Levine M1

[akiralx]

Picked up this LSO M1 in a fleamarket for £3, and listened in the car on the way home.  I like the performance, played quite virtuosically. 

The sound (from 1975 I think) is a little 'spotlit' (multi-miking from RCA?) which pays some dividends with the wind solos, though occasionally in the finale some of the outbursts sound a little harsh.  Worth three quid anyway!

[Damfino]

The LP of that recording was one of the first Mahler recordings I ever bought, back in 1977 or so.  I always particularly liked the clarity of the horns.  I'd love to hear it on CD, but it's OOP and hard to find.

I also used to have the Brahms symphonies on LP conducted by Levine around the same time as his Mahler recordings.  I'd like to hear those again as well, but their releases from RCA have been spotty at best, so they are equally hard to find.

[barry guerrero]

Levine's CSO Brahms was really very good. Then again, his Brahms remakes with the VPO are surprisingly good as well. I saw him do an excellent Brahms 1st with the VPO (Carnegie Hall). He did a very good Mahler 3 with the VPO too (Christa Ludwig), but got a tad slow in the latter movements for my tate. I must say, he was very uninteresting to watch during the Mahler. It seemed like he was just trying to keep everybody really together. Regardless, it worked.

Barry

[Ben]

The LP of that recording was one of the first Mahler recordings I ever bought, back in 1977 or so.  I always particularly liked the clarity of the horns.  I'd love to hear it on CD, but it's OOP and hard to find.

I also used to have the Brahms symphonies on LP conducted by Levine around the same time as his Mahler recordings.  I'd like to hear those again as well, but their releases from RCA have been spotty at best, so they are equally hard to find.

Actually, ArkivMusic has released this CD of M1 with Levine on their "on demand" series.  The series is made up of OOP CDs.  It's not the original CD, but rather a CD-R copy with just a picture of the cover in the jewel case.  I haven't bought any of these yet, but I haven't heard of any complaints with them.  You might check it out.

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=7537&name_role1=1&comp_id=1800&bcorder=15&album_group=8&name_id=17382&name_role=3

RCA released the Levine/CSO Brahms recordings on CD in Japan.  I doubt they will release them in the US, which is a shame.  His CSO Brahms 1 (which was released in the US on CD) is pretty much my favorite recording.  I have the LP box set, but no LP player at the moment...so they don't do me much good.

Ben

[Leo K]

The LP of that recording was one of the first Mahler recordings I ever bought, back in 1977 or so.  I always particularly liked the clarity of the horns.  I'd love to hear it on CD, but it's OOP and hard to find.

I also used to have the Brahms symphonies on LP conducted by Levine around the same time as his Mahler recordings.  I'd like to hear those again as well, but their releases from RCA have been spotty at best, so they are equally hard to find.

Actually, ArkivMusic has released this CD of M1 with Levine on their "on demand" series.  The series is made up of OOP CDs.  It's not the original CD, but rather a CD-R copy with just a picture of the cover in the jewel case.  I haven't bought any of these yet, but I haven't heard of any complaints with them.  You might check it out.

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=7537&name_role1=1&comp_id=1800&bcorder=15&album_group=8&name_id=17382&name_role=3

RCA released the Levine/CSO Brahms recordings on CD in Japan.  I doubt they will release them in the US, which is a shame.  His CSO Brahms 1 (which was released in the US on CD) is pretty much my favorite recording.  I have the LP box set, but no LP player at the moment...so they don't do me much good.

Ben

I have bought from ArchivMusic, and I can vouch that they are excellant in service...without them I wouldn't have been able to get this long out of print Ives recording.  The CD-R plays fine.

[Damfino]

Ben and Leo: thanks for the link and recommendations.  I'll prolly get that Levine 1st, and look around the site some more.

[Ivor]

Following this thread,I played Levine's M.1. Thought it very fine,wonderfully dramatic. A young man's performance of a young man's music. Tho' I prefer a steadier end to the work, it's always heartening to hear another performance.



   Ivor

[John Kim]

Ivor,

Your description is accurate, but I didn't like the RCA sound...surprising considering that the estimable audio engineer Bob Auger was in charge of the recording session.

John,