The Music Lovers
1971
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Those who know my writing on Mahler from this survey and my reviews know that I value "live" recordings greatly. Believing that the extra frisson that "the concert hall as theatre" brings can on occasions more than outweigh any fluffs or mistakes in the playing.
A beginner's guide to the 50 greatest Mahler recordings, featuring extracts from the original Gramophone reviews.
- Library Choice
- Historic Choice
- Chill-Out Choice
- Audiovisual Choice
- Selected Discography
Persson; Budapest Festival Orch / I Fischer Channel Classics Though every detail is burnished into enchantment, Fischer manages to avoid a stage-managed effect. The slow music never lacks profundity, nor does the line flag when the argument needs to press on. Perfect singing, perfect playing, spontaneous-sounding rubato and state-of-theart sound.
Vincent; Concertgebouw Orch / Mengelberg Pristine Audio A conductor with god-like status before blotting his copybook in the Second World War, Mengelberg imposes seemingly eccentric nuances on a timbrally distinctive band the composer knew well. The interpretation may or may not be modelled on Mahler’s own.
Battle; VPO / Maazel Sony Classical Maazel, at his most relaxed, lets the Vienna Philharmonic do its thing while soprano Kathleen Battle does hers. While some will deem the results insufficiently Grimm (sic), there’s nothing transatlantic about the music-making and the exquisite details show that no one is coasting.
Kožená; Lucerne Fest Orch / Abbado EuroArts The audiovisual winner finds Abbado near the end of his career coaxing a performance of chamber-like delicacy from the world’s classiest citizen-of-nowhere scratch band. The filming may not be perfect but the players actually smile and what a luxury to have some silence at the end!
Recording Date / Artists / Record company (review date) 1939Jo Vincent; Concertgebouw Orch / Mengelberg / Philips 426 108-2 (4/86R); Pristine Audio PASC055 1945Dési Halban; New York PO / Walter / Naxos 8 110876; Sony Classical 88691 92010-2 (9/46R, 7/73R) 1950Irmgard Seefried; VPO / Walter / Orfeo C818 101B 1960Reri Grist; New York PO / Bernstein /...
- David Gutman
- Symphony No.4 (1899-1900) Around the turn of the century, Mahler had become famous for the huge sound and scale of his symphonic works. His Fourth Symphony set a different sort of course.
- Symphony No.5 (1901-1902) Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is undoubtedly his most famous work, thanks to its serene fourth movement, the ‘Adagietto’, written as a love letter to his beloved wife Alma.
- Symphony No.6 (1903-1904) This ferocious work, nicknamed the ‘Tragic’ but composed during a relatively contented time of the composer’s life, features large woodwind and brass sections.
- Symphony No.9 (1908-1909) Mahler’s ninth and final symphony is one of the most heart-breaking pieces of music ever written. A superstitious man, Mahler believed firmly in the so-called ‘curse of the ninth’, which had already ‘killed’ Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner.
Sep 19, 2017 · Here’s why Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 is an agonising work of infinite genius. Of all Mahler’s symphonies, the Seventh is often thought of as the ‘ugly ducking’. But actually we reckon it’s the work in which the composer’s genius is most clearly on show.
Mahler: Symphonies 1-10/Ozawa. Seiji Ozawa’s Mahler offers consistently fine playing and much better interpretations than he’s been given credit for.
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Dec 16, 2022 · Review: Mahler – Symphony No. 9 – Rattle. David A. McConnell - December 16, 2022. This is Simon Rattle’s third recording of Mahler ’s ninth symphony. The first, a live 1997 recording with the Vienna Philharmonic (EMI/Warner Classics) is highly volatile, with extremes of rubato and dynamic contrast.
