . Abbado live, 2002 (Berlin). He doesn't consider DVDs, BTW.
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so, . . . where does that leave Bertini, Inbal (his Czech Phil. one is excellent), Stenz (best finale ever), Gielen (a favorite with many folks), Ozawa (certainly better than Klemp. or Tennstedt with the 7th), etc., etc.?
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Or Abbado (Chicago), Sinopoli, or (dare I say), Solti..? My vote, if forced to choose from the ones mentioned above, would go to Haitink 2 (although his live Kerstmatinee is perhaps even better).
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I vote for Jansons/BRSO and Levine/Chicago.
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I second the Jansons/BRSO ... it really works for me, particularly the tow outer movements. Abbado/CSO has always taken the crown in my book, but cannot live without the two Bernsteins, Inbal/CPO either.
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I like the mention of Haitink's Kerstmatinee one! I'm hoping that one will come out on dvd.
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https://www.bol.com/nl/p/mahler-kerstmatinees/1002004004638354/
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I forgot: he does play a sample of Solti, only to critique it for being heavy-handed. SJ also briefly, and favorably, considers Rattle, and Halasz on Naxos.
My own list of interesting contenders would, if only for the sake of further discussion, include: Scherchen, Horenstein '69, Kondrashin (Leningrad and Amsterdam), Boulez. Gielen, Levine, Tilson Thomas, and Sinopoli.
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I forgot to mention the Rattle, arguably his best Mahler recording along with the Tenth.
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1. Rattle/Birmingham? . . . can't hear the mandolin in the 4th movement. That bugs me.
2. Hey, THANKS for posting the link for the Haitink/Kerstmatinee dvd's. I already own M3, but I could always trade it towards something else (if I buy the box).
3. And by the way, here's a link for a pretty solid Haitink/BRSO M7 on Youtube (audio only). Maybe BR Klassik will issue this someday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayjzn3Li9xw
4. I'm glad David mentioned the Kondrashin/Concertgebouw M7, which made a big splash - relatively speaking - when it was first released.
Barry
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For BAL they generally survey all available recordings. Though time is usually a factor.
BPO/Abbado won.
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Abbado/BPO is quite good. Another really good one that none of us mentioned is the Adam Fischer/Dusseldorf one. That has the best 4th movement (2nd Nachtmusik) of any that I've heard.
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Saturday, 3 March 2018. Stephen Johnson names his Best Mahler 7 Recording from among: Klemperer, Bernstein 1 & 2...
To even mention those two conductors in the same sentence regarding the 7th is shocking. there are any two who are more polar opposites, it has to be these. I've tried to find good things in Klemperer since it came out on LP in the 70s and then on cd...but it's hard. The whole thing is like walking through molasses. The first movement is devoid of energy, excitement, character. The 2nd just a slow never-ending walk. The 3rd as unspooky as can be imagined. The 4th passable. The finale - awful awful awful. I don't know how the orchestra got through it without either laughing themselves silly or falling asleep. It's a perverse reading that has likely set the 7th back more than any other conductor. In general, I like Klemperer's other Mahler - although I've always thought the EMI 2nd is over-rated. Anyone who can read a score and understand some basic German can clearly see that Klemperer completely missed the boat. It's a dreadful reading and when a critic holds it up as one of the best, his credibility is shot, at least for me. I know there are people who like it, and I know a man who played in the horn section on that recording (he was a member of the Philharmonia back in the 60s) who thinks it's a spectacular version. Ugh! I'm not saying Bernstein is perfect, or even my favorite, but Klemperer?
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I've never been able to sit through the whole thing (M7). However, I really like the 'live' BRSO M2 with Janet Baker, as well as the "DLvdE" with Wunderlich and Ludwig. In general, I do think that Klemp' was better at Bruckner than Mahler - at least in his later years.
If they chose Abbado/BPO, I think that's a good compromise. It's very similar to the CSO one, except that the 4th movement is a minute quicker and there's plenty of deep bells at the end of the finale. For me, Abbado is a tad fast in parts of the first movement (I prefer a more steady hand there) and arguably too quick with the scherzo (3rd movement). But it works.
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To even mention those two conductors in the same sentence regarding the 7th is shocking. there are any two who are more polar opposites, it has to be these. I've tried to find good things in Klemperer since it came out on LP in the 70s and then on cd...but it's hard. The whole thing is like walking through molasses. The first movement is devoid of energy, excitement, character. The 2nd just a slow never-ending walk. The 3rd as unspooky as can be imagined. The 4th passable. The finale - awful awful awful. I don't know how the orchestra got through it without either laughing themselves silly or falling asleep. It's a perverse reading that has likely set the 7th back more than any other conductor. In general, I like Klemperer's other Mahler - although I've always thought the EMI 2nd is over-rated. Anyone who can read a score and understand some basic German can clearly see that Klemperer completely missed the boat. It's a dreadful reading and when a critic holds it up as one of the best, his credibility is shot, at least for me. I know there are people who like it, and I know a man who played in the horn section on that recording (he was a member of the Philharmonia back in the 60s) who thinks it's a spectacular version. Ugh! I'm not saying Bernstein is perfect, or even my favorite, but Klemperer?
I have purposely avoided Klemperer's Mahler for years (with the exception of the multiple performances of the 2nd, which aren't that bad) and am willing to give it a chance. I have just ordered the multi-CD box of his Mahler symphonies from Amazon and shall see. All the controversy about Klemperer's Mahler recordings makes me wonder how the composer would react to these performances.
Wade
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Johnson made mention of Klemperer and the 7th with a very brief passage, and it was dismissed quickly. Probably mentioned because of Klemperer's reputation in other areas, especially in Britain. Much praise of Bernstein 1965, also liked Tennstedt. However, he did not distinguish between Tennstedt studio and live. He ended up liking the Abbado Berlin live, as mentioned by others.
The sound of the Klemperer 2nd on early EMI LPs is astounding. You can hear the orchestra in broad and deep spatiality and the players' individual playing and expression in the wind section with great nuance and specificity. A superb Kingsway hall acoustic.
The DLvdE is very fine also on early EMI LP pressings. The Wunderlich songs were recorded in Kingsway Hall and the Baker ones later in Abbey Road Studio 3 as shown in the photos in the brochure of the first LP issue. The sound is fairly well matched. And you can hear Baker singing from the middle of the orchestra in her songs.
I enjoy the quirkiness of the 7th a great deal. The biggest challenge is, of course, the finale. Johnson liked the ambiguity of bravado and doubt in Abbado's performance. I actually heard a live Abbado 7th with the LSO in London in 1982.
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Regardless of the "Meistersinger" connection with the finale, I don't believe Mahler viewed his 7th as another 'darkness to more darkness' symphony (like the 6th). I think he clearly lightens his mood towards the end of the scherzo, and that he was sincere in saying that the finale was, "a ray of sunlight in C major". But even with the darker, earlier movements, I find the Klemperer 7th very tough going.
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Certainly the finale is quite a burst of energy and light. One might wonder if there almost too much light. But it is, being Mahler, not monochromatic.