I had to get this. One of the reviewers at Amazon mentioned the fading light effect in the finale of Abbado's prior dvd M9 as a cheap trick or gimmick, this made me hestate and go for the Lucerne. I love the Lucerne version, even though it is definitely an old topic by now. I'm glad to hear about how consistent the whole Lucerne symphony collection is. What struck me most was Abbado genuine and pure smile and obvious contentment throughout. I noticed it especially at the end of the 3rd movement. I'd had a Wand Bruckner 9th video and thought Wand snootiness a big turn-off, but then again he was probably just 'playing the part'. Another striking note about the Lucerne M9 is the slow pace of the finale, somehow it flows better than I've ever heard it before. I much like the finale of the M9, a sort of comparable output by R. Strauss would be the Methamorphosen I suppose. But unlike Metamorphosen, Mahler's finale isn't hard to follow and its scheme is blatant despite all the counterpunctual and harmonic complications arrising. With the Metamorphosen it is excruciatingly hard to follow without emotional commitment and it is often the case with R. Strauss anyways that is musical ideas and developements are quickly shifting and highly dynamic. In other words, even if you simply can't commit completely in an emotional sense to Mahler finale, it is still an easily understandable development and progression dispite this.
