interesting looking upcoming Mahler listed at V. Mouret's site

[barry guerrero]

Well, hard on the heels of Noseda/BBC Phil. doing the Cooke III version of M10, we get a new DG one with Daniel Harding/Vienna Phil. I have a pirate of that, and it's really good. Harding is sort of a Rattle clone, so comparisons with Rattle's Berlin remake could be really interesting (or really boring, depending on your point of view). In general, I think that Harding will be slightly faster than Noseda. I think that the Chandos one (Noseda) will have the better sound quality. If you've never heard Noseda/BBC Phil's recording of Prokofiev's "The Stone Flower", it's a knockout!



Another item of interest is an M4 with Sinopoli/Staatskapelle Dresden on Profil. Juliane Banse is the soprano. Mouret mistakingly lists this as being M9, which has already been released. But if look at hard the cover, you can see that it's the 4th (in G Major) with Ms. Banse. If it's not tooooo slow, this could be really interesting. For me, the SKD has just about the ideal orchestral sound for the 4th (along with the Czech Phil. and Concertgebow). And even it does turn out to be a slow performance, it still might be interesting. We'll see.



Of course, already discussed are the upcoming Rattle/BPO M9, and the Gergiev/LSO M6. If Gergiev just let go and went nuts on M6, that could be fun. We'll have to wait and see. I thought that Jansons definitely did his studied M6 better with the Concertgebouw.

There's also an M4 listed with David Zinman/Tonhalle Zurich (RCA). I'm not at all familiar with the soprano, Luba Organosova. Can anybody comment on her?

Last but not least, Decca is releasing the first and third Schumann/Mahler symphonies by way issuing a box set with all four symphonies. I'm happy for that, but it sort of puts those who already have the 2nd & 4th symphonies out on a limb.

[sbugala]

I vowed I'd avoid picking up more recordings of M10, and even though I haven't been impressed by Harding's work so far, this sounds intriguing.  I go back and forth on the merits of the M10, but since Vienna's never done a full recording of it, I'm curious as to how they'd sound.

It sounds screwy, but I'm almost ready to say "Toss every edition out, and make a simple four hand transcription for piano." Having said that, there are parts I can't dismiss.

I'm looking forward to that Zinman M4. I'm really liking his M1 and M3.  I have high hopes for the rest of the cycle.  (Now if he would only do the "Praxis" Hammerblows to the M6, like in his Baltimore version.

(Praxis is a planet that gets destroyed in the motion picture, Star Trek 6. My friend coined the term, so I should give him his due.)

[John Kim]

Barry,

So, how did you like the playing of VPO in this new M10 recording? Is it as good as BPO or inferior? I am curious to know what you think.

The Gergiev/LSO M6th got a poor rating in Japan. It's on one disc and that tells something.

John,

[barry guerrero]

How did I like the playing of the VPO on Harding's M10?   .     .     .    well, I'm not sure that I would have guessed that it was the VPO if I hadn't already known. These days, their oboe sound is much closer to the Berlin sound. It used to be that the Vienna oboe was a dead giveaway. There's also not enough percussion to pick up on some of their "dead giveaways" there also - such as their one-handed suspended cymbal playing, or their "rattlesnake" sounding tambourine (BPO have similar rattlesnakes for tambourines). Since the Cooke version is rather lean itself, the VPO sound leaner than they normally do - especially compared to how "thick" they can sound on the Mahler 9th. Anyway, they play very well for Harding. Apparently, they really, really liked him. Even if his results may be a bit generic sounding, he's supposed to have conducting technique to burn.

Barry