BR Klassik to issue Haitink/BRSO M7 - it's up on Spotify now!

[barryguerrero]

Oh, dear. This was  -and still may be - on Youtube, and didn't have very good sound. Presumably the official CD will sound better. Most of the timings look typical for Haitink in M7, with the exception of a nearly 20 minute finale. I'll wait until this is on Spotify to decide if it's unique enough to purchase. Keep in mind that Daniel Harding will soon do M7 with the BRSO. Here are the timings:

1. Langsam, Adagio - Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo [22:52]
2. Nachtmusik I (Allegro moderato) [15:29]
3. Scherzo [11:10]
4. Nachtmusik II (Andante amoroso) [12:51]
5. Rondo, finale [19:32]

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9490778--mahler-symphony-no-7

[John Kim]

Barry,

Other than the slow V. are there any things drastically different from Haitink's other M7s?

John

[barryguerrero]

Here are the Presto snippets. They give the start of each movement. You'll hear that the sound quality is actually really good. Great! - just what I needed   .    .     .  Yet ANOTHER Mahler 7 to add to my already heady collection.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9490778--mahler-symphony-no-7

[barryguerrero]

Haitink's 2011 BR Klassik M7 is now up on Spotify. I'd like to hear other people's feedback for once, as I'm not sure what to make of it. Some moments sound wonderful, but the finale is a full 19.5 minutes long. No applause. Some of it just sounds lethargic to me, but Haitink certainly has plenty of deep bells and cowbells in the coda (or last ritornello, depending on how you analyze it).

I think I may wait and see if a Daniel Harding/BRSO M7 ever gets issued by BR Klassik.

[erikwilson7]

If we are comparing Haitink to himself, I still prefer his original with the Concertgebouworkest over this new one. I don't dislike this or think it's bad at all, but this is not my style of M7. You're right, it's just a bit too lethargic for me. Although it is very 'maturely' conducted (I don't even know what I mean by that but somehow it makes sense to me).

I like what Haitink does with the third and fourth movements – a lot.

The percussion does plenty of good work here, especially the timpanist. I would've liked to hear what they could do in a faster finale (especially after the screw-up old Jansons recording where they got a few bars ahead in the middle).

I like the first movement, but again not as much as my favorites. I think the middle ("moonlit") section works very well here.

I really, really want to hear Harding's take on M7 now, especially if the orchestra is sounding this good in M7 these days. I guess I'm just not a big fan of Haitink's late Mahler.

[barryguerrero]

I pretty much agree. It's beautifully played in many respects. But there's little here that makes me want to own a hard copy (CD). I very much like the first movement. II was a tad zippy for me, while III is a just too slow for my liking (it's certainly 'shadowy', but not whipped around by the wind). I just don't find it scary enough. I did like IV just fine, and I do like some sections of the finale. But Haitink just fails to garner much forward momentum in the back half of the finale, where it should lend some sense of going completely bonkers. It's still too sober at that point. I'll enjoy revisiting it on Spotify from time to time.

In addition to the Kerstmatinee M7 performance on DVD, I also have the now gone HDTT cd of a 'live' performance in Amsterdam, from roughly the same period that Haitink made his 'digital' remake for Philips. The live performance is vastly superior to that second Philips issue. We're talking the early 1980's.