Litton/DSO M10

[merlin]

arrived in this afternoon's post, and I listened to it immediately.  Is it Mahler?  I do not know, but it sounded like his music, and I enjoyed it a great deal.

It seemed much more fleshed out, so to speak, compared with Chailly Cooke.  I also very much liked what seemed to be more percussion and brass.

[Russ Smiley]

"Is it Mahler?"  I accept that a completed M10 can not be Mahler's but instead is what someone thinks could be Mahler's had he completed the task.  Whether Cooke, Mazzetti, Carpenter, Barshai, etc. succeeded remains an academic question with a personal answer.  Though I can find one that satisfies, it remains only a possibility, not a certainty.

[barry guerrero]

The Carpenter score is notoriously difficult and complex. It's MUCH more fleshed out than Cooke, and pretty much more fleshed-out than the others too. There's no question that Carpenter aims Mahler in the direction of Alban Berg's early, highly expressionistic works: "Three Pieces For Orch." and "Wozzeck". I think it's fun and interesting to listen to, but I don't take it TOO seriously. What I do takes serious, is the fantastic playing on the part of the Dallas Symphony, as well as the excellent DSD sonics from Delos. That much alone deserves a standing ovation from even the most die-hard skeptics.

Barry

[John Kim]

The Carpenter score is notoriously difficult and complex. It's MUCH more fleshed out than Cooke, and pretty much more fleshed-out than the others too. There's no question that Carpenter aims Mahler in the direction of Alban Berg's early, highly expressionistic works: "Three Pieces For Orch." and "Wozzeck". I think it's fun and interesting to listen to, but I don't take it TOO seriously. What I do takes serious, is the fantastic playing on the part of the Dallas Symphony, as well as the excellent DSD sonics from Delos. That much alone deserves a standing ovation from even the most die-hard skeptics.

Barry

I second Barry's statement 

This is the best played, best recorded M10 regardless of the version. It makes me think that which edition is used is hardly as important as the quality of the orchestra and the degree of conviction with which the conductor and the orchestra execute the piece. That is, the music seems quite immune to how it is orchestrated as long as it's played darn well.

John,



John,

[Don]

Litton's Carpenter M10 made a believer out of me. Until then, the only previous recording was so poor that I totally dismissed the Carpenter edition.

I so agree with John. Really, the differences between Carpenter, Cooke, et.al basically comes down to some detail and orchestration, all of which is important no doubt.  In this work, it is the conviction of the conductor to play it as the incredible masterpiece it is that makes the difference.