Over the weekend, I finally got a chance to watch and listen to the Blu-Ray recording of Chailly and the LGO doing M8. I had previously downloaded the stream from the Mahler festival and was impressed -- even with its limited dynamics. The Blu-ray is an entirely better experience.
This is probably the best commercial video of an M8, even surpassing my previous favorite from Lennie and the VPO (which is one of my top M8's regardless of formats). Certainly the sound of the Chailly is among the best available. The singing is uniformly excellent to my ears. The Pater Profundus is one of the better ones I've heard, the two sopranos sound superb in their upper registers, the mezzo's sing well and with differentiated tone, and the tenor is quite good (he's not Kollo or Heppner...but still excellent). I don't like that the Mater Gloriosa cheats in reaching her high note, but at least she sounds natural getting there (unlike the beast that sings in Maazel's VPO M8...and who is the same dreadful one that befouls Davis' Gretchen). The massed choirs are well-captured and do an equally superb job. The organ is a bit of a let-down -- so that would be my main criticism.
Of course, Chailly is not going to conduct M8 in the same thrilling fashion that Inbal did with the Tokyo MSO. However, I've been stuck in an "Inbal box" on M8 over the past year, so it is nice that this new Chailly one finally has me interested again in an alternate version of M8. Chailly conducts the beginning of the symphony at a slightly quicker pace than on his commercial RCOA recording...and this is an improvement for me. Of course, this means that he slows down after the triple fugue and the return of the Veni music -- and it is thrillingly done. The Gloria music is exciting, with the offstage brass really being at the back of the stage -- which means that they are well captured (and none of this is captured in the surround speakers
).
I'm running short of time so...
For Part 2, I've already raved about the singing and choirs. The specialty instruments are fairly audible. The Chorus Mysticus is very slowly built to a deafening pitch. The ending is quite exciting despite the lack of organ. The final four tam-tam strikes are enormous (which is critically important to me). Again, the offstage brass are well captured since they are essentially "onstage".
No doubt that this is a top tier pick for me. Part of me wishes that I had purchased the DVD so that I could rip the audio and listen to it in my car -- a capability that I do not currently have via Blu-ray.
Topic: M8 Chailly, LGO Blu-Ray is truly superb (so is the M2 finale)! (Read 9571 times)