The new Kobayashi M9 on Exton...a review

[Ben]

OK Jot, I apologize for getting defensive when it wasn't necessary. But with Boulez, I can at least follow his beat. Haitink is good that way also, I must admit. Abbado and Rattle - I have no idea where the beat is at (and I play!).

Barry

I must agree!  The final note of the M2 video with Abbado: it still boggles my mind on how the players knew when to attack it.  I'm a conductor and a horn player, and I still couldn't tell you!

Ben

[Jot N. Tittle]

No problem, Barry. Actually, I agree with you as regards the beat.

Could it be that some conductors simply provide a kind of visual echo-chamber to the orchestra? That is, they "anticispond" to the music and "perform" accordingly. (No baton is necessary except as badge of authority.)

Have you seen films of old Furtwaengler conducting? He just sort of stands there, quivering--and not necessarily in time.

     . & '

[barry guerrero]

Yeah, I think that your theory makes a lot of sense. Sorry for getting uppity.

Barry

[Leo K]

I already told John about this, but I thought I'd let the board know too.

The Kobayashi M9 also sounds good on SACD.  I listened to it last week in SACD for the first time, and immediately noticed a difference.  In particular, I think the SACD layer shows the limitations of the string players more than we hear on the CD layer, which actually brings an added urgency to the performance...the difficult score brings out the best they have.  This could be why Kobayashi keeps a solid tempo throughout the 1st movement--Horenstein style--because perhaps it helped the orchestra "sing" better.  I wish I had the score in front of me, but there are some moments when the french horn(s) eloquently turn a phrase so full of feeling that I think of Mile Davis.   

This M9 continues to get better on each listen.  It is very much like a Horenstein M9 conception...and like Horenstein it takes time to appreciate the finer points.  Yes, as you know, this is not the LPO or VPO, but what this performance lacks in virtuosity it gains with wonderful instrumental detail and a grand, solid architecture on the level of Horenstein.  Kobayashi is very much his own man though...where Horenstein is "negative" in outlook, Kobayashi is "postive" and life affirming. The strings suddenly shine in the final adagio...they really sound like they're weeping.  It is really something to behold.  This performance reminds me of Horenstein's M9 with the Orchestre National de France, except that the playing is much better.

--Leo

[barry guerrero]

None of this surprises, as I think that Kobayashi is a really under-rated Mahler conductor. You should hear the M3 that he made with the Czech Phil. sometime. It'll make you forgot slow performances for certain. We'll, maybe not forget, but postpone.

[Leo K]

None of this surprises, as I think that Kobayashi is a really under-rated Mahler conductor. You should hear the M3 that he made with the Czech Phil. sometime. It'll make you forgot slow performances for certain. We'll, maybe not forget, but postpone.

This happened with the recent Fischer and Zimman M2 recordings...a recording that convinced me of the greatness of his kind of interpetation for the M2 (faster, more objective and etc).  I will always love the slower performances, but on the other hand, it's nice to have a revelation and appreciation regarding another point of view. 

I will get the Kobayashi M2 and M3 very soon (probably when I order the Zinman M3). 

--Leo