Sanderling M9/BBC Philharmonic/BBC Legends

[Leo K]

I'm looking forward to this...



Release date: 03-04-08 (according to amazon)

From: http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_March08/BBCL42322.htm
                                   

MAHLER: Symphony No. 9 in D major

BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra / Kurt Sanderling

Recorded BBC Studio 7, Manchester, 21 February 1981

Kurt Sanderling (1912 - ) is one of Germany’s most distinguished conductors, having been associated with Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic, followed by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra which he completely overhauled, the Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and later with the Philharmonia Orchestra where he became Conductor Emeritus. He has appeared in all the major capitals and at the Salzburg Festival. This is the first time Sanderling has appeared on BBC Legends.

Sanderling recorded Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 twice before in the studio, but this live performance in 1981 with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra (a year later to become the newly formed BBC Philharmonic) has been requested frequently.

Sanderling, according to his son Thomas Sanderling, ‘came from a generation of conductors who did not like to refer to recordings…one had to live with the score! And obviously he knew conductors like Walter and Klemperer, both of whom had known Mahler personally…And then there was Oskar Fried, another early disciple of Gustav Mahler, who had also been active in Russia at various times. My father was therefore very much part of this same culture’.

This live 1981 recording is superbly engineered and comes from the BBC’s Studios in Manchester.

BBC Legends BBCL42322

[John Kim]

I believe this is a reissue of what was once available on a minor British label. K. Sanderling left three recordings of this symphony and I have a pirate of his live concert with LPO from London as well. This has powerful, somewhat rugged playing and forthright view of the piece from the conductor that suit rather well in fast, loud climactic passages, but subtlety is not a strong point here. Some may argue this is Sanderling's best M9th, but others including myself might stick with his latest outing with Philharmonic Orchestra on Erato, or the live performance by LPO.

John,