Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[jlaurson]

Ionarts-at-Large: Mahler in Munich - Nagano's Seventh

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/ionarts-at-large-mahler-in-munich.html

[techniquest]

I like the idea of Bernstein's boy soprano... but the execution makes me want to shoot little innocent Seppi. The alto in Chailly's DKL is a different story altogether; a touch of 'boyish insecurity wobble' only at the beginning and then a clear-yet-reedy stable alto voice throughout his bit(s).

Bernsteins' boy singer (Helmut Wittek) does take a lot of getting used to and is nowhere near as good as Max Emmanuel Cencic on an obscure Nanut recording I have heard. He carries it off perfectly.

[Herman]

Yes, quite true: the coordination of all those groups could be dicey. But given the venue (photos on the website below) it's certain to be an event. And I hope they film it.

http://www.shrineauditorium.com/index.html

--Bruce

Large sections of the Eighth are very quiet, almost chamber-like. I wonder how that is going to work in a mammoth hall like this

[jlaurson]

Bernsteins' boy singer (Helmut Wittek) does take a lot of getting used to and is nowhere near as good as Max Emmanuel Cencic on an obscure Nanut recording I have heard. He carries it off perfectly.

Cencic of course went on to have a (just-budding) great counter tenor career.

I was mistaken with "Seppi" -- that's a boy soprano for Harnoncourt in his first Cantata Cycle somewhere.

[Drasko]

Cencic was definitely better than Wittek, but to me it still sounds like better idea on paper.

http://www.youtube.com/v/SCFuGG8MAWo

[eyeresist]

BBC Music magazine had a cover disc of M8 recently, conducted by Runnicles I think. I listened to the first half last night. It seemed a decent performance, but impossible to judge due to the awfully dull and unbalanced sound. I'd like to hear something besides the soloists, you know!

[Amfortas]

Hear a complete performance of the Mahler piano quartet movement as orchestrated by Colin Matthews:

http://www.rnw.nl/english/radioshow/dangerous-seducer

[knight66]

This new Mahler 2 has been given a standout rave review by Gramophone. The Ulricht is on the Gramophone site to listen to. It is a live performance and certainly the review reads like it should be a superb recording. I have ordered it: though I need another M2 like I need another hole in my head.

Mike

[Amfortas]

  HAPPY 151st BIRTHDAY! ! ! ! ! ! ! 



New Mahler statue in Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 2011

[TheGSMoeller]

http://www.carnegiehall.org/ch/pages/1-2-1-left.aspx?pageid=2147483701&id=4294967691

A Portrait of Mahler in New York

[eyeresist]

New Mahler statue in Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 2011[/center]

Hmm, not very happy with that statue. Makes him look like a flasher.

[Lethevich]

LINK

I don't understand why Mahler always sounds appealing to me in excerpts but something about the way the whole work is stitched together tends to put me off. A friend messaged me while they were in town, asking for a small (mobile phone connection-friendly) clip of the 4th - I don't know why, maybe they heard it mentioned in conversation. So I made this clip for them, and found myself listening to is multiple times due to its beauty, and yet I know that if I go to listen to the full piece I won't reall enjoy it. Grrr

[eyeresist]

Well, there's obviously something wrong with you 

[Sergeant Rock]

I don't understand why Mahler always sounds appealing to me in excerpts but something about the way the whole work is stitched together tends to put me off.

Maybe his abrupt mood swings within movements disturb you? The juxtaposition of the serious and satirical, profound and banal, ecstatic and depressive. The music is the very definition of bipolar. One reason Bruno Walter didn't conduct the Sixth was because he couldn't understand why Mahler introduces the soaring Alma theme into the grim march. It made no sense to him. Maybe you have a similar problem with the music?

Sarge

[Lethevich]

Aye, it might be. The movement orders of, say, 2 and 3 never seem to strike me with the crushing inevitability as I would like (also balance issues), and in the more classical later symphonies, a clear long line still wouldn't go amiss. I used to think that there was something in the composer's way of shaping themes and melodic material that grated me, but it could just be their presentation.

[karlhenning]

Aye, it might be. The movement orders of, say, 2 and 3 never seem to strike me with the crushing inevitability as I would like (also balance issues), and in the more classical later symphonies, a clear long line still wouldn't go amiss. I used to think that there was something in the composer's way of shaping themes and melodic material that grated me, but it could just be their presentation.

Your objections are in line with my own prior caveats with Mahler, Sara. I don't know if I can be of much use to you, though . . . I think I just drank the Kool-Aid one day . . . .

[kishnevi]

Aye, it might be. The movement orders of, say, 2 and 3 never seem to strike me with the crushing inevitability as I would like (also balance issues), and in the more classical later symphonies, a clear long line still wouldn't go amiss. I used to think that there was something in the composer's way of shaping themes and melodic material that grated me, but it could just be their presentation.

Perhaps this was Mahler's way of saying that there is not necessarily any "inevitability" or logical link between events in our lives.   

Of course, Mahler himself had problems figuring out the movement orders in several of his symphonies; as an instance, I recently read (don't quite remember where) that he thought the Andante of the 2nd didn't really belong in that symphony at all.  And of course there's the Scherzo/Andante of the 6th.....

[DavidRoss]

I don't understand why Mahler always sounds appealing to me in excerpts but something about the way the whole work is stitched together tends to put me off. A friend messaged me while they were in town, asking for a small (mobile phone connection-friendly) clip of the 4th - I don't know why, maybe they heard it mentioned in conversation. So I made this clip for them, and found myself listening to is multiple times due to its beauty, and yet I know that if I go to listen to the full piece I won't reall enjoy it. Grrr

Mahler's excess sometimes strikes me as self-defeatingly self-indulgent.  He not only makes a point, but makes it over and over again, bludgeoning his audience with one neurotic fetish after another.  In the hands of lesser musicians he's tiresome and tedious.  But in the hands of great musicians, when your attention is sharp and you can give yourself over to the music without drowsing off, the breadth and depth of his passion and his mastery of orchestration, drama, and song make for a musical experience like no other.

I happened on this terrific performance of the 2nd on youtube and thought of you.  See if this doesn't get your juices flowing!

http://www.youtube.com/v/HyeeRqZq7bE

[eyeresist]

What DavidRoss said. I still have uncertainties about Mahler's overextended movements, but when it's right, it's right.

[Lethevich]

I love over-extended music (Bruckner's original version of the 3rd, Furtwängler's symphonies), and also histrionics (Tchaikovsky at his most unbound, Pettersson). From the cover blurb, Mahler should be my favourite composer. I suppose the secret is to just shut up and listen Danke for the suggestions.