Very brief report on Paavo Jarvi/NHK Tokyo (RCA) M6 recording

[barryguerrero]

I love it. I think it may be my favorite overall M6 in my collection, as all four movements are really solid. It's in scherzo/andante order and with two hammer-strokes in the finale. The timings are quite similar to Boulez/V.P.O., only Paavo Jarvi makes a bit more contrast between fast and slow sections. The playing of the NHK Tokyo is outstanding throughout, while RCA's colorful sound quality is equally outstanding.

The beginning of the scherzo starts almost immediately after the coda to the first movement. I got to run - I'm falling asleep.

[shawn]

"I got to run - I'm falling asleep."

Probably not because of this recording, I trust

That's great news, the conditions you describe are very promising (S-A order, two hammer strokes, good sound, contrast).

I'm really tempted 

[barryguerrero]

No, no - I wasn't listening and falling asleep   

No matter how you slice and dice it, it's going to run $40 or more!  A friend of mine who deals with Japanese imports got it for me through Amazon Japan. With the shipping, it came to pennies above $40.

The good news is that I can jettison the Vanska/Minnesota M6. It's excellent in the inner two movements, but much less so on the outer two (good offstage cowbells, however). The P. Jarvi is nearly almost as good in the inner two and far better with the outer two. I'm reluctant to recommend purchasing the Paavo Jarvi, based on its outrageous cost. It might be worth seeing if it eventually gets a U.S. release - maybe.

Another option would be to get the dvd of Jarvi doing M6 with the Frankfurt R.S.O. You can get that used through Amazon. It's also very good, but was performed in a rather 'boomy', reverberate church. 

[shawn]

Just kidding about falling asleep 

40 bucks is a great deal of money indeed... But I always say, if it's worth the outlay, what the heck. I haven't listened very much to Vanska's performance...

Maybe the Frankfurt/Järvi performance is a good alternative, but I have to confess that I don't know that cycle very well. In addition, I always prefer CD audio (or some other variation) than a DVD performance. Maybe those performances should also be issued on a separate CD, or even in a duopack accompanying the DVD. This is why I also haven't payed much attention to Chailly in Leipzig...

How do you feel the Frankfurters have developed in their Mahler, ranging from Inbal to Järvi? Inbal, to my ears, had very good sound, and the orchestra was certainly excellent, but not essentially characterful in Mahler. How does Järvi's orchestra rank in that regard?

[barryguerrero]

That's difficult for me to say. They strike me as being somewhat similar to what one hears in Koln. As far as 'characterful' playing in Mahler from a German orchestra goes, I think the Dusseldorf people are hard to beat - at least for the moment. That may have a lot to do with the acoustics and the way they're recorded. It obviously has something to do with Adam Fischer's influence as well. The Dusseldorfers seem to get a mix of the 'Jewish'/New York sound that Bernstein got, and the more 'dark' hued yet controlled playing that we normally associate with German orchestras. Obviously, the Bavarian R.S.O. and the Dresden Staatskapelle can provide 'characterful' playing as well. Anyway,   .    .    .

You can see much of Paavo Jarvi's video cycle from Frankfurt on Youtube. Virgin Classics issued a very good "Resurrection" symphony with P. Jarvi/Frankfurt R.S.O. on CD. I really feel that Paavo is a better conductor than his father.

[shawn]

I very much agree on the subject of Düsseldorf. They are very musical, dark hued, much clarity. And they have a very big advantage over the other German orchestras:  nobody saw them coming! They took us by surprise, and what a surprise it turned out to be. Mahler wasn't exactly a standard on the menu there... (certainly not on disc). Fischer's most acclaimed recordings to that date were probably his Haydn symphonies. Mostly very thrilling, though even Adam Fischer couldn't resist the trend to fiddle with dynamics (in a very arbitrary manner). I don't hear that at all in his Mahler. Everything is very natural, but never ever boring.

I really feel that Paavo is a better conductor than his father.

No argument here. The Residentie M7 was weird. The first and last movements were what we might call 'normal' in duration, but they sounded much slower when compared to the hurry of the middle movements. 13 minutes for the first Nachtmusik, and not even 10 minutes for the second Nachtmusik. It can be very interesting to be on the fast side in M7 (Kondrashin in Amsterdam, for example), but without due consideration for structure and proportions, Järvi's recording simply sounds incapable.

[erikwilson7]

I checked this recording out on Spotify per your recommendation, Barry. This is outstanding, just about as good as a single-disc M6 can be (and by that I mean a M6 that runs at 80 minutes or less). Järvi really “gets” the structure, and you already mentioned just about every important aspect of that. I loved the several triangles at the coda of the first movement. I didn’t hear any deep bells at all in the finale, but that could be an interpretive choice. I can’t really fault for that. I’d rather not hear them at all than hear them done poorly.

Whenever I hear a recording missing a “Mahler effect” detail I always think back to what David Hurwitz said in his review of Fischer’s M2: “But the fact is that in a work this complex, with such detailed instructions to the players in virtually every bar, no one gets everything. What matters is that the conductor and orchestra realize so much of what is there that they make the music wholly their own, to the point that what isn't heard can be accepted and credited as a personal interpretive choice rather than a lapse.”

[barryguerrero]

Thumbs up!

[erikwilson7]

Do you know if this is the 2017 Berlin performance that can be found on YouTube?

[Roland Flessner]

>>No matter how you slice and dice it, it's going to run $40 or more!

Presto Music currently sells this recording for $13, either CD or FLAC.

[Last_Evolution]

This is one of the best M6!

[erikwilson7]

I’ve heard many moving performances of the Andante moderato performed slowly, like an adagio, but this has to be one of the most convincing readings of a true Andante moderato that I’ve heard (13:59 duration). Before this recording I almost always preferred that movement to be around 15–16 minutes, but I now understand why it’s supposed to be an Andante. There’s plenty of urgent passion at the climax, and it keeps surging forward. What a refreshing account.