Top 5 M6

[Russ Smiley]

... and (3) the hammer blows are three of the best I've heard.  Although, in the hammer blow department, Andreas Delfs and the Milwaukee Symphony comes close....

Michael, can you tell us more about the MSO/Delfs recording?  I see from their web site that the order is S/A.  What are timings of the movements?  Two or three hammers?  If it is live performance recording, how behaved was the audience?  How is  the balance between the sections?  Appreciate your thoughts, Russ

[John Kim]

... and (3) the hammer blows are three of the best I've heard.  Although, in the hammer blow department, Andreas Delfs and the Milwaukee Symphony comes close....

Michael, can you tell us more about the MSO/Delfs recording?  I see from their web site that the order is S/A.  What are timings of the movements?  Two or three hammers?  If it is live performance recording, how behaved was the audience?  How is  the balance between the sections?  Appreciate your thoughts, Russ

Where is this recording available??

I can't find any place (including MSO's website) that describes/promotes/sells this one.

John,

[Steele]

John,

Only available as mp3 through the MSO website (cheapest - $4.99):

http://download.mso.org/app?page=Product&service=external&sp=S0A05065B0EXUUQ3BZ0034

or itunes.  Timings (S/A):

I.   22:59
II.  12:14
III. 17:42
IV. 28:40

Best,

Steele

[Russ Smiley]

Thank you, Steele.

[John Kim]

Thanks, but no thanks.

I don't like the sound of MP3 files .

John,

[Michael]

Well...looks like I checked this thread a little late.  But here are my thoughts:
First, the important stuff: S/A, and three great hammers.  A real smashing success, I'd say.  ;-) The audience is well-behaved; you can definitely hear the audience, but not in a bad way.  It only serves to remind the listener that this is a live performance.
The timing of the Andante seems a bit long, (well, actually, really long now that I think about it) but the one time I listened to this performance in its entirety from start to finish, the Andante did not seem to drag.  That may be because I am less familiar with the two inner movements than the outer two (mainly the Finale), but I tend to think that the slower--presumably more clingy and emotional--approach is what got me hooked.
I know there are those who are not fans of MP3 songs, and when it's lower than 256 KB/Sec I tend to agree.  In all of my audio recordings (I make sound recordings of trains), I archive the originals in .wav and keep the edited stuff in 256 KB/S MP3...can't take it any lower without selling out on audio quality.
I guess what I am trying to say is that MP3, or in this case, M4A, sound at the format they're selling it at on iTunes--256 KB/S--sounds no different from a CD to me.  I have no idea how high of quality the MSO is selling the album at, but I would suspect again 256 KB/S or higher, which would mean that the compression is not noticeable--for me at least.

All in all...I'd say it's definitely a keeper.  True, the three great hammers are what sold me on this one--I heard it on Napster's unlimited listening service and then went to buy it on iTunes--but there is a lot to be said for the live concert atmosphere that is reproduced in this recording.

[barry guerrero]

Once again, I'll protest that 17:42 is completely wrong for the slow movement. That movement, regardless of where you place it,  is marked Andante Moderato, and there isn't even one single mention of the word "langsam" (slow) anywhere in the entire movement. It simply is not an adagio. Further more, it makes no sense to me that one would want to do the scherzo relatively fast, then take the slow movement at a crawl, only to be followed by a fairly fast finale. I'll bet anything that this performance might sound more coherent with the middle two movements switched, given the timings.

Barry

[chalkpie]

I'm doing a revisit on Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli......crickey's this is good! Wow.

He had me from the opening staccato notes! Is it me or do I hear details that I don't hear in other versions?

Is this reading considered a "classic" M6?

[Leo K]

I'm doing a revisit on Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli......crickey's this is good! Wow.

He had me from the opening staccato notes! Is it me or do I hear details that I don't hear in other versions?

Is this reading considered a "classic" M6?

I love this recording!  Thanks for reminding me of it!

I particularly enjoy the tempo of Alma's theme in all it's appearances in the first movement.  It's just right.  I always felt this theme should take it's time.

This is the only symphony from Sinopoli's cycle I've heard.

--Todd

[stateworkers]

Too much fun this! You've sent me back into a recurring (every two-years or so) Mahler Sixth bacchanalia. The real challenge was keeping it to commercial recordings!! AAGGH! Like cooking with one hand tied behind one's back. Gotta do a no-holds-barred list sometime, maybe it will start a file-sharing frenzy


Mitropoulos/Köln RSO (EMI 2-CD set GREAT CONDUCTORS OF THE 20TH CENTURY: DIMITRI MITROPOULOS, 1959 rec.) I find myself listening to this one more intently than his 1955 NYPO recording although both, or either, are just essential Mahler.
Mackerras/BBC SO (BBC Music Cover CD, 2002 recording): a whole bunch of details came clear with the way Mackerras lets the textures shine. It's a sleeper, given that it came as a freebie with the mag!
Kubelik/Bavarian RSO (Audite, live 1968 rec.) I prefer Kubelik's way with the M6 of the fleet-footed accounts, though the Bernstein/NYPO is a close runner-up. Lenny's gargantuan neon emotional signage distracts me out of the listening sometimes- "CRY NOOOOW!! FEEEEEEL THIS!!!  Whereas a bit of the relative subtlety Rafael uses keeps my hatred of manipulation in check...
Thomas Sanderling/St. Petersburg PO (RS, 1995 rec.) There's been alot said about this one by everyone here and elsewhere, justifiably so. This is an exemplary recording of a performance that manages the tightrope between palpably -but barely- restrained emotional breakdown and formal cohesiveness.
Horenstein/Bournemouth SO (BBC Legends, 1969 rec.) Despite the lacklustre sound, this is as close to a Furtwangler M6 I'll get. It has all that frisson and delivers the patented Horenstein sonic meltdowns, large and small. Also common to all of this conductor's Mahler is that satisfying feeling that no one is on autopilot at any time.   

No numbering, ask me tommorrow and upon revisit the whole list is liable to be different. Come to think of it, that's how Maestro Gustav rolls, too.

Guillermo
http://statework.blogspot.com

[Michael]

Let's have an all-out list...I'm all for an M6 file-sharing frenzy!  ;-)

I really like the Chailly/RCOA...reminds me a lot of the Barbirolli, especially in the first and last movements.  The Rattle/CBSO is great too, as are both Bernsteins.  I like the more natural sound of the NYPO Bernstein recording, though, but as I said both of his recordings are classics.  Don't forget the Zander/Philharmonia and of course the Zander/Boston Phil.  I'm going to listen to some of the M6's on Mahler150.com to see if I can find anything else there I like.  Oh, yeah, the Levine/BSO M6 is good too...nice, natural sound with three hammers to boot.

[Michael]

Musn't forget the T.Sanderling...that too is another M6 great.

[barry guerrero]

Someone should buy the rights to the T. Sanderling M6, and reissue it.

[chalkpie]

Stateworkers:"Mackerras/BBC SO (BBC Music Cover CD, 2002 recording): a whole bunch of details came clear with the way Mackerras lets the textures shine. It's a sleeper, given that it came as a freebie with the mag!"

My library has this - I may check it out at your recommendation. Thanks.

[Michael]

Go listen to that Mackerras if you can...it's a great one.  The music sweeps you away in the first movement and doesn't let you go...it's wonderful.