Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[Roasted Swan]

Am I a contrarian weirdo if My favorites are Sibelius 6 and Mahler 7 lol

Yes!! 

[Skogwald]

Yes!! 

That's fair 

[Valentino]

This refurbishment of the 1959 Horenstein Royal Albert Hall M8 may be of interest:
https://www.highdeftapetransfers.ca/products/mahler-symphony-no-8-busoni-orchestral-works-horenstein?variant=44285211541724

[Roasted Swan]

This refurbishment of the 1959 Horenstein Royal Albert Hall M8 may be of interest:
https://www.highdeftapetransfers.ca/products/mahler-symphony-no-8-busoni-orchestral-works-horenstein?variant=44285211541724

I've heard this and thought it sounded very good indeed (I have the BBC Legends iteration and this is crisper and cleaner generally).  The actual performance deserves its legendary status I reckon.

[DavidW]

I've heard this and thought it sounded very good indeed (I have the BBC Legends iteration and this is crisper and cleaner generally).  The actual performance deserves its legendary status I reckon.

Yes, Horenstein is on my short list along with Nagano for the 8th.

[LKB]

I've mostly avoided Resurrection since singing it in February, but tonight I have found my way back to a favorite live performance:

[LKB]

The BPO's excerpted performance of the first movement from the Sixth is currently available on YouTube:

Generally speaking, I find moments to both like and dislike, but the Sixth is a bit of a hairball for any orchestra, including the very best.

One of the moments I dislike the most is at 11:16, where one of the percussionists is tasked with both the tam-tam and xylophone parts in quick succession.

This should never have happened.

Seriously... one of the most famed orchestras in existence cannot staff properly for a concert? Or if nothing else, the timpanist could have walked over and took one of the parts. ( I've not yet checked the score, but I know this work extremely well and am 99% certain that the timpanist is idle during the passage. )

It is of course possible that there was some sort of last-minute emergency, and the young lady simply stepped up to fill the breach, as it were. But it leaves a rather poor impression, imho.

[relm1]

The BPO's excerpted performance of the first movement from the Sixth is currently available on YouTube:

Generally speaking, I find moments to both like and dislike, but the Sixth is a bit of a hairball for any orchestra, including the very best.

One of the moments I dislike the most is at 11:16, where one of the percussionists is tasked with both the tam-tam and xylophone parts in quick succession.

This should never have happened.

Seriously... one of the most famed orchestras in existence cannot staff properly for a concert? Or if nothing else, the timpanist could have walked over and took one of the parts. ( I've not yet checked the score, but I know this work extremely well and am 99% certain that the timpanist is idle during the passage. )

It is of course possible that there was some sort of last-minute emergency, and the young lady simply stepped up to fill the breach, as it were. But it leaves a rather poor impression, imho.

I find that odd to be so specifically focused on something clearly manageable.  They sort this stuff out mostly for practicality and if someone has a big moment coming up they won't be used just because they are sitting around doing nothing at that spot.  On a tangent though, sometimes composers ARE inconsiderate of what they ask of performers.  A better example than what you pointed out was when they give a brass player (especially low brass which are heavier instruments) like a beat or two to take the mute on or off in fast tempo music.  They should sit in the seat of a player and do what they're asking of the player.  It's very challenging to not make noise or worse, drop the mute, and there is a lot of mental anguish that goes in to something that shouldn't be on the performers mind at all.

[LKB]

Here's something I just came across in the last half-hour:

I'd be interested in others' reactions.