Vanska/BIS M10 - I'm buying autographed copy through the M.O.

[John Kim]

This is an excellent addition to the ongoing Vanska/MO Mahler cycle, extremely well played and recorded. Indeed, the playing is not only precise but passionate and fired up (listen to the ending of Scherzo 1 (II)!). Interpretively, Vanska hardly does anything new but he succeeds in molding the great architecture out of the incomplete score (completed by Cooke) offering as cogent a view as one can imagine of the composer's last work.

NOTE: Like Erik I am a bit disappointed Vanska doesn't hold the last chord of Finale long enough leaving little to linger on after such a heartbreaking coda is over. A shame (but it could be an editing mistake). 

John

[barryguerrero]

I don't view it as being anything quite like the ending of M9. To me, everything after the high strings make their huge, ascending glissando, is pretty much the end of the piece. In short, it doesn't bother me so much.     .     .      .      .      .    And again, if it were me in charge, I would end it with offstage cowbells chiming away for 7 to 10 seconds - tons of them, really far off, and possibly discretely piped through the hall's sound system to obtain a more surround effect.

[erikwilson7]

That’s a fun idea! Reminds me a bit of Shostakovich 15...

[barryguerrero]

Check out the end of the Ives 4th. Although, it's not cowbells that he uses.

[ChrisH]

I just received my copy of this disc in the mail. No autograph. Just the discs in their cardboard sleeves. Curious to know if I missed the 250 person cut off, which honestly, I would find hard to believe. Or, if anyone else has gotten one with an autograph?

[barryguerrero]

Mine came w/o the autograph too. I guess posting on FaceBook did the trick for them. I still want to support the project. M9 will be next, someday.

[erikwilson7]

How do you know M9 will be the next release? What about 3? I’m sure 8 will be last.

Any chance they recorded anything during the pandemic?

[John Kim]

I heard they canceled M3rd concert in March(?). But the M9th concert in July is still effective.

John

[barryguerrero]

Exactly. Let's hope they can do the July program. They probably want to be very sure about 'normalcy' before booking M3 or M8, because of having to book guest vocalists. Frankly, I'd like for them to really be 'back in shape' before taking on M3 or M8. My gut tells me this cycle is going to end with a bang, but I could just as easily be wrong.

[erikwilson7]

Yeah, I don’t know. Considering how much of a wildcard Vänskä’s Mahler can be the 8th could get a clinical and sterile treatment à la Tilson Thomas or Jansons. I have no doubt he’ll deliver on tam-tams though.

[barryguerrero]

Only time will tell   .     .    .   a LOT of time.

[ChrisH]

Having only  listened to Vanskas 1st and 5th, I found this 10th to be the best of the 3. Vanksas ideas about Mahler seem to work very well with this symphony. The sound he gets from his orchestra fits the world of the 10th much better than the 1st or 5th. I also really dig the sound of the Monette trumpets here, though I wonder if he played the entire work on C, or for certain moments played on a D.  Manny Laureano studied will Bill Vacchiano, the old principal trumpet of the New York Phil; he played on all the early Bernstein Mahler. Vacchiano was big proponent of playing D trumpet in on the majority of the orchestral rep.

[erikwilson7]

I definitely agree with you on the Vanska M10. I already said this earlier in the thread, but I was wowed by the trumpet playing in the second movement.

Question about the early Bernstein M5. The opening trumpet part sounds a bit funky. Is it his playing and they just said “screw it, let’s roll with it,” or is it the sound quality? I know that recording is considered to have the poorest sound quality of the set. The trumpet intro sounds warbly, so I thought it was the sound quality.

[ChrisH]

Vachianno had different type of vibrato. It's somewhat similiar to the Russian style, but doesn't have the bite. Frank Kaderabak in Philadelphia also had a very interesting vibrato, too.

[barryguerrero]

.    .    .   and for that reason, I'm not a huge fan of Philly during the era when Kaderabak was principal.