Vote for your Favourite Mahler Cycle!

[DavidRoss]

For Mahler 3, Bernstein's always been my go-to guy, both DG and Sony -- the way he builds the tension in the finale never fails to make me grin. 

I just put Horenstein into the to-listen pile; I heard it a couple of years ago and remember wondering what the hype was about -- time for a revisit.

If you like your Mahler pumped up and dramatic, you'll love it.  Even though that's not the style I prefer, he makes a pretty convincing case for it.  Never got it on CD, though..OOP and ridiculously overpriced.

[jwinter]

If you like your Mahler pumped up and dramatic, you'll love it.  Even though that's not the style I prefer, he makes a pretty convincing case for it.  Never got it on CD, though..OOP and ridiculously overpriced.

Horenstein's 3 in the Brilliant Classics mixed Mahler set, along with an excellent 5 & 9 from Neumann / Leipzig, and some others -- worth checking out if you want the Horenstein...

[Renfield]

Horenstein's 3 in the Brilliant Classics mixed Mahler set, along with an excellent 5 & 9 from Neumann / Leipzig, and some others -- worth checking out if you want the Horenstein...

I'm not David, but thanks! It's an ideal opportunity to give the Horenstein another go, and acquire that feted Neumann.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm not David, but thanks! It's an ideal opportunity to give the Horenstein another go, and acquire that feted Neumann.

I applaud your decision to give it another go. I wonder however if it isn't one of those performances you either love or hate instantly, with little chance of a change of mind or heart. Horenstein's refusal to bend and shape the music, his defiant rigidity, is un-Mahlerian, I suppose, but I find the results, like an unstoppable juggernaut, thrilling. The brass and percussion heavy balance, slighting the strings, is another problem many can't overcome but it does make sense in the context of Horenstein's "vision."

Sarge

[DavidW]

M wouldn't stop raving about it. Forced me to buy it    As I said, I find the inner movements most convincing.

Sarge

Awesome I got to hear that.  And the MTT/Lieberson M2, and the Fischer M6...

[DavidW]

Horenstein's 3 in the Brilliant Classics mixed Mahler set, along with an excellent 5 & 9 from Neumann / Leipzig, and some others -- worth checking out if you want the Horenstein...

I thought it was oop forever, good to know it got reissued.  I had it on I think Unicorn (don't think that label exists anymore).  The Horenstein is not nuanced, and thus bland.  Not a stinker, but not a front runner.

[Renfield]

The brass and percussion heavy balance, slighting the strings, is another problem many can't overcome but it does make sense in the context of Horenstein's "vision."

Sarge

Now I'm starting to remember why I hated it.

[DavidW]

Sarge's post concisely reminds us why some of us dislike the recording AND why others like it.  If I could mod him up +1 I would.

[Renfield]

That's Sarge for you.

[RebLem]

I'm not familiar with this story. What happened between Mullova and Abbado?

I found a part of an article on Mullova which is revealing here.  It appears that Abbado is a real cad, but, on the other hand, Mullova's behavior is not without its multiple departures from conventional morality either.  Read, and decide for yourself.

From  http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/010214-NL-Mullova.html

In the dorms of the Moscow Conservatoire, she used to listen to the Bee Gees after lights out. Her defection was virtually the last artistic flight from the collapsing Soviet Union. "I couldn't wait," she says. "I had to be free. I didn't even care if I never played the violin again."

With her boyfriend, the conductor Vakhtang Jordania, she sought asylum after a recital in Finland. She left Jordania three years later in America and moved to London, where she met Claudio Abbado at the LSO, and sparks flew.

Abbado, married and 30 years her senior, was smitten. "He was crazy about her," observes an orchestral player, "and wouldn't let her out of his sight." She moved into his penthouse in Vienna, where Abbado was music director of the Staatsoper, but when Mullova got pregnant in 1991 the relationship fell apart.

Seven months pregnant, she packed up, flew to London and bought a house. Abbado pays maintenance for their son, Misha, but does not see him. "It is very painful," she says tersely.

Her second child, Katia, six, came from a one-year relationship with Alan Brind, a player in the European Community Youth Orchestra. Six years ago she met and married Matthew Barley; they have a three-year-old daughter, Nadia.

[marvinbrown]

I voted Bertini, Solti is not really my style (not intimate enough IMHO).

  marvin

[jlaurson]

Cycles -- incl. some incomplete ones -- missing from that list:
[can't believe no one has brought that up... but only skimmed the other entries...]

Abbado II (DG, Berlin, 1, 3 - 7, 9),

Abbado III (DVD, Lucerne 1-7, 9)

Tabakov,

Kubelik II (Audite, 1-3, 5-9 + LvdE)

Levine (RCA, missing nos. ??)

Haitink Christmas (w/out 6,

Haitink Berlin (also on DVD, 1-7 + Adagio)

NYPhil Mix

DeWart (RCA)

Gergiev (LSO Live)

Stenz (Oehms, ongoing),

Schwarz (Artek, ongoing)

Ozawa (Philips)

My choice, incidentally, was Gielen, despite the throw-away-Fourth ruined by the soprano.

[Sergeant Rock]

Cycles -- incl. some incomplete ones -- missing from that list:
[can't believe no one has brought that up... but only skimmed the other entries...]

The OP deliberately omitted incomplete and ongoing cycles. Gergiev is listed in the poll. Ozawa should have been on the list. I don't believe it would've received any votes though because no one owns it...at least no one has ever mentioned owning it that I recall.

Sarge

[DavidW]

My choice, incidentally, was Gielen.

Awesome!!

[jlaurson]

The OP deliberately omitted incomplete and ongoing cycles. Gergiev is listed in the poll. Ozawa should have been on the list. I don't believe it would've received any votes though because no one owns it...at least no one has ever mentioned owning it that I recall.

Complete means at least 1-9, but not necessarily DLE or 10?
Still should have included Tabakov (awful though it is) and DeWart (rare and OOP though it is).  If I may get my smartass moment.  Ditto N.Jaervi/Chandos, which I forgot above. Ditto Segerstam. Also Chandos.



P.S. Re: Formatting-errors: Haitink Christmas isn't cool and smiling, it's omitting the 8th.

[Sergeant Rock]

Ditto N.Jaervi/Chandos, which I forgot above.

Did Järvi complete his Chandos cycle? I can't find 2, 8 or 9 for sale anywhere.

Sarge

[jlaurson]

Did Järvi complete his Chandos cycle? I can't find 2, 8 or 9 for sale anywhere.

Sarge

Good question. Can't confirm that, actually. I know he performed it... I am fairly sure it's all been recorded. But I don't know if it was all released.

[Sergeant Rock]

Good question. Can't confirm that, actually.

Another question: Have you heard the Stenz M2 yet? Is it as good as his Fifth?


Sarge

[jlaurson]

Another question: Have you heard the Stenz M2 yet? Is it as good as his Fifth?


Sarge

Yes I have, Not it isn't.
But if it isn't AS GOOD as his Fifth, that's 90% because I simply rank that Fifth so very highly (among modern recordings)... his Second is still very, very good... though I've not yet come to a firm opinion where (or how far above) I might wish to rank it vis-a-vis Paavo Jaervi or Jonathan Nott, for example.

[Sergeant Rock]

Yes I have, Not it isn't.
But if it isn't AS GOOD as his Fifth, that's 90% because I simply rank that Fifth so very highly (among modern recordings)... his Second is still very, very good... though I've not yet come to a firm opinion where (or how far above) I might wish to rank it vis-a-vis Paavo Jaervi or Jonathan Nott, for example.

Thanks. I saw it at MediaMarkt the other day. Almost picked it up but decided to wait for a review or two.

Sarge