one star new kid on block starts thread... Noseda M10...

[mister bob]

Bought the new Chandos CD on Friday night, happily surprised to see it in an HMV store.  As it's Chandos, the sound is good; the opening is still and clear, and allows the movement to build steadily.  The climaxes are just that - they hit you right between the eyes both in terms of clarity and power.
I bought this on the strength of having seen Noseda perfom it in Manchester; there was no Rattle-esque standing around that night from Noseda, he threw himself into the performance body and soul, and clearly believes in the work.  As I stated on an earlier thread, I admit to not wholly 'getting' the 10th, but as always with Mahler, time and patience may bring some moments of real beauty, and after two listens of this CD I may be some way along the path to conversion.

The timings;

1] 23.50
2] 12.36
3] 4.14
4] 13.12
5] 24.08

[I don't have enough verions of the 10th to comment on these, but I know some of you do.]

The terrifying dissonant chord in the Adagio, which comes at 17.10, is quite superb, and makes sense of all that came before and will follow.  The brass is piercing, but controlled, and the strings have a Psycho quality which is chilling.  I felt very drawn into this movement, and was happy to let the music take me along.

I'll skip straight to the Finale.  The opening percussion is vivid without being melodramatic, and the flute solo that soon follows is beautiful.  [The harp could have been stronger throughout though, I feel.]  As in the Adagio, the pacing is good, the music never drags and the climaxes are telling, yet never over-played.  The final, beautiful chord really hit home for this listener.

The notes are by David Matthews, brother of Colin.  There is the usual biographical information on Mahler, Alma, and Gropius, plus some interesting stuff about the Cooke, Goldschmidt, and Matthews collaboration over the years.

Thanks to this CD I will now return with a more open mind with the 10th, in particular the middle movements, and will explore other performing versions.  I would recommend it.

[Leo K]

Thanks Bob for the report...you have wet my M10 appetite already for this new disk, especially when you mentioned the psycho string sound!

Try the Litton/Dallas M10 that uses the Carpenter completion if you haven't already...stunning.


--Todd

[John Kim]

I like the slow tempo of Scherzo II.

Will be looking forward to hearing the recording.

John,

[sperlsco]

Thanks for the report.  Yes, the timings look very much to my liking -- outer movements are not overly long, scherzos are a little longer than on some others.  I'll have to keep my eyes open for this one and the forthcoming M10 from Harding.  Now where is that Seighart M10 with the Samale-Mazucca version? 

[barry guerrero]

Yes, I want to hear this - even if it is just a repeat of the good, old Cooke version. It won't be available in the U.S. until early Feb., which isn't long off.

Barry