M7 w/Marin Alsop & Baltimore

[Russell]

I'm going to be in the Washington DC area next week on business (in College Park, MD, actually), and I see that Marin Alsop will be opening the Baltimore Symphony's 2010-11 season on September 24 with the Mahler 7th.  I'd love to go, but unfortunately it would be somewhat of a long haul for me to get there (not to mention expensive), but certainly not out of the question.  I haven't been impressed at all with the few Alsop recordings I've heard (very so-so Bartok, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky), which dampens my enthusiasm somewhat.  Still, it would be fun.  Will anyone here by chance be attending?

Russell

[James Meckley]

Hi Russell,

I heard a broadcast concert of Alsop doing M6 with the Bournemouth Symphony. It struck me as oddly and unnecessarily micro-managed in terms of tempo—lots of tiny little gear shifts that did nothing to enhance the overall effect and which, for me, simply served as a distraction.

There's a concert down here (Central Florida) in November that many of us are looking forward to. The Florida Orchestra in Tampa is doing M6 with its music director Stefan Sanderling. Stefan is the son of Kurt Sanderling and the half-brother of Thomas Sanderling. He's been doing one Mahler and one Bruckner symphony per season since he replaced Jahja Ling in 2002, and the results have been quite wonderful—it's a remarkably good orchestra. He's also doing Shostakovich 15 in March and Bruckner 4 in May.

James

[BeethovensQuill]

Just to add something of a small defense of Marin Alsop i saw here conduct M5 with the RSNO at Eden Court in Inverness about 8 or 9 years ago and it was a performance i greatly enjoyed, although i must add aswell it is the only Mahler work ive heard in concert and it being in my mid twenties had only discovered Mahler about 3 years earlier.

[mahler09]

The symphony premiered 102 years ago today in Prague!

[sperlsco]

She guest conducted the Houston Symphony in M1 last year.  From my standpoint, it was an enjoyable concert, but perhaps not as intense and idiomatic as some of my favorite recordings.  However, the audience ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!.  The Sunday afternoon crowds can get after it once in a while, but they REALLY made their enthusiasm of this performance known. 

[waderice]

I heard her do M9 late last year at the Strathmore Music Center in Rockville.  It was a decent performance, adequate for my ears.

Wade