a Levine/VPO M2 from '89 Salzburg Festival coming out on Orfeo

[barry guerrero]

Check this out! This might be great, as it has Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle. It's certainly high profile. The question with Salzburg is always whether the electronic organ will sound any good or not. It's on two discs, but looks to be very reasonably priced for Orfeo. Notice that the finale is over 38 minutes though (maybe that includes applause).

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/4183440

Also, there is an M3 and M6 coming out with Michael Gielen leading the DSO Berlin (those should be good). I also saw a Zubin Mehta/Israel Phil. M7 that will be coming out on Helicon. These items all show at HMV Japan.

[waderice]

While in Salzburg a year ago, I bought a few Orfeo sets at a music store (a couple of them had DLvdE in performances by Kubelik and Giulini), and there, the prices were on the high side (maybe it's because of the decline of the Yen).  All of these sets had excellent sound, and a friend lent me his copy of Reiner's performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger at the reopening of the Vienna State Opera in 1955 in considerably better sound than any previous source I had heard.  So the sound on this Levine M2 ought to be good (even if the organ isn't to your liking, Barry).

Wade

[barry guerrero]

"even if the organ isn't to your liking, Barry"

   .    .   they always use a cheesy sounding electronic organ at Salzburg, so I'd bet that it wouldn't be to Mahler's liking either.

[Russ Smiley]

Check this out! This might be great, as it has Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle. It's certainly high profile. The question with Salzburg is always whether the electronic organ will sound any good or not. It's on two discs, but looks to be very reasonably priced for Orfeo. Notice that the finale is over 38 minutes though (maybe that includes applause).

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/4183440

Also, there is an M3 and M6 coming out with Michael Gielen leading the DSO Berlin (those should be good). I also saw a Zubin Mehta/Israel Phil. M7 that will be coming out on Helicon. These items all show at HMV Japan.

Here is Presto's advanced listing: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Orfeo/C838112B

[Roffe]

Notice that the finale is over 38 minutes though (maybe that includes applause).

It may or may not contain a bit of applause. His timings on this one (23:28 - 10:52 - 10:42 - 4:47 - 38:13) are fairly close to those of his Boston concert on Oct 9 2010 (22:21 - 11:02 - 10:52 - 5:12 - 37:25 (without applause)).

If you are not an online member at hmv.co.jp, the prestoclassical.co.uk price is way more attractive (at least for Europeans) and at a lower p&p cost, too, I assume.

Roffe

[brunumb]

I really like this performance.  So far I have only had a chance to listen to it in the car, but it is certainly a fine complement to the Levine RCA set which lacks M2 and M8.  The first movement sounds appropriately 'funereal', and not like 'Mars, The Bringer of War' that we experience with the recent Jurowski, and the last movement sounds really monumental.

Oddly, at the end of the first movement there is no cut off so you hear the audience and musicians for some time, and then the disc just ends.  Why they left this in I have no idea.  The same thing happens after the second movement.  There is about a minute of live sound before the third movement starts.  "Urlicht" begins without a pause and there is only a short delay before the final movement begins with an almighty crescendo.  The very end of the symphony left me with goosebumps, something that has not happened with any performance for quite a while.

Not having any musical training at all, I can't comment on the standard of playing or singing, sorry. 

[barry guerrero]

"The very end of the symphony left me with goosebumps, something that has not happened with any performance for quite a while"

Well that certainly sounds promising. Now, just to humor me - a stickler for minor details such as the organ, which is marked fortissimo - do you remember hearing any organ at the end? Thanks in advance.

Barry

[brunumb]

Now, just to humor me - a stickler for minor details such as the organ, which is marked fortissimo - do you remember hearing any organ at the end? Thanks in advance

Will get back to you asap Barry.
To give me a reference, could you please nominate two or three recordings where you consider the fortissimo organ sounding at its best.  Hopefully I will have one and can compare them through headphones.

[hrandall]

There's a discrepancy between the artwork shown and the text for this CD. The image shows Christa Ludwig and Jessye Norman as the singers; the text says it's Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle. So which is true?

Herb aka "Mr. Really not needing another M2 disc and yet feeling this one may end up in his collection"

[James Meckley]

The image shows Christa Ludwig and Jessye Norman as the singers; the text says it's Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle. So which is true?

Actually the cover image shows Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. Since the description on the Orfeo International Website says it's Kathleen Battle and Christa Ludwig—in agreement with every other sales blurb I could find—and since Christa Ludwig was a participant in the 1989 Salzburg Festival, I'd tend to believe it's Battle and Ludwig.

Also there's this passage from a contemporaneous review by Volker Bozer in the Müncher Abendzeitung on August 21, 1989:

"Christa Ludwig, Kathleen Battle, and the Vienna State Opera Chorus had no difficulty in achieving the same high level as that [achieved] by Levine and his orchestra; we were witness to a Mahler experience that will be with us for a very long time."

James

[hrandall]

The image shows Christa Ludwig and Jessye Norman as the singers; the text says it's Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle. So which is true?

Actually the cover image shows Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. Since the description on the Orfeo International Website says it's Kathleen Battle and Christa Ludwig—in agreement with every other sales blurb I could find—and since Christa Ludwig was a participant in the 1989 Salzburg Festival, I'd tend to believe it's Battle and Ludwig.

Also there's this passage from a contemporaneous review by Volker Bozer in the Müncher Abendzeitung on August 21, 1989:

"Christa Ludwig, Kathleen Battle, and the Vienna State Opera Chorus had no difficulty in achieving the same high level as that [achieved] by Levine and his orchestra; we were witness to a Mahler experience that will be with us for a very long time."

James

Thanks, James, that clears it up! And I suppose I should proofread my posts a little better, or try to get some sleep. :-)

Like Barry, I want to know about the organ - and bells! - at the finale.

Best,
Herb

[James Meckley]

Interestingly, corrected cover images are now beginning to appear all over the Internet. The images at the various vendor sites must all be linked to the Orfeo International site, which is now correct.

James

[barry guerrero]

" about the organ - and bells! - at the finale."

I'll write about that tonight. I just don't have time now. Actually, the balance between organ, brass and bells is quite good on both of Kaplan's recordings, especially the latter Vienna  one (DG the dubbed the organ in from Berlin, since the Musikverein one is so weak). More tonight.

More (next day):  I want to make it clear that I'm not some kind of organ nut. I'm only asking about the organ on this Orfeo issue because anything involving an organ from the Salzburg Festival is often times not-so-great. I believe that they use an electronic organ there. Most recordings are actually pretty good about having sufficient organ. If you want to hear one where the organ is especially strong, try to find a used copy of Blomstedt/SFSO on Decca. The Ruffatti organ in Davies Hall really 'roars' on that one. But again, most are pretty good. It's pretty strong on the recent Zinman one as well (RCA)l. Due to its lack of organ, avoid the Boulez/VPO one on DG. The DVD of him doing M2 with the Berlin Staatskapelle is far better in that regard.

[mahlerei]

Barry

It's not a 'big' organ sound at all, but the performance as a whole is very compelling. A tough, no-nonsense reading, the kind of Mahler I tend to go for these days. It's certainly a Resurrection I'd want to have on my shelves.

[hrandall]

My copy arrived yesterday and I can confirm that the 5th movement has applause at the end but only about 30 seconds or so. The bells are quite audible at the end but the organ not as much.

I have to listen more, but I do think it's well worth having.

Cheers,
Herb