Mäkelä and Concertgebouw Mahler 6

[lschmitz]

A video recording of Klaus Mäkelä conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Mahler's Sixth symphony is available here (until the 3rd of September):

https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/musikfest-berlin/2022/concertgebouworkest-amsterdam

Also available as audio on demand (don't know until when): https://www.ardaudiothek.de/episode/ard-radiofestival-konzert-und-oper/klaus-maekelae-und-das-concertgebouw-orchester/ard/10772173/

I saw them do it live in Amsterdam. Highlights are Katy Woolley's fabulous horn soli and virtuoso playing by the orchestra as a whole.

[barryguerrero]

Hey thanks. I want to check this out. And now that Gatti is in Dresden, I wonder if we'll finally get some Mahler recordings with that team (?). I look forward to any possible Sibelius recordings from the Concertgebouw. It could be fun if they dived into Nielsen as well   .    .   .  or any lesser known Scandinavian/Finnish composers (we don't need "Peer Gygnt" or the Grieg piano concerto).

Later on: I've sampled some of the video and I have several quick observations. It's interesting that the Concertgebouw does sound a bit more like the Berlin Phil. in the Phaiharmonie. The point being that each hall contributes its own unique characteristics, acoustically speaking. Second, it appears that there's been quite a bit of turnover in the Concertgebouw - at least in comparison to the last time I watched them on video. First movement: interpretively, this is exactly the opposite of what I like. I'd prefer that the A-minor march be a tad slower, and that the contrasting 'Alma theme' come bursting out of the gate - not started with tons of 'feminine' padding (as here). As for Makala himself, I need to hear a much larger sample size to determine if the Concertgebouw made the right move or not. It's weird to have to say this, but Mahler is just so standard with them.

At 1:47:05 in the finale, why, oh why can't the bass drum player and tam-tam player look at each other and get that all important unison stroke exactly together! It's perfect on the Chailly recording. Here, of course, the bass sounds before the tam-tam. Wrong!     .       .       .    On the whole, this is very well played, which is to be expected. Interpretively, it strikes me as pretty 'run of the mill'. Regardless of correctness, I'm still not convinced of andante/scherzo order.    .    .    .     .     .   Also, I'm just not convinced that Saariaho is a truly great composer. I just don't see that.

[Russ Smiley]

lschmitz: "...Highlights are Katy Woolley's fabulous horn soli..." Fabulous indeed.

barryguerrero: "...it strikes me as pretty 'run of the mill'. ..." Agree, particularly with the final movement where I would have appreciated a less strict tempo in several places so as to heighten the uncertain anticipation. The ending seemed perfunctory.

At 1:22:55 (4 pages into the last movement) I hear 'bells' with a sound I do not recall: they almost sound electronic and piped in. Perhaps it is an artifact of the miking for broadcast.
The Scherzo seemed to go well for Mäkelä.
The Andante movement's cowbells were authentic and not overdone.

barryguerrero: "...each hall contributes its own unique characteristics, acoustically speaking. ..." Perhaps I am being petty, but the visual effect of well-lit knees and shuffling feet in sneakers and sandals is off-putting. Is it not so, too, for visiting artists?

[barryguerrero]

Russ, those are bell plates that lend that sound at 1:22:55. They're becoming more popular to use. They're quite literally hanging metal plates that are square or rectangular. I prefer them to the ubiquitous rolling rack of suspended tubular chimes - the 'holy doorbell' effect.

I don't feel people need to dress formally to go to a symphony concert. However, Russ, I did find the guy with the white sneakers, white jeans and white t-shirt rather distracting for the wrong reasons. Do they really need to look like they're just going for a walk with the dog?

I also just don't 'get' the perceived greatness of Saariaho. Anybody care to try to explain it to me?     .     .    .   people talk about the depressing bleakness of Allan Pettersdon's music, but his seems positively cathartic in comparison to Saariaho's sheer, winter-like bleakness - not exactly toe tapping material. Maybe I'm just old and in the way.

I don't know - maybe this guy will be alright. It just seems to me that he's picked up Esa-Pekka Salonen's worst and most exaggerated gestures, without yet proving the type of great insights that Salonen frequently has.

[Russ Smiley]

I used on online tool to translate the instructions in the footnote on the first page final movement of the score. It was something like "*) Two or more very deep bells of indeterminate but different from each other sounded, set up in the distance and quietly beaten unfettered". Plates work for me (so long as the do not sound like a sheet metal factory when struck). I suspect Mahler was implying distant carillons... or maybe he read John Donne.

I still remember my first hearing of Petterson's 8th on a DG LP by Comissiona and Baltimore. Relentless, searching, and gripping.

[barryguerrero]

Good points, Russ. As for the bell plates, much depends on the type of mallets they're using. These don't sound as though they're particularly hard, which probably helps in making them sound more distant - like a church that's a few of blocks away from where you're standing.