Mahler Mania, Rebooted

Started by Greta, May 01, 2007, 08:06:38 PM

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knight66

I don't ever recall seeing a hammer used. Here is the list of percussion instruments written into the score:

Percussion
(Requires total of seven players)

Timpani (2 players and 8 timpani, with a third player in the last movement using two of the second timpanist's drums)
Several Snare Drums
Bass Drum
Cymbals
Triangle
Glockenspiel
3 deep, untuned steel rods or bells
Rute, or "switch", to be played on the shell of the bass drum
2 Tam-tams (high and low)
Offstage Percussion in Movement 5:
Bass drum with cymbals attached (played by the same percussionist), Triangle, Timpani

Small hammers may be used for the bells. But if you mean a large mallet, I have no idea what it could have been used for.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

greg

Quote from: MDL on June 14, 2009, 03:27:55 AM
Do you mean Ken Russell's Mahler, with Robert Powell? That's a quirky little film and no mistake. Some bits I love, other bits I watch through my fingers, the conversion scene especially; Mahler as one of the Groucho brothers, then as Stan Laurel?! Ken, what were you thinking?!

Apologies if you're referring to some other Mahler doc/film, by the way.



Yep, that's the one. It was somewhat amusing- "I'm going to live forever!"  :D

What does everyone think of Tennstedt's 6th? That's definitely my favorite now- not to mention, the most intense recording I know of.

Jay F

Quote from: knight on June 14, 2009, 04:47:41 AM
I don't ever recall seeing a hammer used. Here is the list of percussion instruments written into the score:

Percussion
(Requires total of seven players)

Timpani (2 players and 8 timpani, with a third player in the last movement using two of the second timpanist's drums)
Several Snare Drums
Bass Drum
Cymbals
Triangle
Glockenspiel
3 deep, untuned steel rods or bells
Rute, or "switch", to be played on the shell of the bass drum
2 Tam-tams (high and low)
Offstage Percussion in Movement 5:
Bass drum with cymbals attached (played by the same percussionist), Triangle, Timpani

Small hammers may be used for the bells. But if you mean a large mallet, I have no idea what it could have been used for.

Mike
Thanks, Mike. I was sitting in the orchestra and the stage was truly packed, so I couldn't see many of the instruments besides the strings. Consequently, I'm not sure exactly what was being hit by the thing I thought was a hammer.

Renfield

Quote from: Bahamut on June 14, 2009, 05:09:27 AM
Yep, that's the one. It was somewhat amusing- "I'm going to live forever!"  :D

What does everyone think of Tennstedt's 6th? That's definitely my favorite now- not to mention, the most intense recording I know of.

Which one? There's a new one that's just come out that I'm chomping at the bit to hear, but the studio-recorded older one (there's a second live version, as well) didn't register as strongly as, say, his 5th.

greg

It's the one from his complete box set. True, the brass has quite a few small blunders, but at times, they sound like they are going to come out of your speakers and explode! I've never had the Finale stuck in my head so much and enjoyed it so much as I have recently, all because of that recording. The same could go with the finale of the 3rd.

Jay F

Quote from: Bahamut on June 14, 2009, 07:15:56 PM
It's the one from his complete box set. True, the brass has quite a few small blunders, but at times, they sound like they are going to come out of your speakers and explode! I've never had the Finale stuck in my head so much and enjoyed it so much as I have recently, all because of that recording. The same could go with the finale of the 3rd.

Comparing box sets, after Bernstein's CBS Mahler, I like Tennstedt.

Wilhelm Richard

When reading reviews and articles on Tennstedt's Mahler recordings as they were released, one would believe that all agreed (at least in Gramophone Land) that he was the Greatest Mahler Interpretor Ever.  Now, it seems to me as if his Mahler is not often considered too seriously.  What happend?  Or am I just missing something or misunderstanding? 

Personally, I am a huge fan of Tennstedt's studio cycle.  I have not compared it symphony for symphony to any other, but I do know that my first introduction to Mahler came through Bernstein's CBS recordings and I believed I did not like the composer at all for quite a while.  I do know that many have described Tennstedt's live performances as being far superior to his studio recordings, but I have yet to hear any of them.  The studio recordings, however, seem just fine to me.


imperfection

Quote from: Bahamut on June 14, 2009, 07:15:56 PM
It's the one from his complete box set. True, the brass has quite a few small blunders, but at times, they sound like they are going to come out of your speakers and explode! I've never had the Finale stuck in my head so much and enjoyed it so much as I have recently, all because of that recording. The same could go with the finale of the 3rd.

Greg, how is the timing for the finale of the 3rd? I am still searching for a grand, majestic, broad, truly Sehr langsam closing movement to that epic symphony.

Wilhelm Richard

Especially good interview...many thoughts I have tried to express myself, but not nearly as eloquently and efficiently as Barenboim.
http://www.universaledition.com/mahler/daniel-barenboim-on-gustav-mahler/#more-312

QuoteNo, rather the opposite. I remember many concerts that made me dislike it even more, because I found, in the Mahler concerts I had heard, two extremes. One was sort of exaggeratedly emotional, in the sense that the text was used as an excuse for self-expression on the part of the conductor, sometimes at a very high level. Others withdrew from any kind of emotional content, making it rather dry.

I was 'allergic' to what I found at that time to be artificialities in the music.

I also disliked – I'm being very negative on purpose – the fact that Mahler was, and still is, the only composer who is discussed mostly in non-musical terms. Whenever somebody says, "I don't like Mahler", or "I love Mahler", of course, it's psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud and all these things. And I think this is terrible. You would never think or talk about Beethoven like that, about the deafness or whatever else it may be, or about Chopin's tuberculosis. In other words, the biography of the composer, and the musical diary which he writes – all great composers' works are musical diaries – are not really related. Beethoven wrote some of the most positive music at a time of complete distress, and vice versa.

greg

Quote from: imperfection on June 16, 2009, 02:31:11 PM
Greg, how is the timing for the finale of the 3rd? I am still searching for a grand, majestic, broad, truly Sehr langsam closing movement to that epic symphony.
Oh, then you won't like Tennstedt then. Timing is 20:38. The reason why I fell in love with his interpretation is because it's the opposite of how you describe!  ;D It's nervous, agitated, and very powerful.
Maybe you should try Chailly? His 3rd is my favorite, but for that last movement, I'd choose Tennstedt without thinking twice.

imperfection

Quote from: Bahamut on June 16, 2009, 03:04:47 PM
Oh, then you won't like Tennstedt then. Timing is 20:38. The reason why I fell in love with his interpretation is because it's the opposite of how you describe!  ;D It's nervous, agitated, and very powerful.
Maybe you should try Chailly? His 3rd is my favorite, but for that last movement, I'd choose Tennstedt without thinking twice.

Oh wow  ;D Thanks for letting me know. I have yet to hear the finale being stretched beyond 26 minutes (Bernstein, DG)...and I thought Bernstein wasn't broad, grandiose, Celibidachean enough... 0:)


greg

Quote from: O Mensch on June 21, 2009, 08:13:49 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ytKytiaYw

:)
I listened to the first few minutes...... the clips for the Mahler movie where also Haitink, I guess....
i get the impression that his Mahler is lifeless, so I ended up deciding not to check out his symphony cycle.
I'm working on getting Bertini's...... have no idea what to expect there, all i hear is "classical approach" as a description... doesn't sound too promising, but why not, huh?

Renfield

Haitink's Mahler isn't lifeless: at worst, it's clinical. But very deliberately so, it's no auto-pilot.

That having been said, I haven't heard a 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th from him, so I am far from the most authoritative source. ;)

jlaurson

A new Mahler Cycle in planning:

QuoteMarkus Stenz and the Gürzenich-Orchestra are recording a Mahler cycle on SACD on the label OehmsClassics. This will include the song cycle "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" with Christiane Oelze (soprano) and Michael Volle (baritone). The first release of this cycle will be Mahler's Symphony No. 5 in August 2009. The other symphonies will be released individually until the completion of the cycle in 2012.

DavidRoss

The final issue in the MTT/SFS Mahler cycle will be released in August, bundling the adagio from the 10th together with the 8th:

Erin Wall, soprano
Elza van den Heever, soprano
Laura Claycomb, soprano
Katarina Karnéus, mezzo-soprano
Yvonne Naef, mezzo-soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor
Quinn Kelsey, baritone
James Morris, bass-baritone

San Francisco Symphony Chorus Ragnar Bohlin, director
Pacific Boychoir Kevin Fox, director
San Francisco Girls Chorus Susan McMane, director
Recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Symphony No. 8 November 19-23, 2008
Adagio from Symphony No. 10 April 6-8, 2006
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

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greg

Quote from: jlaurson on June 22, 2009, 04:56:40 AM
A new Mahler Cycle in planning:

Nice! I like to hear it whenever a new cycle comes out. Never heard of this conductor, though...


Quote from: Renfield on June 21, 2009, 09:19:31 PM
Haitink's Mahler isn't lifeless: at worst, it's clinical. But very deliberately so, it's no auto-pilot.

That having been said, I haven't heard a 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th from him, so I am far from the most authoritative source. ;)
Well, I'll give him one thing- in the clips I've heard, you can hear everything. I hear all the instruments, but no emotion.

Renfield

#918
Quote from: jlaurson on June 22, 2009, 04:56:40 AM
A new Mahler Cycle in planning:


YES! :D

I literally said 'YES' out loud, just now. I've heard orchestra and conductor in combination live on the 6th, and what a concert that was!

greg

Quote from: Renfield on June 22, 2009, 05:17:38 AM
YES! :D

I literally said 'YES' out loud, just now. I've heard orchestra and conductor in combination live on the 6th, and what a concert that was!
If you're that enthusiastic about it, I think I will be, too!  :D