Best (!!) M.9

[bluesbreaker]

Scott,

I agree with all of these additional choices except for the live Karajan. I have explained why I am not a great fan of the Karajan a numerous times. To my ears his is an "intensely beautiful without a bite". The Main problem with him is that he was basically incapable of expressing the vulgar, sarcastic, and even rough elements in Mahler's music. For the same reason his Stravinksy is intense but sounds all wrong. Try his Rite of Spring. One example: in M9:I many passages get unnecessarily smooth treatment to the point that when the orchestra goes for full throttle it all sounds inappropriate, rhythmically weak. Just intense and beautiful, that's it (listen to the way he handles the final climax).

John,

I dislike the Karajan also, but the craps here are the inner Scherzos. Never heard such dull Landler and R-B!
The Adagio is beautiful, but too icy.

[Leo K]

John, do you still hold the live Ozawa M9/BSO/4-20-2002 in high esteem?

[John Kim]

Leo,

Yes, I do. I quite like it, even (slightly) prefer this one over Ozawa's new recording with the Saito Kinen Orchestra available on Japanese Sony. The live De Waart/SFSO I mentioned and Ozawa/BSO/Philips are very similar i.t.o. orchestral textures and a few interpretive points. In other words, both are outstanding. You won't hear better playing in better balance. Not that they lack expressive touches. They have ardor and passion, whenever needed.

John,

[John Kim]

Leo,

I realized you mentioned the live 2002 one, not the Philips CD. Yes, I like the 2002 live concert even better than the official Philips release which was recorded circa 1991(?). Pity that they could not release Ozawa's final concert....probably because of the last few mini. in finale plagued by a terrible audience; the person was coughing as if his mission was to ruin the entire concert. It's possible Ozawa didn't endorse it because of the coughing.

John,

[Leo K]

Yes thats the concert...I haven't heard it yet but plan on listening today.  It's too bad to hear of the coughing fit though.

[Leo K]

John, you mentioned you also liked the Bernstein RCO M9 on DG...would you care to post your thoughts on this recording?  I can't find any of your reviews of this in the old Mahler board archive...thanks!

[Leo K]

The Giulini M9 is truly out of this world.  Unlike most M9's, I don't really feel the intimacy of the personal here, rather, I hear the cry of the universe, or the problem of life (which is death) played out on a larger stage.  Giulini's performance has the feeling of welcome surrender...the most surrender I ever heard from an M9 performance.  There are many instances where the playing nearly fades away, almost for good, and then the energy is set in motion again.  The great climaxes are a major exception...throwing off the building cry quickly and savagely.  It is almost as if the music is trying to avoid the fortissimo and agony...would rather meditate, but of course life is also about action, as the two middle movements reluctantly enact.  It is a great performance and I couldn't help but come back to it three times the last day or so.

It's hard to express in words the effectiveness of the Giulini M9...below are images that show what I perceived with "the mind's eye" while I heard this recording:

1st Movement:





2nd Movement:





3rd Movement:




4th Movement:





--Leo

[barry guerrero]

Cool. Here are some images I think of when hearing the Giulini M9:

[Leo K]

 

Now I'll always remember your images when I listen to the Giulini!!! 

[sperlsco]

Now I'll always remember your images when I listen to the Giulini!!! 

LOL  I'll second the hearty laugh I got out of that. 

BTW, after making my list of favorite M9's, I was looking through my collection to see which ones did not make the cut and why.  I pulled out the Giulini/CSO one and listened to the first three movments.  It is a remarkable performance for its textural clarity.  At his slow tempos, you can hear every single bit of detail and all of the layers of music very clearly defined.  The playing is equal parts sharp and beautiful.  Eventhough the conducting is purposeful, it just lacks the intensity that I want and ultimately fails to move me as an M9.  However, I strongly recommend that everyone hear it. 

[Leo K]

Scott, I like your phrase "sharp and beautiful"...that fits the Giulini really well.  Yeah, I took the lack of intensity as a kind of surrender...indeed the tension beautifully falls behind...a beautiful "downward" spiral perhaps.  An original vision for this work.


--Leo

[Leo K]

Leo,

I realized you mentioned the live 2002 one, not the Philips CD. Yes, I like the 2002 live concert even better than the official Philips release which was recorded circa 1991(?). Pity that they could not release Ozawa's final concert....probably because of the last few mini. in finale plagued by a terrible audience; the person was coughing as if his mission was to ruin the entire concert. It's possible Ozawa didn't endorse it because of the coughing.

John,

Wow...this live Ozawa M9 is addicting (on my 3rd listen).  To try to explain how great it is would only be preaching to the choir.  Strangley, the man's coughs seems to add to the final proceeding of the falling music, as if it's the soundtrack to a death-bed scene, where a man is coughing during the final moments of his life.  It's quite touching and surreal...poignant...a strange sense of theater.  Not unlike the sound of children on the lawn at Tanglewood in Lennies recording.

--Leo

[Leo K]

The Levine Philly M9 (1979) is like the Mile Davis/Gil Evans of M9's.  What a celebration of timbre and color!!  What lushness and beauty and tone!!  The production reminds me of the Davis/Evans Jazz recordings from the fifties, so much so that I'm expecting Miles to pick up his horn during the Rondo Burlesque.  This recording sounds great on my Grado SR80 headphones...it doesn't sound boxy at all, but rich and deep (although the strings are still sharp).  I really love the whole performance, in particular the 1st and 3rd movements...and the 4th.  In my opinion, this 9th is from the viewpoint of one who has loved deeply and lived a full life in the world, yet there is much melancholy and regret.  I could go on, but again, I'm preaching to the choir.


--Leo

[John Kim]

Leo,

Levine's new recording with MPO is also pretty darn good. The main differences are Levine's tighter control of his orchestra and structure of the music (especially in I.), and the difference timbres between the two orchestras. Yes, the sound is different too (digital vs. analogue?). But it is Philadelphia Orch who triumphs in the great finale with ravishing sound; OTOH the Munich Phil strings sound less passionate, less involved. But I find the Munich version slightly preferrable in the first movt.

John,

[Leo K]

John,

Thanks for the heads up on the new Levine...I will definitely check it out.  It sounds like Levine has changed his concept somewhat.


--Leo