Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[André]

Very sad news indeed. I have always avoided buying one of his recordings of the Resurrection, all the while keeping an eye on articles and critics. Until now. I just bought for peanuts the IMP (Conifer) version, the one with the glorious alto of Maureeen Forrester. It's the disc he sponsored with his own money. After that he never had to put his hands in his pockets again.

RIP and let's glory in the music. How appropriate he zeroed on a piece called Auferstehung (Resurrection)






By the time he re-recorded the work, he had taken a slightly more elastic view (broader tempi here and there).

[jlaurson]

latest on ionarts... or actually just dusting off of a post that has languished for almost ten years after WETA dumped their blog including the Mahler survey I wrote for them. Here is, at nearly-last (Symphony 4 has yet to be restored), the Introduction:

Gustav Mahler – A Brief Introduction



http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/04/gustav-mahler-brief-introduction.html

[jlaurson]

Boston Symphony's Gift To Mahler In Vienna

...And that was achieved, and with perfectly hushed tones in the bargain, interrupted only by the
marimba ringtone of a goddamned iPhone, the owner of which was undoubtedly tarred and
feathered and thrown into the Danube Canal immediately following the concert...


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/05/10/boston-symphonys-gift-to-mahler-in-vienna/

[knight66]

Good to read, thanks. Although I enjoy Nelson's Shostakovich, I hope we get wider samples of his performances from DG. I always enjoy his Mahler and for that matter his Wagner etc, etc. Glad we already have a deal od Strauss and some Stravinsky as well as the best New World Symphony that I know of.

Mike

[jlaurson]

Good to read, thanks. Although I enjoy Nelson's Shostakovich, I hope we get wider samples of his performances from DG. I always enjoy his Mahler and for that matter his Wagner etc, etc. Glad we already have a deal od Strauss and some Stravinsky as well as the best New World Symphony that I know of.

Mike

Not to forget a SUPERB account of the Beethoven and Berg concertos... second, in that combo, only to Faust-Abbado... if that. The LvB is particularly special for Nelsons, the Berg for the violinist.

[knight66]

I was lucky to catch my addiction when he was in Birmingham and I could get to see him. Here's hoping he feels inclined to come to the Edinburgh Festival some time.

Mike

[bhodges]

This may have been posted before, but here are all of Mahler's symphonies, filmed by François Goetghebeur, with Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris. Can't vouch for the interpretive qualities (haven't watched any - just found out about this a few minutes ago), but still...all of the symphonies in what looks like superb audio and video...for free.

http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/mahler/#movnav

--Bruce

[ritter]

This may have been posted before, but here are all of Mahler's symphonies, filmed by François Goetghebeur, with Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris. Can't vouch for the interpretive qualities (haven't watched any - just found out about this a few minutes ago), but still...all of the symphonies in what looks like superb audio and video...for free.

http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/mahler/#movnav

--Bruce

I saw the Fourth live at the Salle Pleyel with these forces in 2009, and it was a memorable performance (the symphony was preceded by the Rückert-Lieder, also with Christine Schäfer). I don't know whether it was the same concert that was filmed, though, as I didin't notice any cameras in the hall.

[knight66]

This month's BBC MUsic Mag includes a very good Mahler 9 recorded live at a 2014 prom by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under their recently departed conductor Donald Runnicles. It is a great shame for us in Scotland that he has now gone. This performance is well worth catching. It is a successful and moving interpretation. It proves how fine even the regional orchestras of countries really are and how well the BBC sound engineers are now catch what is played in the Royal Albert Hall. The sound is close up and detailed.

There are reviews on-line of the concert to help people decide whether to give the recording a try and of course stuck to the magazine, it may well be the cheapest recording on the market.

Mike

[bhodges]

On YouTube someone has posted Bernard Haitink's Mahler "Keerstmatinees" with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, recorded in the hall. There are seven, I believe - all but Nos. 6 and 8. Here's No. 1, recorded in 1977, and it's a beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/v/HJqUPtF1UxU

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Next Monday, WFMT.com will broadcast James Levine with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Mahler's Symphony No. 2. The concert was taped July 23 at the Ravinia Festival, and was the first time Levine had returned to the festival since 1993.

http://blogs.wfmt.com/offmic/2016/08/08/wfmt-broadcast-james-levines-return-ravinia/

EDIT: To clarify, the broadcast will be audio only, not video. Available both on the WFMT.com website, and on the radio.

--Bruce

[NikF]

Next Monday, WFMT.com will broadcast James Levine with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Mahler's Symphony No. 2. The concert was taped July 23 at the Ravinia Festival, and was the first time Levine had returned to the festival since 1993.

http://blogs.wfmt.com/offmic/2016/08/08/wfmt-broadcast-james-levines-return-ravinia/

--Bruce

Looks interesting. Thanks for the tip.

[Simula]

I love Mahler's 11th Symphony! Best piece in the world!

[bhodges]

Last Friday, Riccardo Chailly opened the 2016 Lucerne Festival with the Mahler Eighth, and it's available for viewing on Arte here:

http://concert.arte.tv/fr/riccardo-chailly-dirige-le-concert-douverture-du-festival-de-lucerne

--Bruce

[jlaurson]

I love Mahler's 11th Symphony! Best piece in the world!

Absolutely terrific. Heard it performed at the Salzburg Festival some years ago! (With Rattle)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/09/notes-from-salzburg-festival-15th-and.html

[Maestro267]

I'm beginning to realise how the Adagietto of the Fifth Symphony is quite literally a beautiful interruption. Bearing in mind that the horn effectively has the last word in the scherzo, ending on an A. Which is exactly the same note with which the same solo horn begins the finale (albeit in a different dynamic). It's like the horn is saying "Right then, where were we?" before continuing on the journey from the previous three movements.

[Marc]

This evening I listened to this:

Mahler, Symphony no. 4 in G-Major
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Riccardo Muti

(Live radio broadcast recording of May 8th, 1995, as part of the Mahler Feest in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam)

[...]

https://www.youtube.com/v/p-e5cngpkr4

I think this is truly a great performance.
Just could not stop listening.
The Wiener are in top shape here, and Bonney is perfect for the closing song.
Lucky those who were at the Festival that day.
(I couldn't afford the tickets, of course.)

[Sergeant Rock]

The Wiener are in top shape here, and Bonney is perfect for the closing song.

I agree that Bonney has the perfect voice for this music (she's featured in the Chailly/Concertgebouw recording, and I love her in that). I'll have to listen to this Muti performance.

Sarge

[Marc]

I agree that Bonney has the perfect voice for this music (she's featured in the Chailly/Concertgebouw recording, and I love her in that). I'll have to listen to this Muti performance.

Sarge

AFAIK, there are no worldwide commercial issues of these Festival performances.
I recall an impressive 9th with Abbado on the Dutch radio. Another electrifying performance.

There's a very pleasant DVD, with interviews with the conductors (IIRC Haitink, Muti, Abbado, Rattle and Chailly), combined with rehearsal clips.
It's called Conducting Mahler.
Officially OOP, but maybe still available somewhere...

[jlaurson]

There's a very pleasant DVD, with interviews with the conductors (IIRC Haitink, Muti, Abbado, Rattle and Chailly), combined with rehearsal clips.
It's called Conducting Mahler.
Officially OOP, but maybe still available somewhere...

Good stuff. There were really two Mahler DVDs in that series, if I remember correctly. Still remember some of the quotes from watching that, which must be 12, 13 years back, now.