Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[krummholz]

I think you are referring to these trills here?
https://youtu.be/8qYqW-otXxI?t=536

Not sure about @calyptorhynchus, but those are indeed the trills I was referring to, and which to me seem like an echo of the ones in the 6th. But the overall context in which they occur is, I agree, very likely a reference to the music he heard in his youth.

If this is what you're referring to, not the same as the trills adding tension as a climax loom which is another devise, just not used here.  I frankly don't hear this as having that much extra-musical meaning but still sounds an awful lot like the music he was exposed to in his youth in his family's tavern.  See that documentary I linked to earlier from MTT/SFO where they play side by side the tavern songs of that day and how those tunes worked their way in to funeral marches.  The specific example, from Mahler's 1st symphony, 3rd movement - the funeral march, starts with a funeral march (not dark or angst filled like Chopin but a solemn procession) but in the middle of it, a slow waltz joins in the procession then another one interrupts the first one.  I think if there is any extra-musical inspiration here, it is that joy and sorrow are bedfellows.

+1. The "interruption of the interruption" in #1, III does indeed sound like klezmer music, and I believe Bernstein even pointed this out in one of his talks on Mahler.

On a side note, I've been reading Mahler's Letters to Alma and from this period, I was very surprised how upbeat and positive Mahler was.  From 1910, just months before his death, he wrote this: "I've come through the year with flying colours, and haven't actually spared myself.  Of the three of us [Mahler, Alma, Alma's mother (his mother in law)], I alone have uninterruptedly enjoyed good health."  This surprised me because at this time he had completed the 9th (his darkest work), was rehearsing the 8th (his greatest public success), and was starting on the 10th.  Mahler is an interesting enigma - his music contains so much passion and he seemed to be in good spirits at the time.  His career was on fire, and he seemed very happy and productive. [...]

Indeed. The usual story that Mahler in his last years was dying of a heart ailment and knew it has to be classified as a canard. He had a (probably rheumatic) heart valve defect that certainly predisposed him to the endocarditis infection that felled him in February, 1911, but he was not disabled by it (at least, not after the first few months after his diagnosis when he severely curtailed his physical activities). He was extremely active and as you say, his career was on fire, spending his winters in New York where he was conducting both the Philharmonic and (if memory serves) the Metropolitan Opera, and composing in Europe during the summer.

I tend to agree with Deryck Cooke that the 9th was a phase in Mahler's development, both as a person and as a composer, and that the 10th shows that he was well past that phase and exploring new worlds in his music. It's a terrible pity that antibiotics had yet to be discovered in 1911 - scarcely 30 years later, Mahler's illness would have been curable.

[Spotted Horses]

I've been hoping to experience a little Mahler Mania, but these works are so long, even one movement taxes my schedule!

[relm1]

I've been hoping to experience a little Mahler Mania, but these works are so long, even one movement taxes my schedule!

"If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster." - Gustav Mahler

[staxomega]

"If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster." - Gustav Mahler

I should have this etched in stone and hung above my stereos. I was commenting in the big box thread that long frantic ballets can't hold my attention, but a thirty minute Mahler movement even at a low volume- I've been so absorbed that I've only later seen the missed call on my phone!

[Spotted Horses]

"If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster." - Gustav Mahler

I don't begrudge Mahler the heavenly length. I just wish I had the time to experience it.

[vers la flamme]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

I really like the Barbirolli/Berlin lately. The new remaster sounds excellent too.

[JBS]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

I really like the Barbirolli/Berlin lately. The new remaster sounds excellent too.

Zinman/Zurich Tonhalle
Levine/Munich Philharmonic
Maderna/BBC SO

[Lisztianwagner]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

I really like the Barbirolli/Berlin lately. The new remaster sounds excellent too.

I particularly love the Bernstein/Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Karajan/Berliner.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

I really like the Barbirolli/Berlin lately. The new remaster sounds excellent too.

I don't have a clear favorite. I like that Barbirolli and listen to it quite a lot; I also like Sinopoli, Giulini, Klemperer, Abbado/Berlin, Haitink, and (for an extreme experience) Bernstein/Conc'bouw. Each is very good in its own way and creates a unique experience.

[Sergeant Rock]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

Chailly/Concertgebouw and Karajan/Berlin (1982 live)

Sarge

[relm1]

I particularly love the Bernstein/Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Karajan/Berliner.

Me too.  These are my favorite M9.  I find them very personal and deeply moving.

[vers la flamme]

Thanks so much for everyone sharing their favorites. Very interesting to see the varieties of opinion.

Like most everyone else, I don't have a single clear favorite. The two I've listened to and enjoyed the most are both with the Berlin Philharmonic: Barbirolli and Karajan (1982 live recording). The other ones I have are Walter/Columbia, Bernstein/New York, Klemperer/New Philharmonia, Rattle/Berlin, Bernstein/Concertgebouw, and Boulez/Chicago. I haven't heard the last two, but of the others, I like them all, but haven't spent as much time with them as I have with the aforementioned Barbirolli and Karajan recordings. For some reason this is a symphony that I don't really take issue with amassing several recordings of it. It's such a remarkable—and somewhat mysterious—piece of music, and I love hearing how different great interpreters make sense of it. I suspect I'll cull some of them out of my collection at some point, but even now, with my already excessive collection, I'm still looking at more 

Two I'm very curious about are Karel Ančerl/Czech Philharmonic and the Haitink/Bavarian RSO on BR Klassik from late in his life. Would love to hear the Haitink/Concertgebouw as well, but it's not easy to find at the moment. (None of Haitink's Concertgebouw recordings seem to be easily available, which is a shame.)

Anyway, I love Mahler's 9th—in a little bit of an obsessive phase with it if y'all couldn't already tell.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

For some reason this is a symphony that I don't really take issue with amassing several recordings of it. It's such a remarkable—and somewhat mysterious—piece of music, and I love hearing how different great interpreters make sense of it.

I have (or have heard) more recordings of this piece than any other, and I've heard it live 4 times. It's inexhaustible. My first encounter with it was a Bernstein/VPO broadcast on television, which inspired me to buy Karajan's first recording (the studio one, with the rainbow on the cover).

Would love to hear the Haitink/Concertgebouw as well, but it's not easy to find at the moment.

Yep, that's a good one (I have the original Philips LP issue).

[Cato]

Thanks so much for everyone sharing their favorites. Very interesting to see the varieties of opinion.


Anyway, I love Mahler's 9th—in a little bit of an obsessive phase with it if y'all couldn't already tell.

I knew a priest who said that he owned every known recording of the Mahler Ninth Symphony, and (he lived in Toledo here in Ohio) would travel as far west as Chicago, north to Detroit, east to Pittsburgh, and south to Cincinnati and all points in between (Cleveland!) to hear the work performed live.  But if he had the money at the moment (which was not often), he would fly to hear it played farther away.

He died some years ago: I often wonder to whom he willed his CD collection, which went well beyond Mahler's Ninth.


Anyway...

I am partial to the DGG Boulez CD and the early stereo Leopold Ludwig recording on Everest.

https://www.youtube.com/v/_mK_9oVvACs

[vers la flamme]

I knew a priest who said that he owned every known recording of the Mahler Ninth Symphony, and (he lived in Toledo here in Ohio) would travel as far west as Chicago, north to Detroit, east to Pittsburgh, and south to Cincinnati and all points in between (Cleveland!) to hear the work performed live.  But if he had the money at the moment (which was not often), he would fly to hear it played farther away.

He died some years ago: I often wonder to whom he willed his CD collection, which went well beyond Mahler's Ninth.


Anyway...

I am partial to the DGG Boulez CD and the early stereo Leopold Ludwig recording on Everest.

https://www.youtube.com/v/_mK_9oVvACs

Can't remember whether or not I've told you this before but my whole family is from Toledo  That's dedication. I've never seen the 9th live, but I would love to. Definitely don't plan on amassing every available recording of it, but I can see where this guy is coming from.

[Cato]

Can't remember whether or not I've told you this before but my whole family is from Toledo  That's dedication. I've never seen the 9th live, but I would love to. Definitely don't plan on amassing every available recording of it, but I can see where this guy is coming from.

No, I don't recall that your family is from Toledo! You might have noticed my comments about the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and some of the excellent performances of the Bruckner symphonies.

I heard the Cleveland Orchestra 20 years ago or so play the Mahler Ninth Symphony.  I believe Christoph Von Dohnanyi was the conductor: a near religious experience!

[not edward]

What's everyone's favorite recording of the 9th?

I really like the Barbirolli/Berlin lately. The new remaster sounds excellent too.

Ančerl. Wonderful CzPO playing and a very subtle, superbly articulated performance. I never know quite why it's so affecting for me, but it is.

Barbirolli and Maderna would probably be the other two if I had to pick... I listened to JB for the first time in a long time recently and it really is as good as its reputation, while for me Maderna pushes to extremes and makes it work.

[vers la flamme]

Ančerl. Wonderful CzPO playing and a very subtle, superbly articulated performance. I never know quite why it's so affecting for me, but it is.

Barbirolli and Maderna would probably be the other two if I had to pick... I listened to JB for the first time in a long time recently and it really is as good as its reputation, while for me Maderna pushes to extremes and makes it work.

I got the Barbirolli boxed set recently—largely on your good word for that performance—and I agree, that 9th is just amazing. I've been playing it nonstop, most recently a bit earlier tonight. Ančerl/Czech Philharmonic is definitely on my radar too.

[staxomega]

Ančerl. Wonderful CzPO playing and a very subtle, superbly articulated performance. I never know quite why it's so affecting for me, but it is.

Barbirolli and Maderna would probably be the other two if I had to pick... I listened to JB for the first time in a long time recently and it really is as good as its reputation, while for me Maderna pushes to extremes and makes it work.

+1 to Ančerl, simply incredible. I am hoping this gets a new transfer from Tower Japan as the Supraphon Gold Series uses noise reduction so I stick with my original 90s CD.

For Maderna I take it you mean the one from 1971 with BBC Symphony? There is also a lesser known late 1972 recording.

[vers la flamme]

How bad does the Ančerl Gold release sound? Asking because there's a local record store that has it for I think $3 and I was thinking of driving over there to buy it today.