I'll write more later on, but I really like this Vanska's M8 quite a bit. I like his Part 1 a lot. I need to give Part II a second listen, to see how 'cogent' it is, or isn't. A lot of people have complained about Vanska's speedy closing to the end of symphony. I get that. However, I love the balance and 'tone quality' between the organ, brass (both offstage and onstage) and percussion. It'll just smudge into one, homogenized tone. It's well blended, but you can still differentiate between the different instruments. More importantly, for me, Vanska just nails the climax of the "Blicket auf" section, which is so often times badly underplayed. There's just tons of small detail I've seldom, if ever, noticed before. The woodwinds are prominent, which is nice.
I wouldn't call this a no. 1 'favorite', but I do think it's a worthy contribution to the Mahler 8 discography. Sorry to started a separate string for this.
Topic: I really like the Vanaska M8. It's different, no doubt. Sound quality! (Read 8618 times)