It's February...M2-A-Thon!

[techniquest]

I really do intend doing this right through the year - devoting a month to a Mahler symphony in chronological order.
My introduction to Mahler was through switching on the the radio when I was about 13 and hearing a huge sound with choir, orchestra, organ, bells, tam-tams. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. At the end, amid prolonged and very enthusiastic applause, the announcer gave the name of the piece and my life was changed. That may sound dramatic, but maybe that really was a life-changing experience because, despite everything, I can't imagine how my musical appreciation would have gone if I had not happened to turn the radio on that particular afternoon.
Some time later - but not too long - I acquired my first M2 recording: LSO / Bernstein on CBS (since reissued on Sony Classics). It was not only my first Mahler, but my first 'box-set'. That was my only Mahler for many years, in fact until I picked up the CFP LP of the M1 with which I opened the M1-A-Thon thread.
So, come on, there are zillions of M2's out there. Let's get listening and comparing!

[Casaubon]

I've been listening to Slatkin's M2 in my car lately.  That one has always been head and shoulders above the rest, in my mind (particularly in the last movement).

[Leo K]

I first heard Gustav Mahler while listening to Bernstein's Harvard Lecture series on LP in 1987 or so...but it wasn't until I ordered Gilbert Kaplan's recording of Mahler's 2nd in 1989 that I first heard a full symphony...I didn't know what to think at first, as this work seemed classical, romantic and modern and even post-modern in one package...nothing seemed to tie together at all.

In my M2 list, this one is at the top:



Everything about this M2 is right on the money.  Tempos, structuring, dynamics, singing, and with a sense of occassion and wonder, plus it has the best sound. 

Fischer's M2 has great sound too, and with a great performance:




Others on my list are:

Rattle/BO/EMI

Chailly/RCO/Decca

Walter/NYP/Sony

Schercen/VO/Millennium Classics



And a special mention goes to the live M2 from Klemperer from May 16,1971.  I have always been a fan of slow Mahler (I also love Klemperer's M7 reading).  This performance is a kind dissection or surgery, as if Mahler is having an operation.  It is as if the score is being scrutinized for any last shred of possible meaning and subjectivity and cut out like a disease and placed under a microscope for study.  The interpetation is more from the viewpoint of Klemperer (with scapel in hand) rather than Mahler, but I find this a very moving performance...focused and strong, and very dark at the beginning, which largely persists until the Urlicht movement, which shines like the sun with the appearance of a human voice.  Klemperer's view with the Andante is perhaps the saddest of any recording I've encountered.  Klemperer seems to magnify the 'disease' under his microscope here and there is no cure.  The way the music fades at the end of the Andante, the way the strings somehow disappear is not unlike the 9th Symphony Adagio or the last bars of Das Lied Von der Erde.  The Scherzo makes me feel we have been left outside the operating room, with only a window to look into to witness a precedure unknown in our experience. 
 
The Finale really feels like a narrative epic...a convincing path to light from darkness.  The light, however, is reflected in sorrow.  There are moments when everything breaks down and even sounds like Ives at his most chaotic.  The percussion crescendo is very industrial and primal beyond description...it slowly stirs...the dead are drying to dig from the earth, and the struggle is heard in all it's passion...as if earth is hanging on to the dead.  Towards the end the performance actually reaches into the spiritual, which I didn't expect based on what I've already heard.  The last time I heard such an arresting M2 was when I first heard Scherchen's unique account.  Not everyone will dig this, but for me this is a performance to savor for special occasions.

--Todd
   

[techniquest]

For someone who's not in the music profession, doesn't play or sing in any amateur bands or choirs, and isn't involved in musical organisations in any way, shape or form, I have a silly number of M2 recordings! 7 on vinyl; 10 on CD; 12 as legal downloads; the Abbado/Lucerne dvd, and various tapes and dvd recordings from TV concerts (Proms, etc) over the years. However, of these comparitively few are from traditional 'big name' conductors: there are no Mehtas or Klemperers, the only Bernstein is the one I mentioned above, the only Rattles are from TV broadcasts of live concerts (including the wonderful one which was his last concert with the CBSO). That being said, in this M2-a-thon, I'm going to concentrate again on the less well known, oft less admired conductors and recordings. To start...



This one's a bit of a mystery...I have it in 3 incarnations, the one you see here, the same recording as part of a Slovenian box-set but with the orchestra cited as Slovenian Philharmonic and with Eva Novzak-Houzka replacing Ute Priew, and the Forum release which retains the Ljubljana orchestra, but omits to mention the soloists and replaces Horvat with Anton Nanut. Whatever - it's all the same live recording!
And it is absolutely wonderful!
The first movement is paced perfectly with just the right amount of urgency and menace coupled with beauty and some clear, lovely playing. When it needs the power, it's certainly there, when it needs gentleness that's there too. OK, the high strings are a little on the thin side but the woodwinds especially are delightful. The percussion is clear, precise and what a whopper of a large tam-tam! It all flows well with no eccentric changes in tempo
The second movement is again paced just as I like it, the pizzicato section as delicate as can be. The third movement is a little less polished maybe, and the triangle perhaps too pronounced, but again no real complaints- lovely deep final chord.
Urlicht - whoever it's sung by - is fine until the last minute or so when there are a couple of coughs in the audience and the movement tends to end just a little too abruptly. The finale opens with an understated tam-tam but a huge chord from the orchestra which dies down well. The march and subsequent explosions are handled really nicely and the off-stage brass-band are just distant enough, oh and the percussion crescendos are superb- I reckon the percussionist split the high tam-tam which might account for it's mysteriopus absense later! The entrance of the choir is really ppp, but there's something really odd going on in the brass chorale after the first choral / solo 'verse'; something somewhere sounds very off - I think it's the tremolo woods / strings in the background. Anyhow, back comes the choir and all is well as is the second orchestral interlude prior to 'O Glaube', which has just the right amount of urgency. The soloists have a bit too much vibrato and the choir doesn't sound 'big' enough, but the ending is well handled with a superbly slow 'Aufersteh'n' with an organ you can actually hear, reasonable tubular bells but, oddly, no 2nd tam-tam at the close.
OK, this is a ridiculously cheap CD (an couple of quid I think), but the recording is spacious and clear and the performance well on a par with much more illustrious and expensive offerings. The version pictured is on single disc has no applause at the end, the 'Nanut' version spread over 2 discs does - it also has a most bizarre start to the 5th movement, not with the crash bang wallop after 'Urlicht', but with the first offstage horn calls.

[Leo K]

Tech...I like the fact you are reviewing lesser known releases, we need more reviews of these on the board for reference.  Have you heard the Vans Vonk M2 on the Brilliant Classics Mahler box?  I have always liked this performance even though the sonics are not that good.

--Todd

[techniquest]

Leo - yes I have the Vonk recording and it's an 'ok' listen, but you're right about the sonics; and also the balance of the orchestra makes for an overall unsatisfying listen.

[techniquest]

I don't know quite why this one has been among my favourite M2 recordings (of the commercial releases), especially as it has such a ropey opening. Maybe the clues as to why will become clearer later...



This is /was available in 2 forms - standard CD on 2 discs, and dvd-audio on 1. As I said, the opening really is quite horrible with ghastly treatment of the cellos & basses and something that occasionally doesn't sound quite in tune...in fact it takes the Robert Schuman band some time to get 'warmed up'. In general the tempo is quite slow, and there are rather too many forced rests which make the overall structure somewhat disjointed. Towards the end of the first movement there is a quiet section with trumpet, then oboe / flute then horns / strings and it is really lovely, gentle, restful with the string glissandi not exaggerated, but just sounding as natural as anything can be. This rescues the whole 1st movement for me.
The second movement is again a tad slow, particularly in the second subject. Sometimes this sounds almost like a chamber orchestra (maybe it is, I don't know) and the brass have just a touch of Salvation Army about them at times (actually more so in the first movement), but when the pizzicato section comes in the harp is nicely woven in. However at just over 11 minutes, it's a long take on this movement.
The third is much more lively at just the right speed and with a lovely deep bass drum. I would prefer a more advanced woodwind sound in this movement, but it isn't there. Also, there seem to be a couple of very poorly done edits.
Urlicht - the Sally Army band is back along with Monika Straube who sounds as though she's struggling with it - loud higher notes and very quiet low notes - not a good balance. Nice oboe and harp though.
A rip-roaring opening to the 5th and it's like the orchestra has at long last been able to pull out the stops! It dies down very effectively to a long silence before very distant off-stage horns. This is careful, exquisite playing with a huge amount of control - all those triplets never run away with themselves. The brass chorale leading to the big theme is taken slowly, steadily, but this time it doesn't sound like the Salvation army! The second percussion crescendo is slightly fluffed by a snare drum that ends a millisecond too soon, and the whole following section, although good, sounds a little on the light side and has another of those odd-sounding edits at a marked sudden tempo change (good bells though). And so enters the choir sounding fuller and heavier than the Horvat choir in my above review, and the orchestra interludes are much better handled; the soprano Helene Bernardy sounds far more at home, gently pushing forward where necessary, but never overwhelming. Everything prior to 'O Glaube' is simply heavenly. 'O Glaube' itself is only slightly marred by Monika Straube (I do hope she was only having an off day). From this point on the performance is, for my M2, perfect. It is the one which, at the climax of the final choir chord with the huge tam-tam and entry of the bells and big organ chords and brass, the one which literally makes my eyes water. Yet it still, gently, calmly dies away to rich but refined organ sounds until, after the timp / pedal resurrection scale, the final chords are reached with big bells, a spacious wall of sound, vast, swinging tam-tams that splash from the speakers....Wow!! Only a few seconds after the end do you realise that this is a live recording as a fairly unappreciative-sounding audience pipes in with a bit of subdued clapping.
Ok, maybe it's that last movement that does it for me, after all the others are not really that good. If you get the chance, give it a listen - treat yourself to that 5th movement and behold the ending to end all endings.

[bluesbreaker]

Hehe, I have been waiting for this thread for so long!
My Holy grails of M2s are Bernstein's first account and Mehta / VPO.
The Bernstein's first recording has the best March Of The Dead. It's fast and furious, but also VERY powerful. Sounds like a Third World War was going on! I don't think any other account can surpass that, not even Lenny himself.
Christa Ludwig's fourth movement is simply the best on the Mehta. It's so heartbreaking.
Both recording have the most heaven storming & earth shattering outer movements. What more can I ask?
By the way, that Slovenian M2 is my first encounter with M2 ever. Somebody lent me that recording when I was discovering Mahler, but unfortunately I couldn't find that one.
And If BBC or EMI would ever release that live Tennstedt M2 that blew Barry away, it would be a major event!

[Jeff Wozniak]

Bernstein's Columbia M2 is my fav as well.  The new SACD is so much better sound-wise, but at $14,863 plus tax most people probably couldn't justify the purchase.

Also like the Klemperer and Mehta alot.

[stillivor]

  You mean $14.863 + tax? Who do you have to justify that too? i used to run a secondhand bookstall. Someone might query, say, £2.50 for a book. I used to ask them what was the last ting they spent that money on. Usually they think for a few moments, laugh/smile, and mention something unmemorable, like a snack, or a little petrol.

  Why do so many of us (including me!!!) baulk at disc and book prices, while thinking nothing of large amounts for unnecessary food (most of us eat more than we need to), clothes (we've got already), well, the obvious list could go on and on and on.


  I started M2 with Walter, have some of the older recordings, was knocked out by the amazing 1st-ever recording under Oscar Fried (c.1924 and available I believe as a Naxos Historical CD), and think the Stokowski Proms recording (1963) is wonderful. (Available as a BBC Legends CD. Tho' the CD omits the encore, a repeat of the final chorus, at a time when there was essentially a ban on encores at the Proms.)

  There are many versions I haven't heard. May use these A-Thons to get some recent recordings.

   Ivor

[techniquest]

Just for a moment I want to go completely off the beaten track and look at a non-commercial disc: the recording from the Colorado Mahlerfest XII of January 1999.


It's kind of refreshing to hear an outfit of volunteers and enthusiasts playing Mahler because they want to - that's what the MahlerFest Orchestra is there for, and what a fine sound they make . Okay, it's not the most acoustically resonant recording possible, but despite the dryness there is a clarity of sound and an spark in the performance that can get lost in multi-take studio offerings.
There are one or two unusual tempo choices in the first movement, but it holds together well. If I were to be very picky, I felt that the second movement didn't have quite the depth of feeling that it could have, but this is made up for later in a fine 3rd and a lovely, soulful Urlicht with fine vocals from Lucille Beer. The final movement opens with the power one would expect, if a tad rushed. However when the distant first off-stage horn sounds, it's not a French horn but an Alpenhorn! How different is that? The choir loses pitch just a bit during the 'first verse', but are in fine form otherwise. Something else a little different happens at the end of the symphony when instead of tubular bells, the Mahlerfest Orchestra use real bells of the kind which were once hung on the front of steam locomotives. It makes for a bit of an '1812' at the end and I'm in two minds about whether I like it, but it is certainly different.
This and many other MahlerFest recordings can be found at their website www.mahlerfest.org

[Leo K]

(Tech...I sent you a PM...)

[John Kim]

I have not heard the Fischer M2nd yet. That said, I am pretty happy with what I already have in my collection. My top picks are,

Bernstein/NYPO/Sony
Klemperer/PO/EMI
Mehta/VPO/Decca
Rattle/CBSO/EMI
Blomstedt/SFSO/Decca
MTT/SFSO/SFSO

I really think MTT's recoding is very special (Barry wouldn't agree on this though). He had his orchestra playing in a top form  - just listen to the string attacks in the 1st movt. - had deliberate, flexible tempos that all worked out nicely, with a Finale that is both spiritual and energetic. Very well done.

John,