A spectacular M4 from Macal/Czech PO on Exton!!

[sperlsco]

A spectacular M4 from Macal/Czech PO on Exton!!

I ordered the M4 Macal/Czech PO SACD from HMV.JP.  I have a fairly good track record with Mahler SACD releases on the Exton label, but of course, most of them feature the Czech PO.  This one, however, strikes me as being quite an exceptional M4.  The playing is so transparent and has such an amazing amount of clarity.  The conducting is equally fine.  There is a phenomenal amount of detail that stands out, but the conducting never seems the least bit fussy.  The dynamics ebb and flow naturally and the tempos are remarkably flexible.  The tam-tam in the first movement can be clearly heard during the build-up to and at the climax.  My only very minor complaint is that the timpani seem recessed on rare occasion.  The adagio is quite beautiful and has a tremendous and transcendent climax. 

Overall timings are on the moderate side – IIRC, fairly close to the Levi M4.  Unlike the Levi M4, it does not feature Bea Arthur in the finale (or perhaps Levi has Frederica von Stade, I forget  )  Speaking of the soloist, Michaela Kahne (spelling?) is quite good.  She has a very innocent voice and is quite comfortable singing the part.  She uses just a tad too much vibrato here and there, but it is hardly worth complaining.  The sound is probably the best that I have heard from an Exton SACD – very open, with a huge and deep soundstage (I own perhaps half-a-dozen of Exton SACD’s).  The soloist’s voice has a real you-are-there presence to it. 

[John Kim]

Scott,

Thank your for your report.

Did you also get the following SACDs from Japan this time?

Neumann/CPO M9th
Macal/CPO M6th


The latter got kudos from many Japanese fans, more than the Macal's M4th.

John,

[barry guerrero]

Thanks Scott. Neumann's Canyon Classics M4 was really good also, except that the soprano, Pamela Colburn, wasn't a good match at all. It's good to hear that your soprano is a much better fit.

Barry

[sperlsco]

Did you also get the following SACDs from Japan this time?

Neumann/CPO M9th
Macal/CPO M6th

The latter got kudos from many Japanese fans, more than the Macal's M4th.

John,

No.  I was mainly ordering SACD's, and in the end I decided that I was happy enough with my existing M6 and M9's in the format.  I bought the M4 for the single reason that I was hoping for an alternative to the MTT one, and am most excited to have found one that impresses me so much. 

As for kudos from the Japanese fans on Macal's M6 v. M4, I correspond with someone (who lurks on this site  ) that saw the live concert(s) of both the M4 and M6.  He indeed loved the M6 and was not overly impressed with the M4.  Sooooo...this may be an example of YMMV. 

BTW, the rest of my order from Japan was:

Schumann(Mahler)/Syms 2 & 4/Chailly/LGO
DLvdE/Arming/New Japan PO (SACD)
DLvdE (Chamber version)/?/? (SACD) - Haven't even unwrapped it yet
LvB/Sym 9/LB/VPO (SACD)
Sibelius/Sym 2/Szell/ClvO (SACD)


I'm undecided on the Arming DLvdE at this point.  The singing is professional and competent, but far from special.  But my initial impression is that the playing is more inspired than on the Boulez (which is indeed why I am looking for a decent DLvdE on SACD).  Of course, the Szell and Lennie performances are classics that I wanted to hear on SACD.  The new Schumann is wonderful, but I have no real basis of comparison with any versions of the Schumann symphonies.  The chamber DLvdE was cheap, but I don't really know why I bothered with it because my previous attempts at listening to these chamber versions have left me cold and disinterested. 

[Vatz Relham]

As for kudos from the Japanese fans on Macal's M6 v. M4, I correspond with someone (who lurks on this site  ) that saw the live concert(s) of both the M4 and M6.  He indeed loved the M6 and was not overly impressed with the M4.  Sooooo...this may be an example of YMMV. 

Scott,

I can well understand anyone being impressed by Macal's M6, I saw him perform it while he was Conductor of the NJSO, I was in the 6th row orchestra, Macal's approach was very visceral with relatively quick tempi, I almost jumped out of my seat at the end, very gripping performance.
I also heard him in M2 with same orchestra, but it was not as exciting, but certainly well played.

Vatz

[barry guerrero]

here's a biogrphy on Michaele Kaune. Note that she'll be revisiting M4 with Kent Nagano.



 Michaela Kaune was born in Hamburg and studied with Professor Annie Schoonus and Professor Judith Beckmann at the Music Academy of her hometown. She has been a prize winner at the "Belvedere Wettbewerb" in Vienna (1996), at the "Bundeswettbewerb Gesang" (1996). Among others, she was awarded the "Otto-Kasten-Preis" of the "Deutsche Bühnenverein" in 1999.
 
Since 1997, Michaela Kaune has been a member of the German Opera Berlin where she appears as "Prinzessin Natalie" in Henze's PRINZ VON HOMBURG, "Pamina" in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, "Micaëla" in CARMEN, "Marguerite" in Gounod's FAUST, "Donna Elvira" in DON GIOVANNI, "Contessa" in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, "Anna" in Marschner's HANS HEILING, "Euridice" in ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE and in the titlerole of ARABELLA. The artist was invited to sing "Contessa" in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at the Cologne Opera, at the Semperoper Dresden, the Théâtre de la Monnaie Bruxelles, the Opéra National de Paris, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Aalto Theater Essen. At the Wiesbaden Opera, the Cologne Opera House, the Frankfurt Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, at the Bavarian State Opera Munich (under Zubin Mehta) and at the Ravinia Festival (under Christoph Eschenbach) she sang "Agathe" in DER FREISCHÜTZ; at the Semperoper Dresde and at the Aalto Theatre Essen "Fiordiligi" in COSI FAN TUTTE, at the Basle Theatre and at the Graz Opera "Tatjana" in EUGEN ONEGIN, at the Bavarian State Opera Munich "Pamina" in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE , "Marie" in THE BARTED BRIDE and "Eva" in DIE MEISTERSINGER, at the Opéra de Montpellier and at the Bavarian State Opera Munich "Donna Elvira" in DON GIOVANNI, at the Aalto Theater Essen "Cordelia" in Aribert Reimann's LEAR, the title role of KATJA KABANOVA at the Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp, " Freia" at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, "Hanna Glawari" in THE MERRY WIDOW and "Fiordiligi" in COSI FAN TUTTE at the Aalto Theatre Essen, "Micaëla" in CARMEN at the Semperoper Dresde and the title role of RUSALKA at the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival.
Notable among the artist's concert engagements were collaborations with the Hamburg Radio Orchestra (NDR), the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Strasbourg Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the DSO Berlin, the RSB Berlin, the Jeunesse Orchestra Vienna, the RSO Francfort, the Hannover Radio Orchestra, the RSO Vienna, the Guerzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Dresde Philharmonic Orchestra the Dresde State Orchestra, the Philhadelphia Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orcestra, Tokyo. She sang under conductors such as Zubin Metha, Christoph Eschenbach, Simone Young, Christian Thielemann, Marek Janowski, Jun Märkl, Kent Nagano, Marc Minkowski, Gary Bertini, Friedemann Layer, Stefan Soltesz, Ingo Metzmacher, Marc Albrecht, Peter Schneider, Philippe Jordan, Markus Stenz, Lothar Zagrosek, Alan Gilbert, Eliahu Inbal, Esa Pekka Salonen, Dennis Russell Davies, Eiji Oue to name some. She was invited to the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Festival de Radio France , the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin Festival and the Bad Urach Festival. RECITALS in La Coruna, Bilbao, at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, at the Bad Urach Festival, with Irwin Gage at the Bonn Beethoven Festival and in Hamburg and with Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. . CD recordings: STRAUSS ORCHESTRAL SONGS with the NDR Hannover under Eiji Oue, Henze NACHTSTÜCKE UND ARIEN with the NDR Hamburg under Peter Ruzicka, Mahler's 2nd SYMPHONY with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo under Jun Märkl as well as Penderecki's 8th SYMPHONY(Lieder der Vergänglichkeit) with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra under Antoni Wit.
 
Future engagements include:
At the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she will sing "Pamina" in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, "La Contessa" in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, "Freia" in RHEINGOLD, "Gutrune / Norn" in GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, the titlerole in a new production of ARABELLA, "Agathe" in DER FREISCHÜTZ, "Marschallin" in DER ROSENKAVALIER, "Princess" in DIE TRAUMGÖRGE sowie "Eva" in DIE MEISTERSINGER. She is invited to sing "Rosalinde" in DIE FLEDERMAUS at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, "Norn" and "Gutrune" in GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG at the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp, "Daphne" at the Nederlandse Opera, "Contessa" at the Cologne Opera, "Rusalka" at the Téâtre de la Monnaie, Bruxelles, as well as "Agathe", "Eva" and "Micaëla" at the Semperoper Dresde. Concerts: Mahler's 2. SYMPHONY in Lyon, Debussy's LA DAMOISELLE ELUE in Berlin, Penderecki's 8TH SYMPHONY in Vilnius and Vienna, Beethoven's 9TH SYMPHONY in Verdun (Eschenbach), MAHLERS 8. SYMPHONY in Philhadelphia and in Carnegie Hall, MAHLER 4. SYMPHONY with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, "Freia" in a concert version of "RHEINGOLD" in Bamberg and at the Lucerne Festival, RECITALS with Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Eschenbach), as well as a tour of Europe with MAHLER SONGS and MAHLER 4. SYMPHONY with the Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera under Kent Nagano.

[Leo K]

I had a revist with the Macal M4 last night...wow...this M4 is everything Scott's review above proclaims.

When I revist the M4, I am always sad that I tend to overlook it...indeed it is a profound work, and a recording such as this reveals the grand design this work holds...the hints of sublimity are revealed thoughout the course of listening, thanks to such a detailed, transparent recording.  It is as if a dream of a summer world has appeared to last forever, with no change to upset the illusion of the broad fields of green under a bright sun.

Bravo to this recording!

--Todd