Report on download of Dorati/Detroit M6 from 1975

[barryguerrero]

Well first off, being a download of a 'pirate', the sound is not at a professional level. It starts out with a tad of 'wow and flutter', but then quickly settles down. However, the sound is good enough to hear what's going on, and what a performance! To me, Dorati sort of resembles Barbirolli in the first three movements. The first movement - which is 19:30 w/o an exposition repeat - is rhythmic and emphatic to the point of being militaristic. Yet, the contrasting "Alma" theme shamelessly sweeps along with no hint of irony. The slower paced cowbell episode could definitely use more of - you guess guessed it! - cowbells. That's true elsewhere as well. The scherzo (13:20) is slower than usual, but also very rhythmic and emphatic. This is definitely Mahler wrestling with big Polar Bear. Yet, the numerous trio sections just flow right along - as they should! I really like this scherzo. The slow movement ( 14:40) is done beautifully (great strings), and is really solid at the brief 'Alpine' episode roughly seven minutes in, as well as throughout the movement's climactic passage. The finale ( 28:20) is where Dorati leaves Barbirolli in the dust - literally! Dorati is more inline with Solti, Kubelik, Bernstein/N.Y. (1960's), Bernstein/V.P.O. (DVD), Kondrashin, etc. One reason that I chose to go with the Detroit recording (Cleveland and Philadelphia are the other options), is because I wanted to hear tuba player Wesley Jacobs play a really meaty part for once (not to be confused with Chicago's famous Arnold Jacobs). He doesn't disappoint! Jacobs puts down quite a bottom on the band in all those big, 'wall of sound' moments in the finale - all of them superbly done. I thought maybe Dorati and Detroit might run of steam in the finale, but not so! If anything, they get even hotter. I like Dorati's Mahler 6 a lot. I got this download from the Antol Dorati Society for a VERY reasonable price. They have a big online catalog of 'live' Dorati recordings, of all sorts of interesting repertoire. Rather than duplicate and now get the Cleveland and Philadelphia recordings of M6 - I'm sure they're both equally great - I want to wait and see if I can't track down a pirate of his Chicago M6 (he gave the C.S.O. premiere of M6 in the 1960's). It's supposed to be terrific. Sadly, the A.D. Society doesn't have it.   https://www.dorati-society.org.uk/edition/DoratiEditionMay17.pdf

[waderice]

Well Barry, now you know how good Dorati was with M6 which I heard live and in person, all those years ago, in Washington, with the National Symphony!  The one thing that comes back to mind from seeing/hearing that live performance was how powerful he made the thunderous hammer blows in the finale come across.  My seat was on the lower floor a few rows back from the very front, though I would have preferred a seat a bit further back.  I will definitely keep this memory with me for as long as I live!

Wade

P.S. - I just finished the Dorati autobiography, "Notes of Seven Decades".  He does make several references to Mahler throughout, but nothing specific in his performances of Mahler's works.  I'll look at that list of downloads at the Dorati Society to see which ones I'll get along with his Cleveland M6 that I already have.