Abbado/Lucerne Festival Orch. Mahler Ninth Blu-ray in Feb. 2011

[John Kim]

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/3966569

I heard this live concert and found it to much my liking, more than his BPO recording on DG.

John,

[waderice]

We're progressing onward toward the completion of the first complete Mahler symphony cycle on Blu-ray!

However, has anyone heard about a fix to the audio problem that plagues Abbado's M2 Blu-Ray issue?  The regular DVD issue's audio was fine.

Wade

[Fafner]

An odd cover that is for sure, a clear departure from past discs should that really be the one they'll use. Not that it's that important, but I don't like it that much...expecially as it has nothing to do with the other releases. Guess Smaczny really wants to mark the break btw Accentus and Euroarts...

Euroarts is redoing the Mahler 2 BD disc. It was supposed to be ready around end November, but apparently it isn't yet. No words about what they fixed (just the freeze issue many have or the audio problem too), although looking at how much time they are taking one would assume they're doing the right thing now. If they just wanted to reencode the whole using another subtitle format (subtitles seemed to be the source of all freezing problems), then they would have been ready many weeks ago.

Abbado will perform the Adagio from the 10th at Lucerne next Summer. No official words on what will come after. Some months ago they hinted me at the inclusion of the 8th in the cycle (with no dates fixed at that time), something which wasn't supposed to happen initially.

[sperlsco]

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/3966569

I heard this live concert and found it to much my liking, more than his BPO recording on DG.

John,

Do you have the timings for the live concert? I've generally liked Abbado's way with the 9th since his 1995 Mahlerfest. However, I feel he was slightly less successful on his subsequent commercial M9 with the BPO and then the DVD with the GMYO -- as each got progressively faster in the outer movements.

[Fafner]

These are more or less the timings from the Arte broadcast

I. 26:45
II. 15:30
III. 12:30
IV. 27:00

[barry guerrero]

Interesting timings indeed. That's similar to Alan Gilbert, although even slightly longer in the last movement. I think Abbado reads my criticms of his earlier performances, as he always seems to address just exactly what I'm talking about. If so, here's some suggestions for any upcoming M8's, Claudio: turn up the organ! Place the harps and mandolin near the front; hit the stupid gong; turn the bass drum sideways so that they can make a huge crescendo on the final chord of the symphony; make some friggin' noise! Don't be dull and boring, like your Berlin recording. You only live once, as you seem to be finding out. Then we'll ALL love you, Claudio.  

[Fafner]

I'm not that sure your concerns are all due to Abbado's fault. The recording can have a great impact too. I wasn't at Berlin for that 8th, thus can't really comment there, but I know Lucerne very well being there at several concerts all years (all Abbado-Mahler ones included). I still remember the visceral impact the Lucerne organ was capable of in the Resurrection of 2003. Then, DG obliterated that impact, releasing a contricted, bass-shy recording which doesn't make the KKL acoustics any justice. Euroarts did a better job and reached a very good quality level on more recent releases, although in the stereo track the organ (and most of the orchestra's lower registers), while being more present than in the DG recording, is still far from being something remotely similar to what I could hear that evening.

[barry guerrero]

I know you're right - pretty much every DG recording that involves a pipe organ gets botched. For his M2 remake from Vienna, Gilbert Kaplan got DG to dub in the Berlin Philharmonie organ. That one they got right. Beyond that, what an awful track record.

[Michael]

Don't get me started on DG botching recordings.  I bought the lossless FLAC version of the Abbado/BPO M9 just yesterday and noticed the same "grittyness" to the sound as I have observed in iTunes with several other DG releases over the last several months.  It's very disappointing that they can't even get lossless audio correct.

[John Kim]

Don't get me started on DG botching recordings.  I bought the lossless FLAC version of the Abbado/BPO M9 just yesterday and noticed the same "grittyness" to the sound as I have observed in iTunes with several other DG releases over the last several months.  It's very disappointing that they can't even get lossless audio correct.

Michael,

I will tell you, in the case of the Abbado/BPO/DG M9 the basic sound quality is not in a pristine condition; it's dynamic range is compressed and the loud passages (especially in I.) don't open up as they should. Just keep this in mind when you listen to your files.

John,

[Fafner]

A detail I just discovered about the coming 9th. It will feature conductor camera, something similar to what Euroarts did with the 5th DVD (and only with that, sadly). The DVD will be limited to a single conductor camera in the 1st Movement, while the BluRay should include what is called "Multi-Angle Feature Conductor Camera" in all movements (guess you'll be able to select a point of view?). Guess they had to limit the bonus feature on the DVD to keep the compression at accettable levels. At least someone is starting to support some supposed bonuses of the new formats.
The video in the BluRay is labeled as 1080/59.94, which I think equals to 1080p. At the end of the day the difference btw 1080i and 1080p on new equipment is negligeable if detectable at all, but it's nice to have it.