OT: get the Martinon/Chicago Symphony box on RCA!

[barry guerrero]

This set is incredible folks. Among many things, it contains a scorching Nielsen 4th, while the ending ["farandole"] to the L'Arlessiene suite #2 has to be heard to be believed. It goes without saying that the Martinon/CSO Ravel items are nearly incomparable. For me, this set contains THE greatest "La Valse" and "Bolero" that I've EVER heard - Bolero being a work I normally can't stand to hear. And while Boulez's CSO recording of Varese's "Arcana" is very good indeed (DG), Martinon brings more vibrancy and energy to the table, and without any sacrifice in clarity. If you love good recordings of great orchestral performances, I simply can't recommend this set too highly.

http://www.amazon.com/Jean-Martinon-Complete-Recordings-Orchestra/dp/B00PCCWXPG/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1438662879&sr=1-1&keywords=martinon+chicago+symphony

[James Meckley]

The Martinon/Chicago box is indeed great, and an irresistible bargain at $25.00! I'm pleased to be able to add this factoid to Barry's encomium: RCA/SONY have finally corrected a stupid editing error that plagued the previous release of Martinon's Nielsen 4. A ruinous six-second break between movements three and four has been removed so that the fourth movement is now played attacca, as specified in the score. It's probably the greatest Nielsen 4 ever committed to disc, and it deserves to be heard as the composer and performers intended.

James

[AZContrabassoon]

Martinon was one of the great unsung conductors ever - his Ravel remains tops for me. A conductor's conductor who had the misfortune of trying to bridge the gap between two other titans: Reiner and Solti.

Martinon didn't do much Mahler, but there is a recording of the 3rd symphony. I've never heard it - can anyone comment on it?

[waderice]

Martinon didn't do much Mahler, but there is a recording of the 3rd symphony. I've never heard it - can anyone comment on it?

It is excellent - probably one of the top three Mahler Thirds out there (one of the others being Horenstein, and the other, take your pick), but it is now out of print, and was only available via the second of two major multi-CD CSO live performance packages, being titled "Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Twentieth Century:  Collector's Choice" in a red cloth-covered 10-CD box, sold by the CSO only.  The M3 in that box is well-paced, well-rehearsed, well-played.  The audience, having never heard the piece before, is so astonished at the end of the first movement that they burst into spontaneous applause.  The final movement is one of the best on record.  And the applause at the conclusion of the symphony, make this a performance to remember.  And consider the fact that this performance is only four years after Reiner left the orchestra - this performance is the closest that we will ever get to hearing a major Mahler symphony played by orchestra personnel who played under Reiner, aside from his recordings of M4 and DLvdE.

In just checking at Amazon trying to see if there is a copy of the CSO set, I find that there is another M3 by Martinon with the ORTF, which of course, I haven't heard.  Has anyone heard this particular performance?

Wade

[James Meckley]

Martinon didn't do much Mahler, but there is a recording of the 3rd symphony. I've never heard it - can anyone comment on it?

Jean Martinon recorded both M3 and M10 (Cooke) with the Chicago Symphony for WFMT in the mid-1960s, and both recordings were included in separate large box-sets sold for fund-raising purposes by the orchestra. Since these were live recordings made for radio broadcast, the sound is not great, but it's perfectly serviceable, especially in M3.

Martinon gives a relatively straight-forward presentation of Mahler 3 with relatively quick tempos, but with enough flexibility and thoughtful rhetorical touches to put it in the "warm" category interpretively. One of this recording's greatest assets is the almost unbelievable power and unity of the CSO brass section from that era. Unlike Solti, Martinon tended to hold them in check (as much as one could) until the appropriate moments, making them seem all the more majestic, their power reinforcing the line of the music and carrying it to a level simply unmatched by lesser orchestras. One of my biases in this piece is that the big brass climax five bars after [30] in the Finale must be properly paced and overwhelming in intensity (think chills and goose-bumps). It is, after all, the climax of the entire symphony and if it disappoints, the preceding 90 minutes has effectively been a waste of time. Martinon delivers here in spades.

The recorded sound is a bit dry, but that's what Orchestra Hall sounded like in 1967. Mr. Friedman's trombone solo in the first movement strikes me as less effective than his later efforts in the work (I prefer Alessi and Svanberg). The less said about the vocal soloist the better. The movement timings are 32:00, 10:05, 16:29, 8:40, 4:05 and 22:50.

This was the first time the CSO performed M3. Well worth hearing, it remains on my short-list of great Mahler 3 recordings.

(Martinon also recorded Mahler 3 with Orchestre National de l'ORTF in 1973, now available on the Cascavelle label.)

James

[James Meckley]

...I find that there is another M3 by Martinon with the ORTF, which of course, I haven't heard. Has anyone heard this particular performance?

The timings are almost identical to Chicago's, with a similar interpretive profile, save for two minutes added to the first movement. Think piquant French woodwinds, trumpets and trombones not quite in tune at climaxes, but in a much nicer acoustical environment than Chicago's Orchestra Hall and a better recording to boot. Many odd extra-musical noises. Overall, a mixed bag. I'll take Chicago any day.

James

[barry guerrero]

The irony is that if Martinon could record M3 with today's Orchestre de Paris, it would probably be every bit as good as doing it in Chicago - and with a better acoustic (as you indicated).

[Roland Flessner]

Having mentioned this set in a previous thread, I can heartily concur with the enthusiastic recommendations. It's a crime that nearly all this material is making its first appearance on CD.

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if RCA had recorded both suites from Roussel's "Bacchus" (thus comprising the whole ballet), and had recorded a complete "Daphnis et Chloe," with chorus of course?

Aside from all the other interesting selections, I have always loved Martinon's own 4th symphony, and my copy on vinyl is one of my most cherished LPs. I'm still waiting for the right moment to listen to the CD.