New release - Mehta/IPO/Decca M7th recording

[John Kim]

http://www.deccaclassics.com/newsandnewreleases/december2007/4758208.html

Finally Mehta is getting his hands down on the Seventh. Next is the Ninth!

John,

[barry guerrero]

Careful, John. If it's a single disc, then it's obviously just one movement. If it's a big set, it'll probably be quite expensive, and there's a real good chance that it might not get released in the U.S. And if that's the case, who would want all that standard rep. with it anyway? If it turns out to be a good one, we'd have to start some kind of tree of downloads or burnt copies, etc.

Barry

[barry guerrero]

Oh, and by the way, one Mehta/IPO disc that is well worth having is their take on Bartok's "Concerto For Orchestra" that was recorded at Kingsway Hall in London. It sounds vastly better than most IPO recordings ever made in Tel Aviv. You can get it from that place in Australia - on line- that sells Universal compilations that weren't issued anywhere else but Australia. There's a link to that site from Classicstoday.com. I forget the name: Buywell, perhaps?

[michaelw]

Careful, John. If it's a single disc, then it's obviously just one movement. If it's a big set, it'll probably be quite expensive, and there's a real good chance that it might not get released in the U.S. And if that's the case, who would want all that standard rep. with it anyway? If it turns out to be a good one, we'd have to start some kind of tree of downloads or burnt copies, etc.

Barry

Hallo,

It's a set and it's expensive. There are no traces of the CD's at JPC or amazon, but at the German iTunes store it is available - based on 6 CD's - for 40 (!) EURO, standard AAC quality only.
For this you also have to buy several other works.
The M7 alone costs 12.91 EURO and has the timing:

22:10
14:28
9:30
12:02
18:37

Would be interesting to have more information about the performance.

Michael

 

[Leo K]

Thanks Michael for the information...I like those timings!  Unfortunately this looks hard to get and expensive

--Leo

[John Kim]

I am wiling to buy the set if it is available. I like ALL of R. Strauss tone poems by Mehta and I think he might have done fine in the other pieces including the Dvorak and Brahms. Of course, my main interest is to get the M7th.

John,

[sbugala]

I always wondered if Mehta would get to recording M7 when I learned he had performed it live. (A friend and her companion heard him do it live with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. She managed to get his autograph on my score to Mahler's Seventh.) Since he's up to 3 M3s and several M2's I always hoped he'd at least do the Seventh once.  As someone else said, a Mahler Ninth would be nice, too.  But then again, I'd probably want a "secret" release from his LAPO days, when I generally like his work the most.

[barry guerrero]

Yes, but this gets around to my next point. I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here. Instead, I'm just cautioning people to tread carefully. Why? Becasue there's a big difference between the excellent acoustics of U.C.L.A.'s Royce Hall, and the incredibly dry acoustics of Mann Auditorium. This M7 might be really good, but I would caution folks to hear it first before spending the big bucks. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is the Mahler 3rd that Mehta recorded with the IPO on Sony Classical. It was a decent enough performance - perhaps even better than his L.A. M3, as a performance - but was completely ruined by the incredibly dry sounding acoustics.

The real missed opportunity was Mehta's last (and only?) go-around on the Mahler 9th with the N.Y. Phil. At the time, Mehta said that it was the greatest performance he had ever been involved with. Personally, I'd really like for him to do the 8th with really top-notch singers. I think he could make a great spectacle of it. But just based on his M3 recording with the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra (Farao Classics), I would not get excited about a recording of the 7th with the same forces. If it's the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, that could be much better.

[sperlsco]

Has anyone heard the M7 recording yet?  I see that it is now available on the US iTunes, but still only part of the entire package of concerts.  The cost is $30 -- not terrible for all of this music, but then again I'm not really looking for the rest since I already have it in spades (...yeah, yeah, I also have dozens of M7's, but that's beside the point).   

[alpsman]

Yes I heard it and post my opinion in this forum 1 year ago.
See here  http://gustavmahlerboard.com/forum/index.php?topic=634.msg5269#msg5269

[John Kim]

It would be really nice if they release this M7th on a CD. I hate downloading music files and I hate listening to them as the sound quality is far below than regular CDs.

Yes, it might be convenient for some (it is not for me ), but I'd happily pay extra money for the quality.

Also, I like to see Mehta record M8th and M9th. I think these are two Mahler symphonies he will do very well.

Regards,

John, waiting for MTT/SFSO M8th to arrive today

[sperlsco]

Yes I heard it and post my opinion in this forum 1 year ago.
See here  http://gustavmahlerboard.com/forum/index.php?topic=634.msg5269#msg5269

Thanks.  And there is a fascinating conversation that follows!  I must have been on vacation while that thread ran last year.