CD of 'live' Horenstein M3 (LSO) from 1961

[barry guerrero]

http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Mahler-1860-1911_000000000019272/item_Sym-3-Horenstein-Lso-Cho-H-watts-A-Etc-1961-brahms-Piano-Concerto-1-Arrau-P_5562109

I would suggest waiting to see a review or two first (without the usual English biases). This might not be anywhere as good as his studio M3 (I said might).

[umbernisitani]

I never really liked the studio one at all, and at any rate the sound and balances are truly awful.  The basses are completely off-mike.  I can only hope this will be better (though sonically it probably would be mono--better a good kono than a bad stereo!)

[waderice]

I too, thought that the balances in his studio recording were a little odd (generally close up), but I'm able to overlook that and admire the performance, great as it is.

Remember, this particular recording was then done by a small, new English company that no longer exists (I forget the name without going to consult my Classic Record Quarterly magazines to find out, though it's definitely not Unicorn) that was taking bold first steps to record Mahler, so a little slack needs to be given them as we normally wouldn't be given Decca, EMI, or DG.

Wade

[barry guerrero]

About a year before Tony Duggan passed away, I got him to reveal to me that there were - which I had suspected - two completely different sets of microphones being used at the famous Horenstein M3 sessions. The reason this came up is because I kept on hammering Duggan about how much bettger the Nonesuch LP's sounded than the Unicorn CD release. Then some company - I don't think that it was Brilliant Classics - issued a box set of Mahler CDs (various conductors) that had the Horenstein M3 in it. Lo and behold, those CDs sounded much more like the Nonesuch issue, and not very much like the Unicorn ones at all. Thus, I think it must be true about two separate recordings having been made.

[James Meckley]

This live 1961 Horenstein Mahler 3 has circulated in the "audio underground" for quite some time. The source for the unofficial release appears to be a set of transcription discs, probably from the BBC. The recording is mono, and the concert took place in Royal Festival Hall. The movement timings are 30:12, 8:27, 16:09, 8:38, 4:05, and 21:02.

For those who might like to listen to a rough copy before buying, this blogger has graciously made the unofficial files available on his Website—just click on the image of the tape recorder and the download links will appear:

http://metrognomemusic.blogspot.com/2013/06/horenstein-conducts-mahler-symphony-no.html

The later (1970) recording released on Unicorn-Kanchana was made by the late Bob Auger, then working as a freelance engineer for Unicorn. All of the many commercial releases of this recording have been sourced from Bob's master, which was a multi-microphone recording onto one-inch magnetic tape—typical of the era.

As I've written here before, there was a parallel recording made during these sessions by Jerry Bruck, who was using purist recording techniques: two very fine microphones (probably Schoeps) in quasi-coincident configuration directly onto two-track tape. Unfortunately, Jerry's recording has never seen commercial release. See the last post on this page:

http://gustavmahlerboard.com/forum/index.php?topic=1049.0

James

[barry guerrero]

Thanks James. Be that as it may - and I'm sure your info. is completely correct - the Nonesuch LP's sound nothing like the Unicorn one to me at all , even in terms of balances. Also, the issue that came in that budget box had far more presence to the sound than the Unicorn issue, and the balances were different too.

[Leo K]

I vastly prefer the live 1961 Horenstein M3 over the Unicorn CD and the original LP. The performance moves a little faster (at least to my ear) and the overall tone is more ferocious in the first movement. Gutteral with rough edges. It's among my favorite M3 broadcast performances. My top M3 broadcast is the Alan Gilbert/NYPO from a few years ago.

--Todd

[barry guerrero]

Thanks - very interesting.