Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[jlaurson]

I wonder why Fanfare never published that letter about Lynn René Bayley's review. (Or maybe I never sent it, seeing that I might have been writing for them, at the time.)


Blast from the Past: An Open Letter on Matters Gustav Mahler
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2016/09/an-open-but-unsent-letter-to-fanfare.html

[jlaurson]

latest on Forbes:

106 Years Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c


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[ritter]

latest on Forbes:

106 Years Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c

Very interesting, Jens (even for someone, like me, who really doesn't like the Eighth that much  ). Thanks for this. And, yes, Sinopoli rocks in this symphony 

Your link didn't work in my case. This one did: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#9eaeda9be0c8

[Pat B]

S-A is considered a better fit musically and dramatically.

Not by me.

[Pat B]

What we know for sure is that Mahler was never 100% certain that it MUST be one way or the other... was flexible to change the order on a dime, even though we DO know he composed it in the S-A order (which one can, as you point out, read from the harmonic progression), so it comes down what dramatic or pragmatic view one has of the work or the performance and how it will be received. A good performance will always overcome this controversy on its own merits, though.

We also DO know he performed it in the A-S order.

FWIW I didn't have a strong opinion on this until I heard Karajan's (otherwise excellent) version. So it's possible that my beef is with Karajan more than A-S.

[knight66]

I enjoyed the survey of Mahler's Eighth, especialy as I agree on all the ones I know. I have a great fondness for the Wyn Morris version which has wonderful suspended moments where time seems irrelevant. It is a live recording with some slight mishaps, but I put it high on my list.

I have a different Boulez Mahler 8th than the one specified. I can't altogether recommend it. It is with BBC orchestral forces and the then Scottish National Orchestra Chorus. Remedios is splendid in the first movement, then disasterously falls apart in the second movement. This would rule it out for many; but the BBC sound is remarkably forward and full and the pacing is very interesting with great plasticity. I was in choir for the performance and it is much more of a pleasure to hear it than it was to perform on that specific night. It may not be easily available.

Mike

[Madiel]

latest on Forbes:

106 Years Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/09/12/106-years-mahler-eighth-the-best-recordings/#2da82ef9be0c


(link fixed)

Well, I'm interested in the opinion of anyone who tells me Rattle's version is crap, because it's the only one I know and it drives me nuts.

Also, I know some of you recommended Nagano to me, and I sampled online and it did have promise. The singers weren't ecstatically shouting at me quite so often.

[knight66]

I heard the Rattle live and did not enjoy it. The Negano is very fine, lots of filligree textures and elbow room for expressivity.

I have a Neme Jarvi, it is quite good, but not a favourite.

There is a live Tennstedt and as with the live 2nd, it is a great deal better than the studio issues. The 8th is exciting and ecstatic, a special performance and it has very good sound.

Mike

[Cato]

The Bernstein London Symphony performance of the Eighth Symphony was a wild ride, as I recall...1960's stereo sound: by chance I see that it is being reissued this week!

And it has the same album cover I recall from the good ol' days!  I recall the choruses being not very clear, but the overall impression was of a roller coaster of excitement.  Some have found it wrong-headed, but...

[asin]B01HLDYQ2Q[/asin]

[jlaurson]

Well, I'm interested in the opinion of anyone who tells me Rattle's version is crap, because it's the only one I know and it drives me nuts.

Also, I know some of you recommended Nagano to me, and I sampled online and it did have promise. The singers weren't ecstatically shouting at me quite so often.

I heard the Rattle live and did not enjoy it. The Negano is very fine, lots of filligree textures and elbow room for expressivity.

I have a Neme Jarvi, it is quite good, but not a favourite.

There is a live Tennstedt and as with the live 2nd, it is a great deal better than the studio issues. The 8th is exciting and ecstatic, a special performance and it has very good sound.

Mike

Thanks for the tip: I'll pop in that Tennstedt 8th from the 'live-included' box just now, after Bach.

I'm glad to hear that the hype about Rattle's Eighth has about worn off... or so it seems. Wrote about it when it came out and felt like a prophet in the desert:
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005/07/live-recordings-of-mahlers-eighth.html Granted, a negative prophet... no one ever really likes those. ("Don't follow that guy. He's bad news! Worship somewhere else, no matter what he promises you.") But at the same time I offered the Nagano as a positive (which was absolutely torn to shreds in Gramophone in the same issue where they featured the Rattle 8th). It had been hampered by price, back then, too... 2 SACDs made it a costly affair, only because it went a few minutes over the capacity of one disc.

[jlaurson]

Very interesting, Jens (even for someone, like me, who really doesn't like the Eighth that much  ). Thanks for this.

Thanks much. And cricket lovers will appreciate the tiny Easter egg I inserted. 
Oh, and an American Football (specifically Tennessee) Easter egg, too.

[Drasko]

Thanks much. And cricket lovers will appreciate the tiny Easter egg I inserted. 
Oh, and an American Football (specifically Tennessee) Easter egg, too.

Bunch of malarkey, that.

[jlaurson]

Bunch of malarkey, that.

Very good, fellow traveler.  Titanic effort, though, on my part.

[Drasko]

Very good, fellow traveler.  Titanic effort, though, on my part.

Less so on theirs, they got zeused by the Vikings. Or should that be odined?

[jlaurson]

Less so on theirs, they got zeused by the Vikings. Or should that be odined?

Hammered, by Thor! And Skål Vikings, at that, my team! Just listened to the Tennstedt -- but the live 8th is NOT included in the EMI box... must be a LPO-release? In any case, I was again not at all astounded by the Tennstedt, either, which was also considered one of the staple recordings for so many years.

[knight66]

Sorry, I should have made it clear that it was not an EMI Tennstedt version: I used to have that studio recording and actually got rid of it. I found it conjested in several ways and the sound only opens out to be spectacular in the last moments of the piece. I also did not particularily take to the soloists.

Although the live version was recorded by the BBC the engineering is better. It was issued on the London Philharmonic label. I also recommend the Mahler 2nd from the same source.

Additionally I have the Ozawa which is good without blowing me out of the water: and I am not sure that a good performance of this piece is any damned good at all. Ditto the Runnicles from the BBC magazine, which is available on Amazon. I keep that more from sentimental reasons.

Again via the BBC the well regarded Horenstein, though I am really unclear what causes it to be well regarded. The playing is far from what we now expect, the soloists are OK, his pacing does not either excite me or elevate me in the relevent places. I have retained it for its rep and try it now and again. I may well give it one final chance and perhaps ditch it.

Finally, I have the Solti and although I retain a fondness for it, the older I get the less I agree with the approach to the whole of Part II.

In sum, for me.....

Tennstedt
Morris
Nagano
Sinopoli
Wit

As an adjunct I have sung it with Jarvi, Gibson, Boulez, Maazel and Nesthingia. Surprisingly, on the night the Jarvi seemed the most successful, though he really did nothing with the opening orchestral passage of Part II.

Mike

[Mahlerian]

My pick for the Eighth would be live Tennstedt as well, although the one I'm familiar with is the DVD released by EMI from the same concert series as the BBC CD but on a different date.  The sound quality is significantly better than the studio CD version.

[hpowders]

I love the Boulez Mahler 8th. For me it is one of his very greatest performances.

Haven't heard the Tennstedt.

As for the latter, he has for me the greatest performance of Mahler 5, in a priceless once in a lifetime live performance with the NY Philharmonic, which I am lucky enough to possess.

[Mirror Image]

I'm listening to Rückert-Lieder, and what I have really come to deeply love with Mahler's music is that it is both really poignant and melancholic at the same time as very moving, very exciting. Rückert-Lieder, Symphony no 9 and Symphony no 5 can really bring a tear to the eye.  Yet, Symphonies 6,7,8, Wunderhorn are really exciting and grandiose. 

All I can really say is, I LOVE MAHLER. 

Great! I really like Mahler's music a lot and while I'm far from a 'Mahlerian,' there are many works of his that I enjoy immensely. Kindertotenlieder, Symphonies 4, 5, 7, & 9, and Das Lied van der Erde.

[kishnevi]

Crosspost from the WAYLT thread

.Finished a run through of this tonight
[asin]B019MX8HS2[/asin]
Judgment after first listen.
This joins Inbal as a set to suggest to people who only want one set.  Although no performance is "best in its class" there are no duds.  Everything is at least well done.  Only "lack" is that the Tenth is not presented in a completed version, but Adagio only.
Other pluses are good sonics and every CD is given its own CD or pair of CDs.  The Second, Third, and Sixth take up a pair of CDs each, although Two and Six are actually only a little over the 80 minute mark.  Stenz in fact can give a fast pacing: the Third takes 94 minutes.  Only Gergiev matches that among the recordings I have.  Similar albeit not so distinctive pacings in the rest.  But he makes it work.

Next up on the Mahler watch will be Nott, although not immediately.